I recently “downgraded” to an SE. running it as my daily driver. Battery life is astonishing (it’s in iOS 11.3). I get a solid 8 hours of usage time. Took a week to get used to the narrower keyboard but it feels natural now
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone SE (2016) Getting an SE instead of XR/XS?
- Thread starter jakja83
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I think most including myself are now hoping for a smaller form factor iPhone X device. It is possible we get one in March with the iPad mini 5.
The SE is still a great device however for me it looks very dated. Performance wise its great but the dated look put me off. Its needs spruced up badly.
I am going to have the battery in my 2016 SE replaced and intend to use it for another 2-3 years
This phone does everything I need and, to me, it is the most beautiful iPhone ever made (apart from the 4s maybe)
I went in to get my battery swapped and amazingly they ended up giving me a brand new SE for $29 - they could not remove the battery because the tab broke - it is so freaking sweet having a brand new device - hope to get many years of life out of it!
Exactly the same happened to my wife today with her 2016 SE. Long live that amazing little phone!
That’s really cool - yea I have a friend who works as an Apple Genius and the SE replacements he tells me are the hardest just because of the lack of space inside that they can’t get the battery out if that tab doesn’t work (no room to pry it out without damaging components).
I’ve switched over to using my Apple Watch on LTE for more and more things and my phone gets maybe 20 minutes of use a day these days. So I am hopeful that the SE gets a few more years of life, mainly use it as the hub for my watch and hope in a couple years the watch will go fully independent where I don’t even need the phone.
Originally was planning to upgrade SO’s SE to XR but the size was just too much for them. Looked around and had two options. Get a new SE and hope the battery doesn’t die within a couple hours or just grab an 8 since, while not the most up to date device still isn’t too bad, plus the insides a bit more current. After two days, decided on the 8 which is a good compromise for them. Bigger screen to view beloved pics and such while still maintaining the compactness needed especially for their work. Besides needing a case cause they felt it was too slippery, so far they’ve been quite happy.
[doublepost=1541186174][/doublepost]
Yes. Considering folks started wanting a new one to be released back in 2017. It’s the end of 2018 and far as I’m aware, Apple stated no refreshes on them? Now some are hoping for 2019. At some point being realistic about things outweighs wants. SE2 is just all puffs of smoke. As somebody said, the next big hope for those folks is potentially a more compact X and even that isn’t too likely.
[doublepost=1541186174][/doublepost]
Yes. Considering folks started wanting a new one to be released back in 2017. It’s the end of 2018 and far as I’m aware, Apple stated no refreshes on them? Now some are hoping for 2019. At some point being realistic about things outweighs wants. SE2 is just all puffs of smoke. As somebody said, the next big hope for those folks is potentially a more compact X and even that isn’t too likely.
I wonder if “Holding out” is Apples new strategy. You making people wait, and wait, and wait until theyre forced to buy the overpriced overkill version that they didnt actually want. And then years later you pick at their nostalgia and release the product they’ve been begging for.... but with last years specs and a 30% price increase.
It’s happened with the Air and Mac Mini. So who knows, maybe in a year we’ll see the iPad Mini and iPhone SE get the update they deserve. (Along with a huge price bump of course).
Personally, for me then the iPhone 5/SE is my favorite smartphone of all time. We have these for our kids and whenever I get to use them then they just feel so great. So if they would maintain the size but make it all screen then I would probably give it a shot. (I went from a 7+ to X to Max and, while each have their benefits, I dont love any of them)
Yeah, what was awesome about the SE was that it had the processor and most of the features of the new 6S that debuted a few months prior. If Apple made an SE2 with XS specs next year, I'd pay as much as an XS for it.
Incidentally, I returned my XR today, because I'm just too much of a fan of the small SE form factor.
If Apple produces a revamped SE or anything remotely like that with an OLED display, similar of a 5 inch form factor with Face ID, I agree, that would be an instant buy for me as well. But I likely would still keep my XS Max and just switch Sim cards between both devices when I want a change.
