Roger Fingas
Battery life could be a key difference maker for the iPhone SE, as the smaller handset has been shown to last far longer than more expensive phones — including the iPhone 6s.
Under stress tests cycling through websites with uniform brightness, the SE managed 10 hours, according to the Wall Street Journal. That was over two hours better than the iPhone 6s, as well as the iPhone 5s, which like the SE has a 4-inch, 1,136-by-640 display. Screen-on time is often the biggest source of battery drain on a smartphone, with wireless connections being close competition.
The SE achieved nearly a three-hour lead over the Galaxy S7, Samsung's latest flagship smartphone, which does however have a 5.1-inch Quad HD (2,560-by-1,440) display. The more comparable iPhone 6s has a 4.7-inch 1,334-by-750-pixel panel.
The Journal noted that the SE's screen is inferior to the 6s not just in terms of size but also contrast, and a lack of 3D Touch support.
Preorders for the iPhone SE went live earlier today. The device will initially be available in 13 markets, but come to another 47 next month.
Price is the main selling point of the device, which — starting at $399 — is $250 less than the iPhone 6s, while still having the same A9 processor, 12-megapixel rear camera, and Apple Pay support.
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38 Comments
Apple seems to have done an excellent job both on creating a budget phone and recreating the 4" niche that so many people enjoyed. This phone appears to be a high performer, especially for the price.
cool thing is it's not a budget phone. it's a premium phone in at a bargain. i'd argue the 5/5S is a better phone design than the 6/6S
I don't think anyone cares with a screen that small if it's inferior to the iPhone 6s. And better battery life is to be expected from a thicker phone which is what many people wanted for years.
I don't think the thickness made much of a difference in the battery. It's battery is better because it's powering a smaller screen with lower resolution and no 3D Touch. Even though it's thicker, it likely has a smaller battery than the 6S. So it's not like that added thickness gave it more room for extra battery.
So if Apple has their head screwed on the right way around they make the 7 absolutely-no-thinner, squeeze in extra battery by pushing components down into the post-headphone-jack area and use the additional efficiency offered by the A10 to push battery life to the next level. And when iPhone reaches a full day of heavy use with some juice left, only then consider going thinner the next year—with the condition that same or better battery life is reached. That's what people actually want.
The thin for design race is over, no one wants thinner anymore if it means they need to connect to an outlet.
Battery cases should only be reserved for weekend camping trips without power or other exceptional circumstances.