iPhone SE 2022 review: A whole lot of phone for $429

The iPhone SE is Apple’s budget-friendly iPhone and pairs an older design with newer hardware. The third-generation iPhone SE is now up for preorder and continues this working formula.

It’s now $429 — a slight price bump over previous models — in an identical build with a home button and just a single camera lens. But it’s upgraded on the inside with a newer processor and support for 5G. And I’ve spent six days with it to see who needs to upgrade and determine who the budget iPhone is for.

iPhone SE 2022 Apple The iPhone SE gives you the performance of a much more expensive phone in a compact size, and has enough power and features to be future-proof for years to come. $429.99 at Verizon

The who, what and how

Who this is for: If you’re looking for your first smartphone or holding onto an older iPhone (first-gen SE, 6, 6S, 7 or 8), the iPhone SE delivers plenty of performance, the ability to take great photos and a compact size for $429. Those who want a more modern device with a larger screen can look at the $599 iPhone 11 or a refurbished iPhone.

What you need to know: At $429 the iPhone SE gets you the power and performance of the iPhone 13 in a smaller build with a 4.7-inch display and just a single camera. It’s not for someone who wants the most versatile photography experience or a screen for bingeing a TV show season on the go. You do get modern performance, which bests nearly all other budget phones and stretches the potential life of this phone.

How this compares: The iPhone SE performs just as well as the iPhone 13, thanks to the same processor being used at a fraction of the price. It lets you complete nearly any thinkable task on the phone. When compared to another budget phone like the Pixel 5a with 5G, the SE is quicker to open apps and feels more fluid for intense tasks like gaming. The onboard cameras meet the level of iPhone quality with most shots, but there’s not a dedicated Night mode, which is disappointing. You’ll need to use the flash, which doesn’t deliver the greatest shots in low-lighting conditions and can lead to overexposure of a shot or extra noise in an image. The Pixel 5a with 5G wins out with a dedicated Night Sight mode, which uses software for clear, crisp shots in those conditions. It’s not a wash, though; the iPhone SE is a mostly compromise-free experience and delivers what you expect from an iPhone at a budget price.

Classic iPhone design with a 4.7-inch screen

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The iPhone SE sticks with a classic iPhone design that’s identical to the second-generation and truthfully resembles an iPhone 8. It’s a glass front and back with aluminum sides. The 4.7-inch Retina HD display is surrounded by bezels with a home button below the screen for easy unlocking through Touch ID. Like on the second gen, the home button is an electronic one powered by a haptic motor — so when the phone is dead or off, the button won’t click in.

The iPhone SE is comfortable to hold and can easily be used with just one finger. That’s refreshing and can’t be said about the iPhone 13 Pro Max. And holding it next to an iPhone 13 Pro Max makes it seem downright miniature.

The back glass is upgraded here for added durability. Apple says it’s the same glass found on the iPhone 13, and that should help prevent it from cracks and scratches. The SE is IP67 rated against water and dust resistance, and it survived a full dunk into a glass of water.

Apple didn’t opt to add MagSafe wireless charging support here. This proprietary charging tech debuted on the iPhone 12 but ensures proper alignment with compatible wireless chargers, thanks to magnets. While we get that Apple is using a similar design style — and likely the same parts — it would have been nice to see this added in for more wireless charging options.

Jacob Krol/CNN Underscored

The 4.7-inch Retina HD screen is unchanged, and that’s not really a bad thing. It’s still a classic LCD display, so it won’t offer the same vibrant colors and deep contrast points as an OLED in an iPhone 13 or even the Pixel 5a with 5G. Still, though, it’s been great for navigating iOS, watching TikToks, typing on the fly and watching shows.

The iPhone SE’s screen is a bit small for taking in a full-length film, however, and it’s hard to get fully immersed, especially if you’re coming from a larger device. It’s also only a 60Hz refresh rate screen, which means you won’t get the same smooth scrolling experience as you’ll enjoy on 120Hz phones like the iPhone 13 Pro and Google Pixel 6. The SE’s display also looks dated compared to more borderless screens that opt for a notch or pinhole.

Lastly, since this is the same build, second-generation iPhone SE cases and iPhone 8 cases fit this device just fine.

Same camera lens, new smarts

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The 2022 iPhone SE features a primary 12-megapixel lens on the back, and that’s unchanged from the second gen. With Apple’s A15 Bionic chip inside, this lens works with a new image signal processor that speeds up shooting photos or recording videos and adds in new processing modes (Smart HDR4 and Deep Fusion). Both aren’t necessarily evident but lead to clearer images and let the SE better identify what you’re trying to capture in a shot.

