The unique iPhone SE launched in 2016, the exact same 12 months because the flagship iPhone 7. 4 years on, the iPhone SE (2020) takes components of each and combines them with some punchy trendy parts.
All of which raises an attention-grabbing (and distinctly first world) dilemma for iPhone 7 house owners seeking to improve. Whenever you purchased your final cellphone, it was the highest canine. However do that you must splash the money on an iPhone 11 Professional and even an iPhone 11 when the iPhone SE (2020) exists?
There’s just one factor for it. It’s time to pitch the iPhone SE (2020) and the iPhone 7 towards each other to see the place the 2 telephones intersect and the place they differ. Is Apple’s latest cellphone a worthwhile improve?
A number of months on from its launch and our overview, we’ve acquired a reasonably good deal with on the iPhone SE (2020) and what it has to supply. Right here’s the way it stacks as much as its creaky antecedent.
iPhone SE (2020) vs iPhone 7 value and availability
The 64GB iPhone SE (2020) has been out there for $399 / £419 / AU$749 from Apple and all good third-party retailers since April 24, 2020. That value edges as much as $449 / £469 / AU$829 for 128GB and $549 / £569 / AU$999 for 256GB.
Apple not provides the iPhone 7, which launched on September 16, 2016. Nonetheless, loads of third-party retailers proceed to supply the iPhone 7 model new. You simply want to buy round on-line somewhat.
This implies you can decide up a brand new 32GB iPhone 7 for effectively south of its $649 / £599 / AU$1,079 launch value. For instance, on the time of writing, Amazon UK is providing the 32GB iPhone 7 for £295 (round $376 / AU$531).
You may go a lot decrease in the event you’re keen to simply accept one of many many refurbished iPhone 7 models in circulation. Within the US, an Amazon Renewed iPhone 7 32GB prices simply $193 (about £150 / AU$270) on the time of writing.
Design
The iPhone SE (2020) and the iPhone 7 share the identical design DNA. Each telephones, along with the iPhone 6S and iPhone eight, are delicate evolutions on the iPhone 6 blueprint launched again in 2014.
They’ve the identical form as each other, the identical small four.7-inch IPS LCD show flanked by the identical chunky brow and chin, and the identical Contact ID sensor hidden within the residence button.
For all that exterior sameness, although, they’re not equivalent. The iPhone SE (2020) is ever so barely greater by a few fractions of a millimeter in all instructions. The newer cellphone can be 10g heavier at 148g.
That weight disparity can largely be put all the way down to the truth that the iPhone SE (2020) has a glass again, whereas the iPhone 7 is all-metal. This really makes the iPhone SE (2020) really feel much more trendy and high-end than the iPhone 7, to not point out somewhat simpler to grip. In fact, it’s additionally extra susceptible to beauty injury.
These adjustments are reflective of the truth that the iPhone SE (2020) is definitely utilizing the iPhone eight as its place to begin slightly than the iPhone 7. So whereas they may look very comparable, iPhone 7 customers might be reassured that they might really be getting a more energizing, extra refined design in the event that they upgraded to an iPhone SE (2020).
Each telephones are IP67 rated, and neither has a headphone jack. On this entrance, the iPhone 7 a minimum of has the advantage of transport with a Lightning to three.5mm adapter. The iPhone SE (2020) omits this helpful (although easy-to-lose) adapter, so maintain maintain of it in the event you’re upgrading.
Show
The launch of the iPhone X in 2017 launched a brand new section of front-filling OLED display know-how to the iPhone vary. However you wouldn’t know that by wanting on the iPhone SE (2020)’s show, which intently resembles that of the iPhone 7.
Each are four.7-inch IPS LCDs, with the very same 750 x 1334 decision, 625 nits most brightness, and large colour gamut help. As LCD know-how goes, each are crisp and vibrant, although we discovered that the iPhone SE (and by extension the iPhone 7) doesn’t get as vivid as we’d like in open air circumstances by trendy flagship requirements.
There are a few minor variations between the 2 shows, although. One is that the iPhone SE (2020) comes with Apple’s True Tone know-how, which adjusts the colour tone of the image based on the ambient mild. You don’t get this optionally available eye-preserving function with the iPhone 7.
Conversely, the iPhone 7 packs Apple’s 3D Contact know-how, which implies that its display is delicate to stress. As with the iPhone 11 household, the iPhone SE (2020) ditches this function.
This isn’t really a lot of a bonus for the iPhone 7, although, as Apple has step by step rolled again its 3D Contact implementation inside iOS. Only some previous apps and video games actually take correct benefit of it these days.
Digital camera
To date we’ve been enjoying spot the distinction with the iPhone SE (2020) and the iPhone 7. However the digital camera is the primary space the place there’s a marked disparity between the 2.
