iPhone SE 2022 vs. iPhone 7: Should you upgrade?

iPhone SE 2020 vs. iPhone vii: Should you upgrade?

(Prototype credit: Apple tree)

Anyone who thinks Apple doesn't release affordable phones should get familiar with the iPhone SE 2020. Released nearly ii years ago, this meaty iPhone featured specs that matched the leading iPhones at the fourth dimension for a very low price. These days, the iPhone SE'southward $399 toll is $300 less than the $699 iPhone 13 mini.

That makes the iPhone SE a pretty compelling option for budget-minded users, particularly those nonetheless property on to the iPhone vii. That phone is now more v years old, but with people holding on to their handsets for longer periods of fourth dimension, we're pretty certain there are withal iPhone vii and iPhone 7 Plus models out there — especially since those phones can run iOS 15, the electric current version of Apple tree's iPhone software.

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If it's time for you to upgrade from that older phone, the iPhone SE is certainly going to be a step upward from what you lot have now. Even then, it helps to look at any iPhone SE vs. iPhone 7 differences to go a sense of just how big a jump forwards you'll be making.

Here's a closer look at the improvements Apple has made with the iPhone SE to its flagship device from a few years agone. If you are considering an upgrade and weren't swayed past the iPhone 13 release in the autumn, yous may desire to expect a few months longer, as the iPhone SE 3 is expected to arrive this spring.

iPhone SE 2020 vs. iPhone 7: Specs compared

	iPhone SE 2020	iPhone vii
Screen size (Resolution)	iv.7-inch Retina HD (1334 past 750)	4.7-inch Retina HD (1334 by 750)
CPU	A13 Bionic	A10 Fusion
RAM	3GB (rumored)	2GB
Storage	64GB, 128GB, 256GB	32GB, 128GB, 256GB
Rear camera	12MP (f/i.8)	12MP (f/1.8)
Front camera	7MP (f/2.2)	7MP (f/2.ii)
Battery size	1,821 mAh	1,960 mAh
Size/Weight	five.45 10 two.65 x 0.29 inches/5.22 ounces	five.44 x two.64 x 0.28 inches/4.87 ounces
Colors	Blackness, White, Product Red	Jet Black, Black, Silver, Golden, Rose Gold, Production Cerise

iPhone SE 2020 vs. iPhone 7: Price

The iPhone SE starts at $399 for a 64GB version. Double the storage to 128GB and yous'll pay $449. The 256GB model costs $549. Even with new iPhone models out, Apple has held the price on the iPhone SE — but the iPhone XR ($499) and iPhone 11 ($599) have seen price cuts.

Considering the iPhone SE has been out for just about two years, we're at present seeing discounts, mostly in the form of rebates if you trade in a device when buying the iPhone SE from a carrier. Nosotros're tracking the best iPhone SE deals around.

The iPhone SE costs less than what Apple charged for the iPhone 7 when that phone debuted at in 2016. Back so, the iPhone 7 started at $649, though obviously the toll has fallen as newer models have come up out. These days, you can find an iPhone 7 for less than $200 at disbelieve carriers and retail sites, though in many cases, you'll be picking upwardly a used model.

At that place's one matter about the iPhone SE'due south price that's peculiarly relevant to iPhone seven users: Apple is offer a discount on its new telephone when you trade in older models. iPhone 7 owners can knock off as much as $40 from the price of their iPhone SE, while the iPhone 7 Plus fetches up to $100 in rebates.

iPhone SE 2020 vs. iPhone 7: Design and brandish

While the iPhone SE is almost notable for co-opting the iPhone viii's design, that's essentially the look and feel of the iPhone 7, as well — a four.7-inch screen surrounded by mesomorphic bezels on the superlative and bottom. Below the screen, at that place'due south a Touch ID-supporting dwelling house button. It's as if the iPhone X-style designs of the by few years never happened at all.

Put the iPhone vii and iPhone SE 2020 side-by-side and you'd need a very good ruler to find any size disparities. There's only fractional differences between the v.45 x 2.65 x 0.29-inch iPhone SE and the 5.44 x 2.64 10 0.28-inch iPhone 7. The new iPhone weighs a piffling bit more, at 5.22 ounces to the iPhone 7'south 4.87-ounce weight.

On paper, the screens would appear to be the same, as both phones feature LCD panels with 1334 x 750 resolution. Merely there have been advances in display technology since the iPhone 7 first came out. The iPhone SE supports True Tone, allowing it to adapt color temperature on the brandish based on ambient lighting.

For what it's worth, the iPhone SE screen is somewhat brighter than the iPhone 7'southward, measuring at 653 nits with a light meter. When nosotros tested an iPhone 7 Plus back in 2016, that phone topped out at 578 nits. The LCD panels on both phones captured comparable percentages of the sRGB color spectrum, so y'all won't see much divergence in color range.

Other blueprint elements of the iPhone SE volition be familiar to iPhone vii owners, for good and for bad. The newer phone has an IP67 water-resistance rating, pregnant a dunk in one meter of h2o for 30 minutes shouldn't pose a trouble. That'due south unchanged from the iPhone 7, as is the lack of a headphone jack on either telephone.

iPhone SE 2020 vs. iPhone 7: Cameras

Hither's where the new begins to distance itself from the old. The iPhone SE features a single rear photographic camera, much like the iPhone 7 did. (The iPhone 7 Plus actually 1-ups the iPhone SE with a second telephoto lens that provides a true optical zoom.) But while the iPhone SE and iPhone seven both sport 12MP lenses with apertures of f/i.8, that'south where the similarities stop.

