iPhone SE 2022 vs. iPhone 7: Should you upgrade?

iPhone SE 2022 vs. iPhone seven: Should you upgrade?

(Image credit: Apple)

Anyone who thinks Apple doesn't release affordable phones should get familiar with the iPhone SE 2022. Released nearly two years ago, this meaty iPhone featured specs that matched the leading iPhones at the time for a very low price. These days, the iPhone SE's $399 cost is $300 less than the $699 iPhone 13 mini.

That makes the iPhone SE a pretty compelling choice for budget-minded users, particularly those still property on to the iPhone 7. That telephone is now more than than five years one-time, just with people holding on to their handsets for longer periods of time, we're pretty sure there are still iPhone seven and iPhone seven Plus models out there — especially since those phones can run iOS 15, the current version of Apple's iPhone software.

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If it's time for y'all to upgrade from that older phone, the iPhone SE is certainly going to be a step up from what you lot have at present. Even so, it helps to expect at whatever iPhone SE vs. iPhone 7 differences to get a sense of but how big a bound forward you'll be making.

Here's a closer look at the improvements Apple tree has fabricated with the iPhone SE to its flagship device from a few years agone. If you are considering an upgrade and weren't swayed past the iPhone 13 release in the fall, you may want to await a few months longer, every bit the iPhone SE 3 is expected to arrive this bound.

iPhone SE 2022 vs. iPhone 7: Specs compared

	iPhone SE 2022	iPhone seven
Screen size (Resolution)	4.vii-inch Retina Hd (1334 by 750)	four.seven-inch Retina HD (1334 by 750)
CPU	A13 Bionic	A10 Fusion
RAM	3GB (rumored)	2GB
Storage	64GB, 128GB, 256GB	32GB, 128GB, 256GB
Rear camera	12MP (f/1.eight)	12MP (f/i.8)
Front camera	7MP (f/ii.2)	7MP (f/two.two)
Bombardment size	1,821 mAh	1,960 mAh
Size/Weight	5.45 x ii.65 x 0.29 inches/5.22 ounces	5.44 x 2.64 x 0.28 inches/4.87 ounces
Colors	Black, White, Product Carmine	Jet Black, Black, Silver, Gold, Rose Gold, Product Carmine

iPhone SE 2022 vs. iPhone 7: Price

The iPhone SE starts at $399 for a 64GB version. Double the storage to 128GB and yous'll pay $449. The 256GB model costs $549. Even with new iPhone models out, Apple has held the price on the iPhone SE — only the iPhone XR ($499) and iPhone 11 ($599) have seen price cuts.

Because the iPhone SE has been out for just about two years, we're now seeing discounts, more often than not in the form of rebates if you trade in a device when buying the iPhone SE from a carrier. We're tracking the best iPhone SE deals effectually.

The iPhone SE costs less than what Apple charged for the iPhone 7 when that telephone debuted at in 2022. Back and so, the iPhone vii started at $649, though obviously the price has fallen every bit newer models have come out. These days, you tin can find an iPhone 7 for less than $200 at disbelieve carriers and retail sites, though in many cases, y'all'll be picking up a used model.

There's one matter about the iPhone SE'south price that's particularly relevant to iPhone 7 users: Apple is offering a disbelieve on its new phone when you trade in older models. iPhone seven owners can knock off as much as $40 from the price of their iPhone SE, while the iPhone 7 Plus fetches up to $100 in rebates.

iPhone SE 2022 vs. iPhone 7: Design and brandish

While the iPhone SE is near notable for co-opting the iPhone eight'due south pattern, that's essentially the wait and feel of the iPhone 7, too — a 4.7-inch screen surrounded by chunky bezels on the acme and bottom. Below the screen, there's a Touch ID-supporting home button. It's every bit if the iPhone Ten-style designs of the by few years never happened at all.

Put the iPhone 7 and iPhone SE 2022 side-past-side and you'd need a very proficient ruler to detect any size disparities. In that location'southward only fractional differences between the 5.45 x 2.65 x 0.29-inch iPhone SE and the 5.44 x 2.64 x 0.28-inch iPhone seven. The new iPhone weighs a little fleck more, at five.22 ounces to the iPhone 7's 4.87-ounce weight.

On paper, the screens would appear to be the aforementioned, every bit both phones characteristic LCD panels with 1334 x 750 resolution. But there have been advances in brandish applied science since the iPhone vii first came out. The iPhone SE supports True Tone, allowing information technology to adjust colour temperature on the display based on ambient lighting.

For what it's worth, the iPhone SE screen is somewhat brighter than the iPhone vii'due south, measuring at 653 nits with a calorie-free meter. When we tested an iPhone 7 Plus back in 2022, that phone topped out at 578 nits. The LCD panels on both phones captured comparable percentages of the sRGB color spectrum, so you lot won't come across much difference in color range.

Other design elements of the iPhone SE will be familiar to iPhone 7 owners, for good and for bad. The newer phone has an IP67 h2o-resistance rating, meaning a dunk in ane meter of water for 30 minutes shouldn't pose a problem. That'south unchanged from the iPhone 7, as is the lack of a headphone jack on either phone.

iPhone SE 2022 vs. iPhone vii: Cameras

Here's where the new begins to distance itself from the old. The iPhone SE features a single rear photographic camera, much like the iPhone 7 did. (The iPhone 7 Plus actually one-ups the iPhone SE with a 2d telephoto lens that provides a truthful optical zoom.) But while the iPhone SE and iPhone 7 both sport 12MP lenses with apertures of f/i.8, that'due south where the similarities finish.

