iPhone SE (2nd generation)

The iPhone SE features an aluminum frame, with glass front and back. It shares the same physical sizes and dimensions as the iPhone 8, except for a centered Apple logo and no iPhone branding. Therefore, phone cases designed to fit the iPhone 8 will also fit the iPhone SE. The second-generation iPhone SE also shares the same top and bottom bezels as the iPhone 8, including the Home button (integrated with the same second-generation Touch ID).[15]

The iPhone SE is available in three colors: Black, White, and a Product Red edition.[3] Though the offered colors line up with those of the iPhone 8 (Silver, Space Gray, and Product Red respectively, with no equivalent to the Gold model), the iPhone SE uses a noticeably deeper shade of black, a brighter shade of white, and a lighter shade of Product Red. Unlike the silver iPhone 8 (and all prior white and silver iPhones since the iPhone 4), the 2020 iPhone SE features black bezels around the display on all models, in line with the color schemes of the iPhone 11 and iPhone XR.

With a screen diagonal of 4.7 in (120 mm), the second generation of the iPhone SE was among the smallest mainstream in-production smartphones at the time of its release.[16] However, it is still thirty percent larger than the first generation variant, whose screen diagonal measures 4 in (100 mm). Dan Seifert from The Verge declared the second-generation SE a "nail in the coffin" for small phones.[17]

This was affirmed by CNET, who stated that "Apple's decision to not build a brand-new 4-inch phone is telling. It signals that the company will probably never bring back the tiny iPhone, no matter how badly people crave it."[18]

The iPhone SE incorporates the Apple A13 Bionic system on a chip (SoC), with the integrated M13 motion coprocessor, and third-generation neural engine.[11] It is available in three internal storage configurations: 64 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB.[3] The SE has the same IP67 rating for dust and water resistance as the iPhone 8.[3] The phone lacks the ultra-wideband features enabled by the U1 chip found in the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro.[19][20] Despite the phone's smaller size which may lead to increased thermal throttling, the SE's A13 SoC runs at the same peak CPU frequencies as the iPhone 11.[21] Unlike the first-generation model, the second-generation iPhone SE doesn't feature a standard 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack.[8]

The iPhone SE features the same Retina HD display found on the iPhone 8, using LCD technology with True Tone and wide color gamut (Display P3). The display has a resolution of 1334 x 750 pixels, like the previous 4.7" iPhones. The pixel density is 326 PPI, the same as on all iPhones with LCD displays since the introduction of the Retina display on the iPhone 4, excluding the Plus models. The pressure-sensing 3D Touch feature found on the iPhone 8 has been replaced with Haptic Touch on the iPhone SE, which does not work for notifications.[22] It can play HDR10 and Dolby Vision content despite not having an HDR-ready display, done by down-converting the HDR content to fit the display while still having some enhancements to dynamic range, contrast, and wide color gamut compared to standard content.[7]

The iPhone SE features a single 12 MP rear camera, similar to the single camera system of the iPhone 8, capable of recording 4K video (at 24, 30, or 60 fps), 1080p HD video (at 30, or 60 fps), or 720p HD video (at 30 fps). The camera has an aperture of f/1.8, autofocus, optical image stabilization, and a quad-LED True Tone flash. The phone can also take panoramas up to 63 MP, and shoot photos in burst mode. The front camera is 7 MP with an aperture of f/2.2 and autofocus, capable of shooting 1080p HD video at 30 fps.[3][23] The camera interface adopts "Quicktake" from the 11 and 11 Pro, which allows the user to long-press the shutter button to take a video.[24][3] The burst function can now be accessed by swiping the shutter button to the left.[25]

The new image signal processor and neural engine of the SE support several camera functions not supported on the iPhone 8. Like the 11 and 11 Pro, the rear camera supports next-generation Smart HDR.[7] The rear camera also supports extended dynamic range video up to 30 fps, stereo recording and cinematic video stabilization. Both the front and rear cameras of the iPhone SE support Portrait mode and Portrait Lighting.[7] Like the 11 and 11 Pro, Portrait mode has depth control and an advanced bokeh effect (blurring effect of the out-of-focus background around the portrait). However, the usage of older sensor hardware results in some limitations—the iPhone SE does not support the Night Mode or Deep Fusion features of the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro.[26] The SE's implementation of Portrait mode only natively supports images of humans, as the hardware does not produce depth maps through the use of focus pixels and instead relies on software-based machine learning.[27]

The iPhone SE originally shipped with iOS 13.4[28] supporting Apple Pay and Apple Card.[3] A special iPhone SE-exclusive build of iOS 13.4.1, an update fixing bugs related to Bluetooth and FaceTime, was released on April 23, 2020 (a day prior to the device's official release), making it a day-one software update.[29] It will also receive iOS 14 in the fall.