📱 2022-03-13 03:13:02 – Paris/France.
Earlier this week, Apple announced the iPhone SE (2022) – the third generation model in the series that spans 7 years. We've already talked at length about the original iPhone SE from 2016, but in truth the new model isn't much of a sequel to that one. No, the second and third SE models are based on the design of the phone we'll be talking about today.
And that's Apple's iPhone 6, which (ironically) is older than the original SE – the 6 series arrived in 2014. Of course, the SE itself was based on Apple's iPhone 5. 2012, a phone that changed the game in its time. . If you look at the iPhone 5 and the iPhone SE (2016) side by side, you'll hardly notice the differences.
iPhone 6 on the left and iPhone SE (2022) on the right
The same goes for the iPhone 6 and the iPhone SE (2022). It has the same rounded silhouette and almost exact dimensions – the differences are less than a millimeter. The phone still has a 4,7-inch screen, still with a resolution of 750 x 1px (and a pixel density of 334ppi to make it a Retina display, something the 326s introduced).
The chunky bezels above the underside of the screen remain, of which the bottom one houses the only Touch ID fingerprint reader left on the iPhone. iPads also have front or side readers, but Apple's phones have long since switched to Face ID. Since the iPhone X (from 2017), in fact, a hated but influential design decision. One that Apple may never undo as analysts predict the company will turn the notch into a punch hole and then push the Face ID module under the display. An under-screen fingerprint reader doesn't seem likely.
Fingerprint readers have their uses. For example, you can't mistake one wearing a mask and that's something Face ID struggles with. Also, if you're nimble enough, you can put your thumb on the FP drive while taking the phone out of your pocket and it'll be unlocked the moment it's in front of your eyes. This works especially well when it comes to a physical drive that you can feel by touch rather than something hiding under the glass display.
To be fair, a few things have changed since the iPhone 6. In fact, the change happened on the iPhone 8 – did you notice the antenna lines on the back of the 6? These are there because the iPhone 6 had an aluminum back, which blocks signals. Newer phone models (since Gen 8 and Gen X) have a glass back, which simplifies antenna placement.
Other things have also changed, SE phones now have an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance (they can last half an hour under 1m of water). The new SE also gained Ceramic Shield glass for the front, which is more durable than typical glass (more durable than even Gorilla Glass, if you believe Apple's marketing). The iPhone 6 had "ion-strengthened glass" instead.
The iPhone 6 didn't come on its own — in fact, 2014 was the first time Apple offered two different sizes. The iPhone 6 Plus had a bigger 5,5-inch screen and a bigger battery (2 mAh vs. 915 mAh) and that was almost the only difference.
There was a single camera on the back (it was the iPhone 7 Plus that added the second camera), but the 6 Plus was the first iPhone to offer optical image stabilization (OIS). That was its only advantage over the vanilla 6. However, the 6 and 6 Plus could shoot 1080p video at 60fps, while the previous year's 5 could only shoot 30fps. Phase-detection autofocus was another upgrade over the 5s, which only had contrast-detect AF.
Some might have hoped for a second camera on the iPhone SE (2022), but Apple really hasn't strayed too far from the design of the iPhone 6. The new SE of course has a much better camera. It has a higher resolution sensor (12MP vs 8MP), brighter aperture (f/1.8 vs f/2.2) and OIS, not to mention an Apple A15 chipset that has much, much more image processing power. . .
Additionally, the selfie camera has been replaced with Apple's older 7MP unit. That's better than the 1.2MP camera the 6 had, which was really only good enough for FaceTime video calls. The newer iPhones (since the 11 series) have 12 MP front cameras with wider lenses. But even the latest models lack Center Stage, Apple's clever system that uses the wide-angle lens to always keep you in the center of the frame even as you move.
After mentioning the Apple A15, another major change is worth noting – the SE model now offers 5G connectivity. 4G was a relatively new feature for Apple when the 6 came out, it was introduced with the iPhone 5 in 2012. As we mentioned earlier, metal and antennae don't work well together, which Apple found out the hard way with 4 and the whole "antenna" scandal. However, the proper design was determined before the iPhone 6 was released.
The iPhone 6 series introduced NFC to Apple's lineup. It was still pretty locked in compared to the functionality offered by Androids – dedicated exclusively to Apple Pay.
The iPhone 6 generation had its own “gate” scandal. The way the all-aluminum body was designed created weak spots around the buttons, which made the phones easier to bend if you sat on them or otherwise applied force to them. A related issue was that the touchscreen could disconnect from the motherboard. There were other issues too, related to flash storage and the frustrating "Error 53" plaguing the Touch ID fingerprint reader.
Going back to the chipset for a moment, the Apple A8 was the company's second chipset with a 64-bit processor (the A7 inside the iPhone 5s was the first). However, even these chips cannot run the latest iOS (their support ended with iOS 12). Newer models (e.g. iPhone 6s, original SE) are currently running the latest iOS 15.
Before we wrap up, a few audio-related things we wanted to note. The iPhone 6 had a 3,5mm headphone jack, something the iPhone 7 series removed two years later. However, it also only had one speaker, while later models (SE included) have stereo speakers.
It wasn't perfect, but the iPhone 6 series hit a record 10 million sales in the weekend following its launch. A week later, the number rose to 13 million units. And that was before the series reached some major markets (eg China).
It's safe to say that superficially the design of the iPhone SE (2022) is nearly identical to the iPhone 6, which will soon be eight years old. Appearances can be deceiving, a lot has changed since the best iPhone of 2014. More importantly, flaws in the original design have been corrected and many improvements have been implemented. Looking dated is not something that can be fixed without jumping a few years to iPhone X-derived designs.
PS. we overtook the iPhone 6 Plus too quickly. We want to spend more time on the history of iPhone sizes in another episode. Here we will just mention that the lineage of iPhone 6 Plus ends with iPhone 8 Plus from 2017.
SOURCE: Reviews News
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