The iPhone SE (2020) Review: A Reinvigorated Classic
by Andrei Frumusanu on April 24, 2020 6:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Apple
- Smartphones
- iPhone SE
- Apple A13
- iPhone SE 2020
System Performance
Performance-wise, the inclusion of the new A13 chip should essentially blow the iPhone 8 out of the water given it’s two generations newer than the A11. For more details about the A13, please read our in-depth coverage of the chip in our review of the iPhone 11 series.
In the steady-state Javascript web benchmarks, the iPhone SE unsurprisingly matches the newer iPhone 11. In JetStream, the phone even gets a boost here, which might be due to the newer iOS version. I haven’t had the chance to re-test the older iPhones, but I’m certain the scores will level out across the A13 generation devices.
On WebXPRT 3, the iPhone SE did score quite a bit worse than the iPhone 11 phones. This test is more interactive in its workloads and more impacted by DVFS responsiveness, rather than just being a continuous stead-state load. It’s very much possible that Apple has tuned down the DVFS of the chip in order to remain at the more power efficient frequency states for more workloads. I haven’t had the time to update Xcode to run our workload ramp test yet – but it’s something that can be easily verified in a follow-up update on the topic.
Update April 29th:
I was also able to verify the CPU frequencies of the A13 in the iPhone SE, and the phone tracks identical peak frequencies as on the iPhone 11. This means that we're seeing 2.66GHz peak clocks on the Lightning cores when a single core is on, and up to around 2.59GHz when both cores are enabled. The Thunder cores clock in at up to 1.73GHz as well, just as on the iPhone 11’s.
The DVFS of the two phones is also identical – with the same ramp-up times between the SE and the iPhone 11. In general, any performance differences between the new SE and the flagship phones should simply be due to thermal characteristics of the smaller phone, possibly throttling things faster when under more strenuous workloads.
Overall Performance
Whilst I haven’t had too much time on the SE, the first impressions of the device are very much that this is just an as good experience as the iPhone 11 series. Much like on the iPhone 11 series, I actually feel that the raw performance of the hardware is actually hampered by the software, for example animations could be much shorter or even disabled in order to improve the user’s experience of speed and responsiveness. In either case, the iPhone SE’s performance is fantastic, and that’s due to the A13 chipset’s raw power.
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yeeeeman - Saturday, April 25, 2020 - link
This phone is LAME. Other than the chipset, everything is just 2016 at best...Screen is pathetic. My 100$ chinese phone has better resolution. Also it is oled.
The battery is just laughable. My Sony erricson from 2011 has a 1700mah battery lol.
It is just amazing how little iphone users are willing to get for their money.
toyeboy89 - Sunday, April 26, 2020 - link
I think 5 years of updates and excellent performance more than make up for some of it's shortcomings.justareader - Sunday, April 26, 2020 - link
Who uses a phone for 5 years? You are suggesting someone will still be using this retro phone in 2026. No way they will have cracked the screen way before 5 years go by. Updates are not that important unless they lock out features. I have old devices sitting in drawers and they aren't getting hacked.Tilmitt - Monday, April 27, 2020 - link
Phones last longer now as CPU progress has slowed. I went 4S -> 5S -> 6S and only plan on upgrading my 6S when the next generation comes out, so that'll be 5 years on a 6S.FakThisShttyGame - Monday, April 27, 2020 - link
Dude I literally used my 6S for 5 years and iPad Air 2 for 6 years...You hurt my feelings :(toyeboy89 - Monday, April 27, 2020 - link
Yes, someone could very well use this phone until 2026 with a couple of battery replacements along the way (like any phone)Deicidium369 - Sunday, April 26, 2020 - link
who the hell keeps a phone for 5 years? 1 year and it's in the junk drawertrparky - Friday, May 1, 2020 - link
I had an iPhone 7 Plus for three years and it was still fast as the day I bought it. Those of us who don't have bottomless money pit hang onto our phones longer.ThreeDee912 - Monday, April 27, 2020 - link
Every time somebody brings up resolution and OLED, I bring up this video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcFXEXJicgc
The old iPhone XR uses LCD and is only 828p but everyone prefers it over the 1080p budget OLED.
trparky - Friday, May 1, 2020 - link
Chinese phone? How do you like the fact that everything that you have on your phone is being transmitted back to China?Not only is Android spying on you but when you add China to the mix it becomes even more of a toxic hellstew of spying.