All of this works to make this 12-megapixel a sharpshooter. You’ll need to work to set up a shot right, though — given that it’s only a wide lens, if you want to capture more, you’ll need to move back physically. And while it has digital zoom, we’d recommend physically getting closer to an object to avoid blur. It’s quick to shoot, generally able to capture a photo in under a second for most conditions.

The iPhone SE can still shoot Portrait mode with a single lens, but it’s just for people. That means no photos of pooches, cats or inanimate objects. It still performs well on the SE, and it’s gotten better at figuring out when to start the effect on. There is a noticeable improvement over shots from the second-gen SE, and the latest iPhone SE is on par with the Pixel 5a with 5G for these shots.

Photographic Styles, which first premiered on the iPhone 13, have arrived on the iPhone SE These let you customize how the iPhone shoots, whether you want to up the vibrancy or lower the contrast. It’s a filter on steroids, and it doesn’t slow down the SE. It’s fast to capture an image in your desired style, and in some cases, it’s faster at capturing the shot with a Photographic Style than an iPhone 13.

The latest iPhone SE is quicker at identifying the focus (or multiple focuses) to be ready to capture an image within an instant. Processing is faster than the second generation, but coming from an iPhone 8 or even an original iPhone SE will deliver some pretty big boosts.

It doesn’t have every feature, though — there’s no Night mode on the iPhone SE, and it shows with lower-light photos. Rather than extending the capture time and using AI to boost the scene’s lighting, the iPhone SE uses software and a standard LED flash to light the scene. This leads to longer capture times, and it’s not instant for capturing nighttime shots. You can still get a good result, but it’s not as good as other phones even in this price range. The Pixel 5a with 5G does a much better job at capturing these shots. It extends the capture time in its Night Sight mode and uses software to make them look dynamically lighter without reducing the image quality.

Above the screen on the front is a 7-megapixel FaceTime camera that leaves you with color-accurate selfies and crisp details. It can even take Portrait mode selfies and is excellent for video calls.

iOS here is just as smooth as any iPhone 13

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The iPhone SE is powered by the Apple-made A15 Bionic chip, which is the same processor found in the iPhone 13 line. This $429 iPhone allows you to open apps fast, edit images and multitask without the device heating up or slowing down. It’s the uncompromised iPhone experience, and that’s a critical mark to meet at this price.

I had no issues FaceTiming while completing other tasks, whether it was playing a game or even editing a photo in Afterlight. I could also take advantage of Live Text within the camera. If you’re holding the iPhone SE at a sign in front of a store, you can quickly grab the name, address and phone number. You can tap on it, highlight it and interact with the text. It doesn’t slow down at all.

I also ran the premium flagship through Geekbench 5, which measures general performance. The latest iPhone SE clocks in with a 1,727 single-core and a 4,680 multi-core score, which surpasses the previous iPhone SE and is in line with the iPhone 13 family.

Processor GeekBench 5 Single-Core GeekBench 5 Multi-Core iPhone SE (3rd Gen) Apple A15 Bionic 1,727 4,680 iPhone SE (2nd Gen) Apple A13 Bionic 1,330 2,434 iPhone 13 Apple A15 Bionic 1,667 4,465 iPhone 13 Pro Max Apple A15 Bionic 1,739 4,675

Unlike other Android phones or even the Pixel 5a with 5G, which uses an older — and slower — Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, the SE is powered by a processor used in flagship smartphones. It runs iOS 15.4 very smoothly and will likely handle any future version of the iOS quite well. I’d also call out that the original iPhone SE (released in 2016) is still receiving iOS updates and does run iOS 15.4, so you should be able to count on the new model being supported for many years to come.

Jacob Krol/CNN Underscored

The efficiencies of the A15 Bionic spread over into battery life. Apple says it’s packed a bigger battery into the third-generation iPhone SE and that you can expect 15 hours of video playback. That’s five hours more than what Apple promised for the second gen, which lasted for nine hours and 20 minutes in our testing.

I was able to make it through a full day before the iPhone SE gave me a low battery warning. That averaged out to about six hours of screen-on time, which is pretty solid but doesn’t come close to the 13-plus hours we got from the Pixel 5a with 5G. On our battery test — which is a looped 4K video — the third-generation iPhone SE lasted for 11 hours and 20 minutes.

