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Phones · Apple iPhone SE

Apple iPhone SE iPhone SE

9owners with an opinion
62%of verdicts positive
5/3positive/negative since 2024
0happy after 3+ years

Praised for value and design; criticized for display and ergonomics.

What owners wrote

Doesn’t like itOwned 4 years
> ”Pretty much they buy the new one when the battery of their current one runs bad, typically every 3-4 years.” I am exactly like this. But I am also use it as an opportunity to upgrade the hardware. For some time it was memory, although now I am pretty done for 256gb. I don’t need more. Recently it was the new processor+camera. I am not big into photography, but I like to take pictures. And I like them to look great, focused, even with bad light, without doing any setting myself (cause I am ignorant how to do it). Just regular picture of trips, or night with friends. I like the 2x and 0.5x zoom a lot also. It is also nice for the new updated apps I use to run fast. My 4 yo iPhone SE not only had a bad battery, but it was very slow already. And, occasionally, some gimmick is actually useful to me, like the notch. I turn off notifications of almost every app, including Uber and food delivery. For those the in-screen info in the notch is very useful. I’ll probably only buy the iPhone 18 next, but it will be nice have the 5x zoom (maybe more by then) at the least.
Likes it
I have an iPhone SE, and social signaling has literally not cross my mind at any point when deciding for it. It has the perfect size and form factor, I know it will be supported for at minimum 5y, and the cost is perfectly reasonable. That’s pretty much the only things I care about. It also has a fingerprint reader, and none of your reasons are things I do care about. I think I pay 2.99€ for monthly storage? Which is fine, that’s low enough that I couldn’t care less if that’s cheaper somewhere else So, that’s a data point if you want to consider others perspective
Likes it
I guess I'm in an extreme minority here but... it's not broken if autocorrect is off. I raw dog my typing everywhere. Zero autocorrect. The last time I did use typing assistance was on BB10 with the 'flick to complete' because it was out of my way enough that I could ignore it was there or use it to save a small amount of time. Otherwise I too have the fond memory of Windows Phone's keyboard (I ran it on the HTC HD2), I couldn't tell you why it was good other than it felt good to use, again without autocorrect. However, I'm CERTAIN there's an ergonomics thing at play, the 'brain calibration' time for me to type accurately on a big screen takes longer. I ran the original iPhone SE's as long as I could and always carried a second android device that was huge by comparison. Today I have the 15 Pro and a OnePlus 11. If I spend a lot of time using the iPhone it takes a little time maybe 20 minutes or so to stop making easy errors on the OnePlus 11. However, going back to the smaller iPhone after being on the OnePlus for awhile, there's not really an adjustment, I can hit all the letters accurately. I have large hands, I still want the smaller device. There is extra work to need to move your hand and eyes across a larger device. More space to misclick on. Swipe to type is enabled on android/ios for me. I use it sometimes, if you are hesitant at all on iOS or have a tendency to drag fingers at all don't enable it or it will mess up your typing. It's of course enabled by default like…
Doesn’t like it
I had a Samsung A3 (2016) which was almost the exact form factor of the iPhone Mini. I loved it for being so small and light. The last few years it became too slow for regular use (and many apps refused to install) so I put it in airplane mode and used it as an mp3 player. I'd still be using it today, but I lost it! I was very sad. I also loved the LG K8 (2017), wonderful device. That one was a touch bigger, but had a really nice curved screen. I used an iPhone SE (2016) until last year actually, which was even smaller. It worked fine, until software updates made it useless. That's a recurring theme with my phones!
Doesn’t like it
on the iphone SE there is ample space where the speaker is and at the bottom I don't see why they couldn't have added a back button its so ridiculous that I have to tap twice in the back and three times to activate "alt+tab" it doesn't even work consistently when you have a case. I know this is based off the old phone but geez I had no idea it was this bad. on the bright side im very pleased with the software experience. just ties everything nicely together right out of the gate. Apple is definitely for a different crowd. I'm not sure if I will buy another iPhone after this I just realized as a long time Android user, I didn't miss much, in fact I would've given it up long time ago.
Likes it
As someone who uses an iPhone SE, I have to disagree. I have a small phone with incredible internals at a price that can’t be be beat. You can go cheap as you want to on android for sure but you’re going to pay the price one way or the other. Having helped support people works budget android phones, it’s painful. I don’t use my phone like most people, I would never watch a video on my phone or use it extensively for general purpose computing by choice, but those budget android phones are disgustingly slow and stuffed to the gills with bloat. The only pain point with my current phone is the camera is still effectively 10 year old hardware. I would like a nicer camera and I could probably find that on a similarly priced and sized android phone if I really wanted to I’ll admit. That said, I’m worried what the next generation of SE will end up being. I’m going to guess it’ll be physically bigger and I’ll have to say goodbye to TouchID (which I vastly prefer to FaceID). I love this phone otherwise and am in no hurry to replace it. Outside of the camera, the parts of its design that are stuck in the past are the things I love about it. Flagship android phones from every major vendor are priced to compete with iPhones though and let’s not pretend otherwise. You can spend more on an android phone now than an iPhone if you’re so inclined.
Likes itHasn’t owned it
What are you comparing this to? I have a slew of phones near me and when I pick up an Android device it usually feels like a stuttery mess multiple times in regular use, even compared to a basic prepaid iPhone SE from 2022 which might only be 60Hz but doesn't randomly jerk around and freeze like every 120Hz Android seems to do
Likes itHasn’t owned it
I agree. On the other hand Apple has done different models to some degree and since they didn’t keep e.g. the Mini models, they don’t seem to be happy with the sales of all of them. Right now they still have a model with the home button though, the latest iPhone SE. Not sure for how much longer, but it’s still there, currently has an A15 which still holds up very very well, and sees infrequent model-line updates.