Apple’s new compact smartphone offers more features for less

PHONE ❘ £419 from Apple www.snipca.com/34773

Core value

When we reviewed the iphone 8 in 2017, our first comment was that it didn’t feel very new. Replacing it as Apple’s cheapest smartphone, the iphone SE (2020) still looks the same. It’s a relatively small phone with borders above and below the screen and a single camera on the back. But it hardly matters, because this is the best-value iphone ever, and – for the first time in years – a real alternative to Android for those who don’t want to spend a fortune.

Its camera is one of the best, and apps and games run superbly

It could have been even cheaper: thanks to the exchange rate, this is the first Apple product to launch with a higher number after the UK £ sign than after the US $. Still, £419 is comfortably mid-range, and knowing Apple as we do, our first job was to find what they’d left out to make you buy the next model up.

The answer is not a lot. True, for the same price or less you could get an Android phone with more storage and multiple cameras. But are those things you really need? 64GB is adequate, and although you can’t expand it later with a microsd card, there’s a 128GB model if you want it, at a reasonable £469.

As for photography, that solitary camera may lack the extra wide-angle lens and advanced Night Mode of the £729 iphone 11, but it takes some of the best photos and video you can get from any phone. While the sensor is similar to the iphone 8 or XR, the SE has the ridiculously powerful A13

‘Bionic’ processor from the

11, and uses this to improve your shots further, assisted by optical stabilisation. Low-light performance is better than many pricier devices, and you can take 8-megapixel photos while recording 4K video, so you never miss a moment. The front selfie camera isn’t bad either, and both offer portrait mode with editable background blur.

The slim aluminium and glass body, available in black, white or red (all with black front bars, pictured left), is IP67 waterresistant, and the Home button’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor enables Apple Pay. The sharp 4.7in screen feels quite small, and lacks the vivid HDR colour of current top iphones and ipads, but it does cover the wide P3 colour space with very good brightness and contrast. Thanks to the A13 chip, all apps and games run superbly. If there’s one minus, it’s battery life, at 11 hours 30 minutes in our video-playback test.

SPECIFICATIONS

S.7in 1920x1080-pixel screen • 12-megapixel rear cameras • 7-megapixel front camera • 64GB flash storage • 802.11ax Wi-fi • Bluetooth 5.0 • 3G/4G • IOS 13 • 139x67x7.3mm (HXWXD) • 148g • One-year warranty www.snipca.com/34774