5G arrives on the iPhone SE

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The affordable iPhone now supports the 5G bands that AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon offer most widely across the United States. The third-generation iPhone SE supports 5G Sub-6 — this is a network that’s easier to deploy, but it delivers speeds closer to 4G LTE, with more room for the device to stay on the network. A good comparison is a highway with more lanes: 4G LTE is a four-lane highway, and 5G Sub-6 is a six-lane highway. I accessed Sub-6 and found it to be perfectly fine, but nothing remarkable. 5G also didn’t cause a big hit on battery life here.

While I couldn’t test it, the iPhone SE supports 5G via C-Band networks, which claim to offer much faster speeds than 4G LTE or 5G Sub-6. You can also choose to use a physical SIM card or an eSIM on the iPhone SE.

There is no support for mmWave 5G networks on the iPhone SE, and this is the network to hit the “promised” and “advertised” super-fast speeds on a mobile network that can reach higher than a gigabit (1,000MBps) home network. You’ll need to pay up and get an iPhone 12 or 13 to access that network on an iPhone.

Bottom line

At $429, the third-generation iPhone SE is nearly a compromise-free budget phone experience. For the price, you get a device that behaves and performs like a modern iPhone in a petite build with a classic design. If you’re all right without multiple camera lenses and a big screen with a super-fast refresh rate, the SE deserves a look, considering it doesn’t require you to compromise on much else.

The iPhone SE should last for many years and could be an excellent first phone for someone. It’s also a worthy upgrade for those with a first-generation iPhone SE or an older iPhone 6, 6S, 7 or 8. We wouldn’t necessarily recommend jumping down from a Face ID-enabled device or a larger iPhone without seeing it in person. It is very tiny, after all.

There’s no immediate need to upgrade if you have the second-generation iPhone SE. That’s still an incredibly well-performing device, and we wish Apple had kept it in the line as an even more affordable model. But the iPhone SE gives you the performance of a much more expensive phone in a compact size, and has enough power and features to be future-proof for years to come.

Apple iPhone 8 Plus review: Classic look, future tech

Well, here we are. This year the time has come once more to cross to the dark side of the force, at least for a few days. All of us are anxiously waiting to try the brand new and (in its own way) revolutionary iPhone X, but we must not forget that Cupertino's company has also presented two other devices. But first, we will be analyzing the powerful iPhone 8 Plus. Which Android smartphone can rival the iPhone 8?

Accessories to the iPhone 8 shown off at IFA 2017

Rating

Good Long battery life

Perfect performance

High quality apps in the App Store

Best AR platform in the mobile world

Wireless Recharge

Telephoto lens

Video 4K 60 fps and 1080p 240fps 4K 60 fps and 1080p 240fps Bad Screen/front panel ratio

No audio jack

Somewhat heavy

Lack of manual mode in the camera

Heats up a lot under stress

Affiliate offer Apple iPhone 8 Plus To device database

Apple iPhone 8 Plus design and build quality At first glance, we don't quite have the impression of using a new smartphone. The front is perfectly identical to the previous generation and in my case it's white colored. It is on the back that we find the biggest differences. The old unibody aluminium shell has been replaced by glass. We find again the pair of protruding cameras that featured were featured on the iPhone 7 Plus. These cameras are now surrounded by a thin band of the same color and material as the phone's frame. Everything else (logo, etc.) is under the glass. Obviously, the smartphone tends to incline on a flat surface because of the bump that contains the cameras. Even the smallest iPhone 8 has the protruding camera. / © NextPit What I liked most about the Gold coloring of iPhone 8 Plus is the light cream-colored tint that we find under the rear glass, which matches very well with the red-copper color of the metal frame and Apple logo. The frame blends almost imperceptibly with the two glass panels present. In a certain light it is reminiscent of the Rose Gold coloring made famous by Apple and I find it the most pleasing of the three available colors. This creamy color closely resembles the Slickwraps retro skins and gives this iPhone an elegant, almost 1970's vintage look. A rosy retro look. / © NextPit The glass panel on the back helps grip, at least in my humble opinion glass smartphones slide less than aluminum smartphones in hand, but the opposite holds true on any other surface. It's impossible to place your smartphone on the bed, sofa, pillow or any other point not perfectly parallel to the ground without your smartphone sliding quickly in any direction. Too much attention must be paid to where the phone is placed, but this does not only apply to the iPhone 8 Plus. Apple has been working hard on the rear panel for a long time, making it the most durable back panel ever. We'll see what happens when the first iPhone 8 Plus hits the ground due to user carelessness. The smartphone is very awkward to handle and, although the 5.5-inch display is no longer considered huge today, the iPhone 8 Plus is very difficult to use with one hand. The weight of 202 grams makes this feeling of discomfort even worse. I find lighter smartphones with a larger display but smaller frames are much more comfortable to use in everyday life. The red-gold frame made me fall in love with the iPhone 8 Plus. / © NextPit In addition, I find that the power button on the right side is slightly too high to be easily reachable, but considering that you will be obliged to use the front home button to unlock your smartphone even if you don't use the TouchID, this isn't much of an issue. Small note: the Taptic Engine that replaces the vibration in iPhone's latest years is phenomenal and will make you forget that the Home button is "fake" by simulating the pressure click so precisely.