For starters, the iPhone SE's rear sensor has more in common with the single rear lens Apple included in 2018's iPhone XR, and that phone definitely improved upon the picture-taking skills of previous single-lens iPhones. In addition the A13 Bionic processor powering the iPhone SE — more on that improvement in a moment — helps with computational photography past way of the chipset'southward built-in neural engine.

With the iPhone SE's camera, you'll go Smart HDR, which tin highlight more details in the faces of the people y'all photograph. The iPhone SE can too create lighting effects and control the depth of field on portraits. You'll also exist able to take portrait shots with both the rear and 7MP front camera on the iPhone SE. All of that's across the skill fix of the iPhone seven.

The biggest missing characteristic on the iPhone SE — well, aside from that 2nd lens — is support for the Night mode rolled out with last year's iPhone 11 models. That ways when you lot're in a darkly lit room, you'll demand to rely on the iPhone SE's flash. That's not a feature the iPhone 7 offered either, so it's not like anyone upgrading phones will miss what they never had.

Nosotros don't take an iPhone 7 handy to shoot photo comparisons, but the caput-to-caput comparisons we've done with the new iPhone SE and other phones have convinced u.s.a. that information technology belongs on the list of all-time camera phones, even with its lone rear lens. At this indicate, though, the Pixel 5a from Google is the ameliorate low-price camera option.

iPhone SE 2020 vs. iPhone 7: Performance and software

The iPhone SE 2020 features the A13 Bionic processor, the same Apple tree-designed chipset that powers the iPhone eleven, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone xi Pro Max. Prior to the release of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 with their superior chips, the A13 produced the best results at the time for our our mobile benchmarks. Fifty-fifty though the iPhone 13 now reigns as the speed king cheers to its A15 Bionic fleck, it's prophylactic to say the iPhone SE dusts the iPhone 7 and its A10 Fusion chip.

According to Apple, the iPhone SE offers up to 1.8 times the CPU performance of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus and up to 2.8 times the graphics power.

Put another way, the iPhone SE scored 3,226 on the multi-cadre test and 1,337 on the single-core portion of the Geekbench five functioning examination. Those numbers are comparable to what the iPhone eleven put up. We imagine the iPhone 7 would have a hard time keeping step with its iv.5-year-erstwhile processor.

The base model of the iPhone SE features double the storage of the paltry 32MB that the iPhone vii offered. However, the iPhone seven did come up in 128GB and 256GB capacities as well, matching Apple tree'south latest phone.

The software feel on both phones is pretty much the same. As we mentioned, the iPhone vii is capable of running iOS xv, though apps will probably exist a trivial peppier on the newer iPhone SE. Too, some functions of iOS 15 won't work on the iPhone 7, as they require at to the lowest degree an A12-powered iPhone.

iOS 16 is expected to come up out later this year, and we figure that Apple tree will still support the iPhone SE 2020. (The original iPhone SE won't be so lucky, nosotros hear.) The iPhone 7 is likely to make the cutoff for iOS 16 back up, only simply barely, according to rumors.

iPhone SE 2020 vs. iPhone 7: Battery life and charging

Here's one area where iPhone 7 users who upgrade to the iPhone SE might non notice much of a difference. The iPhone SE has an ane,821 mAh battery, according to teardowns. (Apple never discloses battery size.) That's actually smaller than the 1,960 mAh power pack in the iPhone 7.

Apple says the iPhone SE should take about the same battery life as the iPhone 8, which showed a marginal improvement over the iPhone 7 when we ran our tests years ago. To that end, the iPhone SE averaged 9 hours, eighteen minutes on our battery exam involving continuous surfing over LTE. That'southward below boilerplate for a current smartphone and well behind what the iPhone 11 delivers.

The iPhone SE 2020 can avowal something the iPhone 7 doesn't have — wireless charging support. Using any Qi-compatible charger, yous can juice upwardly your iPhone SE without wires. That's good because the wired charger that ships with the iPhone SE is the same old five-watt Lightning charger equally before. If you want to charge your new phone faster, you'll accept to pay for an xviii-watt charger separately.

iPhone SE 2020 vs. iPhone 7 verdict: Upgrade or turn to some other iPhone?

Although it looks like to the iPhone vii, the iPhone SE is a big bound frontwards from Apple tree'due south flagship from a few years agone, and a meliorate bargain to boot. You get much faster operation, better cameras and wireless charging support, making for a more futurity-proof telephone in the iPhone SE.

But upgrading isn't every bit cut-and-stale as it might have been a few months back. We're hearing more nearly a new version of the iPhone SE that'due south coming in early 2022. And while the iPhone SE 3 is unlikely to introduce a new design, nosotros would expect information technology to adopt the A15 Bionic chip plant in the current top-of-the-line iPhones. That means 5G compatibility, which is missing from the current iPhone SE.

There'due south also the fact that Apple has released other iPhones since the iPhone SE's 2020 release. These include the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini, both of which are more compact than the SE. They're not as cheap, though — nosotros've mentioned the iPhone 13 mini'south $699 price, and the iPhone 12 mini costs $599.

And that brings usa back to the iPhone SE 2020'due south big appeal — the way information technology balances value with a compact size. If you capeesh smaller phones and don't want to pay top dollar, the iPhone SE is a worthwhile comeback over the iPhone 7 — though the iPhone SE 3's promise makes information technology worth waiting for that phone's expected launch.

Philip Michaels is a senior editor at Tom'south Guide. He has strong opinions virtually Apple, the Oakland Athletics and quondam movies. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.