Devices

iPhone SE 2020 announced

Published

3 years ago

April 15, 2020

Karl Sorensen

Apple finally announced the iPhone SE for 2020. It is mostly what we expected based on our coverage of the rumored iPhone 9/SE.

iPhone SE coverage

The iPhone SE is essentially an iPhone 8 that has been further refined and comes equipped with the latest specs. If you trace the lineage of the iPhone SE (2020) you can trace it back to the iPhone 6. That means that we had the iPhone 6, 6s, 7, 8 and now the iPhone SE (2020), that is five generations with what is essentially the same design.

Some of the major highlights are the A13 Bionic chip right out of the iPhone 12 series, Portrait mode on the 12MP rear and 7MP front cameras, up to 4K video recording, wireless charging three storage capacities at 64, 128 and 256GB and a $399 starting price with a free year of Apple TV Plus.

There was no Plus version of the iPhone SE announced today, but for those price conscious customers, the iPhone 8 Plus will continue to be sold in certain markets and the iPhone XR is still globally available.

As mentioned above, the iPhone SE has portrait mode using its single 12-megapixel camera sensor on the rear, with a 7-megapixel selfie camera on the front. Portrait mode only works on people, not pets, sorry pet lovers.

Now that the iPhone SE is equipped with the A13 Bionic enables many new capabilities like Smart HDR photography, which is the tech that combines multiple shots into a single photo to improve lighting and detail. It comes with optical image stabilization on video which Apple calls “Cinemetic” stabilization on video.

Unfortunately is only comes with the 5W charger in the box, the phone can support up to a 18W fast charger however.

Compared to the iPhone 8, it now comes with Wi-Fi 6, Gigabit LTE and dual SIM (the second SIM is the eSIM).

iPhone SE (2020) specs

Screen: 4.7-inch True Tone display
Rear cameras: 12-megapixel single 6-element lens, features OIS, flicker sensor for white balance, focus pixels, HDR, and portrait mode for people, video recording at 4K/60fps
Selfie camera: 7-megapixel camera
Dimensions: 67.3 x 138.4 x 7.3mm, 148 grams
Processor: A13 Bionic
Memory: Unknown
Storage: 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB
Battery: Uknown
OS: iOS 13
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Gigabit LTE, Dual SIM with eSIM
Biometric authentication: second-generation Touch ID fingerprint sensor
Wireless charging, Lightning connector, 5W charger included
IP67 protection

Apple is including a Product Red color as well as a White and Black. Until September 30, all proceeds from Product Red Apple devices and accessories will support coronavirus relief.