Apple iPhone 8 Plus display The iPhone 8 Plus has a 5.5-inch Retina HD display with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and 401 ppi. The technology used is IPS type and guarantees natural colors, fairly high brightness and sublime overall quality. It's hard to find full HD 5.5 inch panels that are so pleasant to look at. Unfortunately, there is no HDR mode, no 120Hz update frequency like iPad Pro and the ratio remains the classic 16:9. The iPhone 8 Plus's IPS screen has a high quality but lacks support for HDR content. / © NextPit Nothing exceptional, therefore, but despite everything, it is one of the best IPS displays you can find on the market. Personally I prefer AMOLED panels but I can't complain about this screen because of the wonderful rendering and the really nice calibration Apple has done with the colors. The display covers the entire DCI-P3 color range and has a True Tone function that adjusts the display temperature according to the ambient lighting and situation. For example: in a room with warm white light (yellow tendencies), the display will also tend slightly to yellow to balance the colors shown on the display with the surrounding environment. Blacks are not absolute and direct sunlight sometimes makes the display less visible but does not make it unusable. Apple's official website shows a contrast of 1300:1, which is far removed from the contrast values of OLED displays.

Apple iPhone 8 Plus special features With iOS 11, support for ARKit - Apple's virtual reality platform - was introduced. The company has provided developers with all the tools and APIs needed to develop applications that, with the help of the camera, can transform reality as we know it. Aim your smartphone at the sky and you'll see the constellations overlapping the camera images even in full daylight. Study the various organs of the human body walking around us as you observe them in three-dimensional interactive models. Build or destroy entire virtual worlds on the kitchen table with full freedom of movement to find the best viewing angle. Walk alongside extinct beasts thanks to DinosAR (which deserves a prize for the name at least). All this without the need for additional hardware. Thanks to LightSpace AR, you can draw in 3D. / © NextPit The applications that developers have been able to create are great and the iPhone 8 Plus is able to handle them effortlessly, even if a slight overheating can be detected. For now Apple, thanks to the large number of apps and their quality, confirms its leadership in virtual reality on mobile devices.

Apple iPhone 8 Plus software iOS 11 powers the iPhone 8 Plus and as every year the new iPhone is the best way to see what the latest version can do. There aren't many novelties but some important components of the OS have been improved. The control center can be customized and allows the use of Force Touch on some buttons to access advanced functions. Force Touch has also been integrated into notifications and you can now respond or interact with some notifications by simply pressing them forcefully on the display (don't get carried away, though). Screenshots have also been improved: now after capturing a screenshot, it will remain on the screen as a thumbnail for a few seconds allowing you to touch it and go directly to the editor where you can color, crop or rotate it. The new iOS 11 control center is as complete as the quick toggles on Android. / © NextPit For the first time in iPhone's history we also find a File Manager even if not in the true sense of the word. You'll have access to an area where you can create folders, manage files, copy and paste various items and even integrate with the main online hosting services. The problem is that it's not a real file manager and doesn't give us access to the real file system of the smartphone. This means that we can create our own folder structure within the application, but we will never really know where these folders are placed inside the iPhone memory. Nerd problems, I know... During the test for most of the time I used iOS 11.0.2 but on Wednesday evening I received the update to iOS 11.0.3. No news or bugfixes beyond those declared by Apple affect this smartphone and I have not noticed any difference between the two versions. For detailed information on iOS 11, please refer to this article written by my colleague Eric, who goes into more detail.

