Apple iPhone SE (2016) review: The legacy lives on

Camera

Apple has fitted a 12-megapixel camera into the iPhone SE, which is the same resolution as on the iPhone 6S. There are a few minor differences in the sensors used, but the results are extremely similar.

As with Apple’s previous cameras, the iPhone SE is a great all-rounder, ably adapting to most situations to produce well-exposed shots with plenty of detail in them. In particular, the HDR mode manages to capture an excellent dynamic range, without over-processing the final shots, as you can see in the image below.

^ In low-light, the iPhone SE struggles a little more (as do most smartphones), with noise starting to creep into the images

Fortunately, the phone has a True Tone LED flash, which measures the ambient light and then fires the flash at the same colour temperature. The result is that images taken with a flash don’t have the hallmark tell-tale signs of a regular flash. Of course, you get all of the other modes that the iPhone 6S has, including panoramic shots and the same range of video modes: 720p (30fps), 1080p (30fps or 60fps) or 4K (30fps), plus slow-motion video (1080p at 120fps or 720p at 240fps).

Performance

Performance is one area that I can’t find any fault with, as the iPhone SE has the same 1.8GHz A9 processor and 2GB of RAM as the 6S line-up. In GeekBench, the iPhone SE scored 2,550 in the single-core test (the same as the iPhone 6S) and faster than the 2,115 scored by the Samsung Galaxy S7. In the multi-core test, the S7 takes the lead with a score of 6,437, but that’s a phone with four processors: the iPhone SE has a dual-core processor and still scored 4,444.

As with all of Apple’s phones, the slick combination of the processor, iOS and Safari make web browsing a super-smooth experience: the PeaceKeeper browser benchmark score of 4,761 makes the SE one of the fastest phones that Expert Reviews has tested. 

Battery life

Battery life is the one thing that people always wish would last longer on their phones, but the iPhone SE absolutely delivers on this front. Its 1,624mAh battery might sound pretty tiny compared to the 3,000mAh+ batteries found on Android phones, but its smaller screen requires a lot less power.

As a result, in the Expert Reviews battery test, which plays a video while running the screen at a brightness of 170cd/m2, the iPhone SE lasted an incredible 16h 46m. This is just shy of the Galaxy S7’s run time and 1h 48 minutes longer than the iPhone 6S lasted. Continues on Page 3