Last edited:
No kidding. Maybe it's my imagination, but, in my normal usage, like email, web, etc, it barely feels slower than the XR I just returned.
For normal day to day stuff you won't notice much difference. It reminds me when I upgraded my Broadband, I had an 8mb download speed, I then upgraded to 100mb and I remember being disappointed, in day to day use it wasn't much faster than my old 8mb download, When I tried to download something though the difference was clear. You'll only really notice the difference on the XR when doing something intensive like playing games.
I bought an SE just over a month ago. Previously I had a 7 with terrible battery life. I don't know whether I've just been unlucky but the 6 I had before that also had rubbish battery life along with the random shutdowns.
I now run two phones, a Note 9 for doing social media, sketching, reading and an SE for driving my Apple watch. It's basically a smarter dumb phone, I can keep it in my pocket, it does calls, messaging, WhatsApp and has a copy of my tasks and calendar. Everything else is done on the larger phone.
If you want a small phone you won't get one smaller than an SE, it'll do all the mobile basics well enough and the battery life is good.
I now run two phones, a Note 9 for doing social media, sketching, reading and an SE for driving my Apple watch. It's basically a smarter dumb phone, I can keep it in my pocket, it does calls, messaging, WhatsApp and has a copy of my tasks and calendar. Everything else is done on the larger phone.
If you want a small phone you won't get one smaller than an SE, it'll do all the mobile basics well enough and the battery life is good.
The big secret about Apples blazingly fast products is.... most people dont need speed.
Look how all the reviewers prove the speed of the latest shiniest phone. They swipe back and forth between screens in the launch pad and then open up safari and go “whoa, its so fast!”. But for most people then where exactly are they using that speed?
The problem we have right now is that Apple’s software is holding back modern phones. iPads from two years ago could handle Aperture or even Final Cut Pro but where is it? Where are the non-gaming apps that should convince us that the SE is a bad device to own in 2018? Apple praises the speed of new products by declaring how well it handles AR but AR demos are the worst part of every Apple keynote because nobody cares.
I say all this as an XS Max user. I love my new phone and I’m drooling over new iPads. But, as it happens every year, once i get that new product then I end up doing 99% of the same stuff on it that Ive been doing for the last 5 years.
I had an xs, xs max, and an xr and returned all 3. Gorgeous phones. Amazing cameras. All just too damn big and heavy for me. I also may slightly have a problem picking a phone I like. Bought a refurb 7 from apple and a pixel 3. Nice and light and still great cameras.
The only game I play is Tetris. It worked very well on my iPhone 6, so obviously no problem on the SE. Where I have noticed a big difference between the 6 and SE is general browsing on the Internet as well as browsing around the phone settings and such. The 6S/SE was a massive upgrade over the 6. 100% more RAM, 80% faster chip. I can feel the difference even in regular daily stuff.
Yeah, I’ve upgraded every other year since the 3G, but, after trying and returning the XR, now I’m in a holding pattern with my SE. I don’t really need anything much faster when the large majority of my usage is email, phone, text, camera and Safari, just like it was a decade ago, and the small size of the SE is too good for me to give up.
After the release of the latest iPad Pros, the iPhone SE's design language looks more current to me than ever. They just need to get rid of the bezels on the front by decreasing the height of the phone and getting rid of the home button. I also still love looking at my ancient white iPod though, and continue to use it almost every day. So what do I know.
I’ve owned a SE for a year and a few days ago I got the XR. The SE is an incredible phone. But... sometimes the small screen feels very limiting. For example when you read email or text. You have to constantly scroll to view all content.
With the XR on the other hand everything is super comfortable on the screen. The only problem is that one handed use is not easy.
In the end it all comes down to personal preference. Both are great phones that will serve you well.
With the XR on the other hand everything is super comfortable on the screen. The only problem is that one handed use is not easy.
In the end it all comes down to personal preference. Both are great phones that will serve you well.