Apple iPhone 8 Plus performance As with every iPhone, the pure technical specifications aren't much to rave about. We don't find a 10 core processor or even 8GB of RAM. But often high specifications only serve to impress the audience with nice numbers on paper. It's true that the specifications count, but often (as happens with Mediatek processors) having so many cores and high frequencies doesn't mean anything if the resulting performance is bad. iPhone 8 Plus: benchmark results Smartphone 3D Mark Sling Shot Extreme ES 3.1 3D Mark Sling Shot ES 3.0 3D Mark Ice Storm Unlimited ES 2.0 OnePlus 5 3736 4441 40819 Samsung Galaxy S8+ 2527 2787 31829 iPhone 8 Plus 2675 3663 63361 On the other hand, on the iPhone 8 Plus we find an Apple A11 Bionic CPU that in some tests has proved to be the fastest on the mobile market. And by no small amount. However, this only applies to pure power benchmarks such as Geekbench. In other tests carried out by myself with the help of Futuremark software, the results are not so far removed from the competition, except in a specific case, but in some cases the scores fall below some Android competitors. But as we know, benchmarks have to be taken with some salt and they are not the only yardstick of comparison between two devices. Good but not great in Futuremark's 3D benchmarks. / © NextPit The iPhone 8 Plus runs flawlessly (no surprise) and performance in even the most complex 3D games is excellent. Never a drop in frames and never delays caused by the slowness of the hardware platform. Even AR functions have minimal latency, which is quite remarkable. Only once did I see the animation after unlocking the device slow down and lose frames but I think it was simply a small software bug as it didn't repeat in the hundreds of daily unlockings during the course of my review. If you are interested in technical data, the Apple A11 Bionic CPU, the same as iPhone X, is equipped with 6 cores: two high-performance and four high-efficiency CPUs as well as an NPU dedicated to performing artificial intelligence functions. This co-processor is what makes a real difference in performance and allows iPhone 8 Plus to perform complex tasks such as processing photo data in the shortest possible time. Other competitors are going down this road such as Huawei with the Kirin 970. Temperature before (l) and after (r) a fast 10-minute session with AR apps captured with FLIR One. / © NextPit All this power is clearly not exploited on this iPhone at present. As we well know, Apple continues to sell its smartphones for years after releasing them, which means that the power of the A11 could come back comfortably in the coming years and with future updates. AR modes and using ARKit are the only things that can stress the device a little and make it warm up. But despite the fact that your smartphone heats up easily under stress, it cools at the same speed. Apple has done a great job with heat dissipation. iPhone 8 Plus also features the new Bluetooth 5.0 which allows us to control two different devices at the same time, as well as improving the range of data transmission.

Apple iPhone 8 Plus audio The audio hasn't changed much on these iPhones, but there are some noteworthy additions. The audio jack is still missing and you can rest assured that you will never see it again Apple is not famous for retracting its footsteps. In the box you can find the usual EarPods with lightning cable and a lightning adapter - 3.5 mm jack. The main novelty is the system speakers. Like iPhone 7 Plus, this new device also has two stereo speakers: one facing downwards next to the charging port and the other is nothing more than the headset for calls. The system works as in some competitors' solutions, i. e. the bass speaker acts as a woofer, while the speaker acts as a tweeter while holding the smartphone vertically. True stereocan only be achieved by using the iPhone 8 Plus in landscape. What's new? This year's speakers are up to 25% more powerful without loss of quality. The microphone for calls (left), the lightning port (center) and the main speaker (right). / © NextPit As for the rest, I can say that I was amazed by the maximum power and I think the sound is rich enough to ensure an excellent experience when watching videos, playing games and using AR applications. The lower speaker position is always a shame in my opinion because you're likely to cover it easily, but few smartphones keep front stereo speakers nowadays.

