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
GPU Performance
Real-world GPU Performance of the iPhone SE should be pretty much the best on any mobile device on the market right now. Apple’s A13 already outperformed any other chipset out there in the iPhone 11 series, and the fact that the new SE now comes with an even lower resolution 1334 x 750 means that on-screen performance will be even better than what you’d experience on an iPhone 11.
In all our 3D tests, we see peak performance of the iPhone SE be near that of the other A13-powered iPhones, take a few frames here and there. Sustained performance is also extremely respectable, as the phone keeps up with the 11 series in most tests, which is again very impressive given its much smaller form-factor and correspondingly smaller thermal envelope.
Again, because this is a low-resolution screen, I have doubts users will even find real-world workloads that actually stress the phone enough for it to dip below V-sync limits, meaning when it comes to gaming, it’s going to be a incredibly future-proof phone – as long as you have the battery capacity for gaming.
Compared to the iPhone 8, even though we’re “only” talking about 2 generations difference in the SoCs, the new iPhone SE is essentially double, in some cases more than double, faster than the A11-based counterpart.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
196 Comments
View All Comments
Alistair - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
it's a long time trick to make screens longer and longer to inflate the specs, you need to look at the width of the screen which is fine, I don't care if it is technically 4.7 inches, you can build a 6 inch screen just as wide, but taller, and I wouldn't want thatweevilone - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
I really felt this moving from the 6+ to the 11. The loss of screen width really meant that the display size was a net downgrade regardless of specs.Alistair - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
Yeap for me personally I felt the screen on the original SE was too small, but the iPhone 8 screen size is fine, I just wanted an all screen front (fingerprint on the back). I'll take the SE 2020 though, the screen is wide, but the phone is lightweight.heffeque - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
It's not a trick, it's having a phone that is mostly the size of the screen. I have a Mi 9T and couldn't be happier that it doesn't even have a camera in sight. I can read a lot more text without scrolling, which IMPOV is great.Alistair - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
Also you might have missed it, but the battery life was about the same screen on time as the S20 at 120hz, or more battery life on standby than that phone. Not amazing, but not bad either.sonny73n - Saturday, April 25, 2020 - link
4 hours of general usage for a fully charged battery in 2020 is LAME.cha0z_ - Wednesday, July 29, 2020 - link
Having iphone 6s as secondary phone - the screen size is fine tbh, tho I would not use anything smaller. Bezels are big, but you got a really good physical FP scanner (can't stress that enough, a top end recent android phones I have are with far inferior FP scanners to the 6s. Including those with physical like the note 9 I have) + in person it does look good and premium. Dunno, hard to explain. Friend of mine have iphone SE and the battery life is quite good actually for the size of the phone/battery. Easily 5-6 hours screen with heavy usage and no power saving features + mobile data a lot of the time, navigation, carplay, calls, music playing and so on... my point is that the battery is not bad at all for daily charging. Fun fact, exynos s20 ultra is not much better at 120Hz in the battery department with it's huge battery. :)I totally agree on your last sentence tho, media calling 400$ phones as budget ones is baffling, but yet again - phones now chase the 1500$ mark... so maybe they have a point.
Alexvrb - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
I know a couple of other holdouts that are probably going to make this their next upgrade. :PGood specs and decent price too.
YB1064 - Monday, April 27, 2020 - link
I'm still rocking the old 4inch SE as well. One of the best phones ever made. Phones these days are tablets, that require a backpack to carry.yetanotherhuman - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
"outright diminutive stature."You spelled "reasonable, normal size for a smartphone" in a weird manner.