New iPhone SE Features and specifications

Apple has launched the new iPhone SE, a new, smaller iPhone this is its most inexpensive phone yet.

The phone, it seems, is geared toward two companies: folks that are not too enamoured with the step by step growing length of iPhones in the previous few years and first-time consumers into the iOS ecosystem.

the new handset functions a 4-inch show in a go back to a sizing convention not used considering that 2013’s iPhone 5s, and borrows closely from its blocky, angular design language - complete with wide plastic antenna bands which stretch across the top and bottom of the handset. With the creation of the iPhone SE, Apple quietly retired the iPhone 5s, meaning as soon as the new handset goes on sale on March 31, it’ll be the best smaller iPhone available to shop for.

The iPhone SE features a new matte-chamfered edge 

In its choice of name, Apple is hinting at the legacy of the Macintosh SE from 1987, which, with its improved features, was a fresh take on the Macintosh Plus released in 1986. 

Size and appearance

For anyone who’s grown used to the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays first introduced with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in 2014, the iPhone SE will immediately feel incredibly small. It's an adjustment process - just as we once had to learn to accommodate phone’s mutation into beasts which require two hands to hold comfortably, we too can return to the smaller handset. This change of recent years means handling the iPhone SE for the first time feels like a novelty, and reminds me of when iPhones were even smaller at 3.5-inches. 

The space grey iPhone SE 

Its body is crafted from aluminum and now features a colour-matched stainless steel inset Apple logo, which appears as a subtle, darker shade than the phone’s shade. Apple has widely chosen to introduce the popular rose gold shade debuted with the iPhone 6s into the SE range, alongside the newly-announced 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

iPhone SE hands-onPlay!01:02

So bar the new colour and slight change to the logo, the iPhone SE really does bear a strong resemblance to the iPhone 5s. Its power button remains on the top right edge, the volume buttons are on the left hand side and the lightning port is still on the handset’s underside. The main points of differentiation lie under the hood - in the new powerful processor and software.

Performance and software

While the iPhone 5s shipped with the most powerful processor at the time, the AX7, the new AX9 is also used in the significantly more powerful iPhone 6s and iPad Pro, making the iPhone SE not only small, but incredibly powerful. The rear-facing camera’s been given a good bump from 8MP to 12MP too, and is capable of shooting 4K videos. 

The new and improved 12MP camera CREDIT: RHIANNON WILLIAMS/TELEGRAPH

While the iPhone SE does not feature the 3D Touch of the 6s cycle of phones, it does include Live Photos playback, allowing you to watch the brief animations created by stitching together several images into a composite shot by pressing on the still image. 

The new handset, like the 5s, sports an inbuilt Touch ID fingerprint sensor in its home button, but thanks to the addition of a near-field communication (NFC) chip, it's now capable of making payments and transactions via Apple Pay. It's my feeling that Apple is hoping to capitalise on growing appetite for mobile payments in burgeoning smartphone economies like China and India - after all, Greg Jozwiak said during the announcement that more than three million cards were registered to Apple Pay within its first three days of availability in China back in January. 

The iPhone SE is swift, powerful, and is the first smaller handset I've used in a long time when it doesn't feel as though compromises are being made. 

Verdict

I've written before about how I feel the iPhone SE is aimed at two types of customer - ones who can't get a feel for phablets and those in developing nations. It's a clever way of repackaging the features consumers like - Apple Pay, Live Photos, improved camera - in a popular pre-existing form, and there's little doubt in my mind it’ll prove extremely popular. For £379, there are few phones with as impressive specs for the same price that spring to mind.

Ultimately, it doesn’t necessarily matter whether consumers are buying it because it’s affordable or because it fits their requirements, the iPhone SE still represents Apple’s secret weapon in the face of slowing iPhone sales and weak economies. Underestimate it at your peril.