Apple iPhone 8 Plus camera The photographic hardware on iPhone 8 Plus is no different from its predecessor. We find the main wide-angle lens equivalent to 28mm focal length and aperture f/1.8 and the secondary telephoto lens with focal length equivalent to 56mm and f/2.8. Only the main camera is stabilized with OIS optical stabilization. Both sensors are 12MP in size, and reading these specifications would be expected to change nothing compared to iPhone 7 Plus in terms of results quality. Nothing has changed on paper but the iPhone 8 Plus's camera has improved a lot compared to iPhone 7 Plus. / © NextPit It's here that the capabilities of iPhone 8 Plus and its new bionic A11 processor come into play. Despite the fact that the photographic hardware has not changed, image processing using artificial intelligence and the finished ISP software provides far better results. It is no coincidence that the company DxOMark, which takes charge of testing and evaluating the photographic qualities of smartphones (and other devices) has awarded him an astonishing 94 score equal to Note 8. The top spot for best smartphone camera never seems to be held by one device for long, and right now the Note 8 seems to have lost the throne. The two new Google Pixels with their score of 98 should guarantee even better photographic results. Telephoto lens without ISO. / © NextPit Speaking of concrete facts, my experience with the iPhone 8 Plus camera has been more than positive. The photos captured by the sensors are rich in colors and never overly saturated like those taken with my Galaxy S8 Plus. Contrasts are good and the dynamic contrast range is sufficient. The only thing I have to make is the quality of the photos in the dark. It's really difficult to get a good result not because of the lack of brightness but because of the few possible settings in Apple's software. Photos taken in automatic mode can be under-exposed or sometimes overexposed as you can see from my picture gallery. There is a picture of the Berlin TV tower where you can see the clouds. At night. At first impression I was amazed but then I noticed that actually in reality the scene was totally different and the photo completely overexposed (which at night had never happened to me before). Without various features such as exposure time, focal aperture, ISO and others, Apple severely limits the experience of the more demanding users. Despite everything, Apple has one of the best mobile cameras in the market, and for most users that's fine. It's easy to get magnificent photos by simply framing the scene and pressing the shutter release button. Stage Lighting is the new feature introduced in Portrait mode. / © NextPit The portrait mode that can create the now mandatory bokeh effect has been improved by adding the stage lighting mode. In this mode, we can set various light conditions added to the face of the subject and background. Unfortunately, it does not always work as it should and the results must be taken for what they are. Good on certain occasions and forgotten in others. The iPhone 8 Plus (together with iPhone 8 and iPhone X) is the first smartphone in the world to record 4K resolution video at 60 frames per second and the results are amazing. Just think that some professional mirrorless cameras, even though they have better sensors, do not possess this capability, even if obviously at lower resolutions the results are of higher quality. Also present is the 240fps slow-motion mode which jumped from 720p to 1080p. Videos recorded with this iPhone will amaze even Apple skeptics.

Apple iPhone 8 Plus battery The iPhone 8 Plus's battery is only 2675 mAh, smaller than iPhone 7 Plus. Despite this, Apple has, as every year, done a great job of hardware and software optimization. Although it maintains iPhone performance at the top of the ranking, consumption is minimal. The level of use that usually sees my Android smartphones needing to be charged in the evening doesn't bother iPhone 8 Plus until late the next day. Same two synchronized Gmail accounts as well as the iCloud account. Same social use: Facebook, Twitter with two profiles, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+. Same messaging apps as Whatsapp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, Slack and Hangouts. All notifications enabled in push. No energy saving and use of 4G/LTE at all times except at home and in the office where I use Wi-Fi. All Google apps (which I normally use) installed, localization allowed to all apps. If you can think of any other bad habit that causes a high power consumption I certainly have it. I've never wanted to change my habits to save battery power because I think I should be free to use my smartphone without giving up any features. Numbers I've never managed to beat with Android competitors. / © NextPit Despite this with the iPhone 8 Plus I have managed to stay 37 hours away from the charger with more than 9h of heavy use and still 8% of battery remaining. For me, this is more than a success since I usually reach about 15 hours away from the charger with 4-5 hours of use on Android smartphones with the same apps running. Unfortunately, I don't have any data to compare this result with previous iPhone models as the devices I've tried in recent years didn't have all these apps and accounts set up. In addition, I have never held an iPhone for more than a month to verify the consistency of these results over time. But just know that in my trial period of a couple of weeks with the iPhone 8 Plus the results have always been constant. It is also true, however, that using augmented reality applications and ARKit will drain the battery very quickly. However, since that is not part of the daily routine of most users, it's no big deal to me. Despite my reckless use, the battery life of iPhone 8 Plus is incredible! / © NextPit The newest wireless charging feature on all three 2017 iPhone versions is welcome. It's not fast but is better than nothing. Yes, yes, it's true, we Android users have had wireless charging for years but now that Apple has adopted it using an existing standard (i. e. Qi) we'll all benefit from it. Like all smartphones with wireless charging we'll have to be very careful about how we place iPhone 8 Plus on the charging base to make it work properly. An inch too much out of the center and your smartphone will not charge. This is a problem that you notice more with large phones like this one. Wireless charging makes the back of the device much warmer than conventional charging. There is a wired recharging option but the charger included in the box remains the classic 5W. Of course you can take your 12W charger from the Apple Retail Store to your home, which will save you about an hour on charging from 0% to 100%. It has to be said that considering the price of your smartphone, I expected to find one in the box.

Apple iPhone 8 Plus technical specifications

iPhone SE novo e antigo, qual compacto da Apple comprar? | Comparativo

iPhone baratinho é o sonho de muitos brasileiros. O mais acessível atualmente é o iPhone SE lançado em 2016, mas eis que depois de quatro anos finalmente temos uma atualização do aparelho. O problema é o seu preço cobrado aqui no Brasil, que vai acabar afastando muitos interessados na novidade. Será que vale pagar o que a Apple está pedindo ou é melhor economizar e ir no mais barato? É isso que o TudoCelular vai te ajudar a descobrir.