By way of hardware, the 2 telephones are a minimum of a era aside. Although each use 12MP f/1.eight single sensors with optical picture stabilization (OIS), the iPhone SE (2020) makes use of the iPhone eight’s newer hardware slightly than the iPhone 7’s.
However the distinction is much more pronounced while you issue within the iPhone SE (2020)’s use of the A13 Bionic chipset, and the vastly improved picture processing capabilities that this chipset brings.
With these iPhone 11-level smarts on board, the iPhone SE (2020) takes faster, sharper, extra correct pictures in all circumstances, together with low mild (though there’s no Evening mode in both).
We even discovered the outcomes to be similar to the iPhone 11 Professional Max normally vivid circumstances. Or definitely far nearer to Apple’s present flagship than to the iPhone 7, at any price.
The iPhone SE (2020) can even take Portrait pictures. Certain, they’re inferior to on iPhones with devoted second lenses. However they’re nonetheless first rate, and are definitely higher than no Portrait mode in any respect, which is what the iPhone 7 offers.
Specs and efficiency
As we’ve already alluded to, the most important hardware distinction between the iPhone SE (2020) and the iPhone 7 is an inner one. The newer gadget may look quite a bit like its 2016 ancestor, nevertheless it’s powered by the identical silicon as its 2019 brothers.
The A13 Bionic chipset that runs the iPhone SE (2020) is identical as that of the iPhone 11 household, which continues to be simply concerning the quickest cell chipset available on the market virtually a 12 months on from launch. By comparability, the iPhone 7’s A10 Fusion merely doesn’t compete.
The iPhone SE (2020) has 3GB of RAM subsequent to the iPhone 7’s 2GB, too. This makes all the things tick alongside that little bit smoother on the newer cellphone, and allows extra apps to stay suspended within the background.
The outcomes from the iPhone SE (2020)’s supercharged internals are outstanding. Opening and switching between apps is way faster on the iPhone SE (2020) than on the iPhone 7, whereas superior duties like exporting an iMovie and compressing a 1080p four-and-a-half minute video are extra similar to the iPhone 11 Professional Max. Severely, the iPhone 7 doesn’t even get shut.
For sure, in the event you’re an avid gamer, the iPhone SE (2020) is a significantly better wager. It can run the entire newest 3D video games with out compromise, whereas the identical video games on the iPhone 7 might be much less fluid and will run at a decrease degree of complexity.
The opposite hidden advantage of the iPhone SE (2020)’s superior hardware is that it’s rather more future-proof than the iPhone 7. The older cellphone is close to the underside of the listing for ongoing iOS and app help, which suggests you’ll be able to count on it to drop off altogether over the subsequent couple of years. The iPhone SE (2020), in the meantime, will obtain ongoing software program help for a few years to return.
Battery
Right here’s an attention-grabbing quirk of the iPhone SE (2020). It is likely to be ever so barely greater and heavier than the iPhone 7, however its battery is definitely smaller.
The newer cellphone has a 1,821mAh battery, whereas the iPhone 7 makes use of a 1,960mAh unit. So, that’s a win for the iPhone 7 relating to battery life, proper?
Not so quick. The iPhone SE (2020) makes use of its smaller battery extra neatly than the iPhone 7, courtesy of the extra environment friendly A13 Bionic chipset. The result’s a cellphone that, based on Apple, “Lasts about the identical as iPhone eight”.
That equates to a quoted 40 hours of audio playback or 13 hours of video playback. Which, because it occurs, is a similar estimate to the iPhone 7.
Nonetheless, neither cellphone has something to boast about right here, and we discovered battery life to be a key grievance in each of our critiques. They’ll every final by way of a full day of sunshine to regular utilization, however solely simply, they usually fall a number of hours in need of the iPhone XR and iPhone 11 household.
When it comes time to recharge, the iPhone SE (2020) provides you extra choices. Its glass again is greater than a mere aesthetic selection, because it permits Qi wi-fi charging. With the iPhone 7, it’s a bodily Lightning charger or nothing.
Takeaway
The iPhone SE (2020) may take loads of its model from the iPhone 7, and each four.7-inch shows hark again to a earlier era of Apple telephones. However don’t let these exterior similarities idiot you – the iPhone SE (2020) is a way more trendy handset.
Its efficiency degree is a number of generations forward of the iPhone 7’s, courtesy of Apple’s newest processor. In the meantime, the superficially comparable digital camera hardware is nothing of the type while you break it down. The iPhone SE (2020)’s digital camera takes significantly better and extra assorted snaps.
Add in the truth that the iPhone SE (2020)’s iPhone 11-level underpinnings guarantee a a lot increased diploma of future-proofing, and we’d counsel that buying a brand new iPhone 7 could be a considerably shortsighted choice.
In case your funds is strictly restricted, and a brand new iPhone 7 falls inside that value vary, then it stays a stable cellphone. However the iPhone SE (2020) offers significantly better worth in the long term, and a way more fluid expertise within the right here and now.
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