Índice do comparativo

Design

Apple iPhone SE

Apple iPhone SE 2016

O que as duas gerações do iPhone SE têm em comum? Ambas reaproveitam peças antigas para reduzir o custo de produção do produto. O primeiro SE lançado em 2016 herdou o design do 5s lançado lá em 2013, mas vindo com o mesmo hardware do iPhone 6s. É a mesma estratégia com o novo SE. Ele reaproveita a carcaça do iPhone 8, mas vem com mesmo processador do iPhone 11. Ou seja, o novo está maior e mais pesado. Ganhou mais tela e perdeu um pouco das bordas. Por mais que tenha crescido, o iPhone SE 2020 ainda é um celular compacto, se compararmos com rivais Android, sendo fácil de usá-lo com uma mão.

O antigo tem laterais retas, enquanto o novo apresenta curvatura que torna o aparelho mais ergonômico. O acabamento é diferente, sendo metal na traseira do primeiro SE e vidro no mais recente. Isso pode ter tornado o aparelho mais frágil contra quedas, mas em troca você leva proteção contra água e suporte a carregamento sem fio. E claro, o novo tem tecnologias mais atuais como Wi-Fi de última geração e Bluetooth 5.0, mas deixa de lado a entrada padrão para fones de ouvido. E a nossa disputa começa com o novo SE levando o primeiro ponto.

Multimídia e software

Tela e som

Como dito, o novo traz tela maior, mas esta não é a única diferença. Enquanto o mais antigo tem painel IPS LCD mais simples, o mais atual traz tela Retina IPS LCD. O brilho é mais forte e o contraste muito maior do que antes, o que faz a cor preta ser menos acinzentada. O modelo 2020 também vem com alguns extras, como suporte a HDR10 e Dolby Vision, o que permitirá ter imagens mais bonitas com serviços de streaming compatíveis com estas tecnologias. Também há suporte ao TrueTone, que calibra a tela de acordo a luz do ambiente, e o Night Shift para redução de luz azul para evitar cansaço visual ao usar o celular no escuro. A parte sonora também evoluiu. Agora temos som estéreo como nos recentes iPhones. O SE 2020 usa o alto-falante de chamadas como canal secundário. Por ser menor, ele não consegue reproduzir bem graves, mas entrega mesma potência. A experiência sonora é superior ao antigo modelo, seja na potência ou qualidade do som. O fone que vem junto com o aparelho é praticamente o mesmo há anos. Apenas o tipo de plug que mudou, já que o novo não tem mais entrada P2. Ambos os iPhones mandam bem em músicas e entregam som limpo com pouca distorção. O mais antigo tem a vantagem de poder conectar qualquer fone que você possua sem precisar usar adaptador. O iPhone SE 2020 leva ponto por melhor tela, enquanto na parte sonora damos um ponto a cada.

Software

O primeiro SE chegou ao mercado com iOS 9 e de lá para cá foi atualizado até a versão atual do sistema da Maçã, que é a mesma que o novo SE já traz de fábrica. Isso mostra o quanto a Apple se compromete com atualizações do sistema, diferente das outras marcas que apostam no Android e deixam de lado seus produtos pouco tempo após o lançamento. A experiência de uso é praticamente a mesma entre os dois. A vantagem para o mais novo fica para o suporte a atualizações que deve durar até 2025, enquanto o primeiro SE só deve receber mais uma ou duas versões do sistema. Com isso damos ponto para o SE 2020.

Desempenho

Quanto menor o tempo, melhor

Com quatro anos de diferença entre as duas gerações, podemos esperar um salto grande em desempenho, certo? Depende. Em nosso teste padronizado de velocidade, o novo SE foi 14s mais rápido que o antigo. É uma diferença boa, mas esperávamos mais. Isso fica claro em benchmarks. O modelo de 2020 consegue números muito maiores em todas as ferramentas, e no caso do AnTuTu chega a dar uma diferença de 200%, o que mostra um belo avanço no hardware da Apple. Em jogos também se percebe que o novo é mais rápido. Todos os jogos que testamos rodaram lisos a 60 fps, enquanto o antigo apresenta algumas quedas, mas ainda assim dá conta do recado. O que importa é que o iOS é mais bem otimizado para games que o Android, e mesmo um celular antigo como o primeiro SE apresenta melhor desempenho que intermediários atuais da concorrência. E o novo SE leva mais um ponto por ter melhor desempenho.

Bateria

Quanto maior o tempo, melhor (exceto recarga)

Se tem algo que iPhone sempre decepcionou foi a bateria. O modelo de 2020 traz bateria maior, mas também tem tela maior para ser alimentada. Ainda assim tivemos um pequeno ganho de autonomia, mas a verdade é que se você exigir do aparelho ele vai te deixar na mão. Em uso mais leve é até possível ter carga para o dia todo, mas basta jogar um pouco ou ver vídeos no YouTube para a bateria voar. Não importa qual você escolha aqui, será bom levar uma power bank com você. O carregador é o mesmo de 5W de sempre e com o aumento de bateria o novo SE passa ainda mais tempo na tomada. Esperar quase 3 horas para um celular recarregar na correria que é a nossa vida atualmente, é bastante complicado. E mesmo que use um carregador mais potente, ainda demora um bocado para ter a bateria cheia. Damos empate: o novo tem maior autonomia, enquanto o antigo recarrega mais rápido.

Câmeras

Os dois contam com apenas uma câmera na traseira com a mesma resolução de 12 MP, mas elas não são iguais. O sensor evoluiu e a abertura focal aumentou, o que ajuda a registrar fotos mais claras à noite. O primeiro SE é da época que a Apple sofria para acompanhar as concorrentes em câmera. Com isso em mente, ele entrega fotos apenas razoáveis. É possível capturar boas imagens em situações favoráveis, mas em dias nublados, locais fechados ou mesmo à noite, a qualidade cai bastante. O novo SE traz a mesma câmera do iPhone 8, porém com recursos do iPhone 11 como o Smart HDR. Sem falar que o chip mais atual da Apple trabalha melhor nas imagens. No geral, o novo SE registra fotos muito melhores. Só faltou modo noturno para ficar completo. Ponto para o modelo 2020 por melhor câmera.

Fotos tiras com o Apple iPhone SE

Na parte frontal a diferença é ainda maior. O antigo tem uma câmera de apenas 1,2 MP e sofre bastante em locais fechados. Selfies à noite terá fotos cheias de granulados. Aqui o novo leva a melhor em qualquer tipo de cenário. O mesmo para o modo retrato, que está tão eficiente no novo SE que até supera o de alguns flagships Android que custam mais caro. E mais um ponto para novo SE por ser melhor para selfies.

Fotos tiradas com o Apple iPhone SE 2016

Por mais antigo que seja o primeiro SE, ele já era capaz de gravar vídeos em 4K. A diferença é o que novo também faz isso, mas com fluidez maior. Sem falar que há estabilização mais eficiente, suporte a HDR e melhor captura de áudio. A frontal grava em Full HD com estabilização impressionante, enquanto o antigo fica limitado apenas a HD e sofre com tremidos. Fechando a parte de câmera temos mais um ponto para o novo iPhone.

Preço

O iPhone SE já chegou a aparecer em ofertas por pouco mais de R$ 1 mil, mas seu preço disparou nas últimas semanas e agora pode ser encontrado por volta de R$ 2 mil. Ainda assim é mais barato que os mais de R$ 3 mil que a Apple está pedindo na nova versão do aparelho. É inegável que o modelo 2020 é melhor, mas se você busca o iPhone mais acessível, o antigo SE será a melhor opção. Encerramos o nosso comparativo dando o último ponto para o SE de 2016.

Conclusão

Apple demorou para atualizar o iPhone SE e depois de tantos anos vemos um salto grande entre os dois. Claro que a empresa está cobrando caro pela novidade aqui no Brasil, mas você leva um celular com design mais atual, tela superior, som estéreo, mais ágil e com melhor desempenho em jogos, maior autonomia de bateria e câmeras muito melhores. Vale a pena trocar o antigo pelo novo? Com certeza vale. Agora se você está na dúvida entre os dois, também é melhor pagar mais e ir no modelo 2020 que receberá atualizações do iOS por mais tempo. Agora se o preço do antigo voltar a cair e ele ficar pela metade do valor do novo, aí já será algo a se pensar.

RESULTADO

Apple iPhone SE: 9 PONTOS Melhor design e menos bordas

Tela superior com HDR10

Som estéreo mais potente

Atualizações do iOS por mais tempo

Melhor desempenho

Maior autonomia de bateria

Melhor câmera para fotos

Muito melhor para selfies

Filmadora mais completa

Apple iPhone SE 2016: 3 PONTOS Entrada para fones de ouvido

Menor tempo de recarga

Menor preço

Acha que o novo iPhone SE foi uma bela evolução comparado ao anterior ou esperava por um celular melhor? Comente abaixo.