For starters, the iPhone SE's rear sensor has more in mutual with the unmarried rear lens Apple included in 2022'southward iPhone XR, and that phone definitely improved upon the picture-taking skills of previous unmarried-lens iPhones. In addition the A13 Bionic processor powering the iPhone SE — more on that improvement in a moment — helps with computational photography by style of the chipset's built-in neural engine.

With the iPhone SE'due south camera, you lot'll get Smart HDR, which can highlight more details in the faces of the people you photograph. The iPhone SE can too create lighting effects and control the depth of field on portraits. Yous'll also be able to accept portrait shots with both the rear and 7MP front camera on the iPhone SE. All of that's beyond the skill set of the iPhone 7.

The biggest missing characteristic on the iPhone SE — well, aside from that 2nd lens — is support for the Nighttime fashion rolled out with last year's iPhone 11 models. That ways when yous're in a darkly lit room, you'll need to rely on the iPhone SE's wink. That's not a feature the iPhone 7 offered either, so it'due south not like anyone upgrading phones will miss what they never had.

We don't have an iPhone 7 handy to shoot photo comparisons, simply the head-to-caput comparisons nosotros've washed with the new iPhone SE and other phones have convinced us that it belongs on the list of best photographic camera phones, even with its alone rear lens. At this point, though, the Pixel 5a from Google is the better low-cost camera selection.

iPhone SE 2022 vs. iPhone 7: Operation and software

The iPhone SE 2022 features the A13 Bionic processor, the same Apple-designed chipset that powers the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone xi Pro Max. Prior to the release of the iPhone 12 and iPhone thirteen with their superior chips, the A13 produced the best results at the time for our our mobile benchmarks. Even though the iPhone 13 now reigns as the speed king thanks to its A15 Bionic flake, it's rubber to say the iPhone SE dusts the iPhone 7 and its A10 Fusion scrap.

Co-ordinate to Apple, the iPhone SE offers up to 1.eight times the CPU performance of the iPhone seven and iPhone 7 Plus and upwardly to 2.8 times the graphics power.

Put another way, the iPhone SE scored 3,226 on the multi-core test and i,337 on the unmarried-core portion of the Geekbench 5 performance exam. Those numbers are comparable to what the iPhone eleven put upwardly. We imagine the iPhone 7 would have a hard time keeping pace with its iv.v-year-old processor.

The base of operations model of the iPhone SE features double the storage of the paltry 32MB that the iPhone 7 offered. Nonetheless, the iPhone 7 did come in 128GB and 256GB capacities as well, matching Apple's latest phone.

The software feel on both phones is pretty much the same. As we mentioned, the iPhone 7 is capable of running iOS fifteen, though apps volition probably be a niggling peppier on the newer iPhone SE. Besides, some functions of iOS 15 won't work on the iPhone seven, equally they require at least an A12-powered iPhone.

iOS 16 is expected to come out later this twelvemonth, and we figure that Apple will still support the iPhone SE 2022. (The original iPhone SE won't be then lucky, we hear.) The iPhone vii is likely to make the cutoff for iOS xvi support, simply simply barely, according to rumors.

iPhone SE 2022 vs. iPhone 7: Bombardment life and charging

Here's ane expanse where iPhone 7 users who upgrade to the iPhone SE might non find much of a difference. The iPhone SE has an ane,821 mAh battery, co-ordinate to teardowns. (Apple tree never discloses battery size.) That's actually smaller than the 1,960 mAh ability pack in the iPhone seven.

Apple tree says the iPhone SE should take near the aforementioned bombardment life as the iPhone 8, which showed a marginal comeback over the iPhone 7 when we ran our tests years agone. To that stop, the iPhone SE averaged ix hours, 18 minutes on our bombardment test involving continuous surfing over LTE. That'due south below average for a current smartphone and well behind what the iPhone xi delivers.

The iPhone SE 2022 tin boast something the iPhone 7 doesn't have — wireless charging support. Using any Qi-compatible charger, y'all tin juice upwardly your iPhone SE without wires. That'southward good because the wired charger that ships with the iPhone SE is the same sometime 5-watt Lightning charger as before. If y'all want to accuse your new telephone faster, you'll have to pay for an xviii-watt charger separately.

iPhone SE 2022 vs. iPhone 7 verdict: Upgrade or plow to another iPhone?

Although information technology looks similar to the iPhone 7, the iPhone SE is a large spring forrad from Apple's flagship from a few years ago, and a better deal to boot. You get much faster functioning, better cameras and wireless charging support, making for a more than future-proof telephone in the iPhone SE.

Simply upgrading isn't as cutting-and-dried every bit information technology might have been a few months back. We're hearing more most a new version of the iPhone SE that's coming in early 2022. And while the iPhone SE iii is unlikely to innovate a new design, we would look it to prefer the A15 Bionic chip establish in the current tiptop-of-the-line iPhones. That means 5G compatibility, which is missing from the current iPhone SE.

There's also the fact that Apple has released other iPhones since the iPhone SE's 2022 release. These include the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone xiii mini, both of which are more compact than the SE. They're not as cheap, though — we've mentioned the iPhone thirteen mini'south $699 cost, and the iPhone 12 mini costs $599.

And that brings us back to the iPhone SE 2022'due south big entreatment — the fashion it balances value with a compact size. If yous appreciate smaller phones and don't want to pay top dollar, the iPhone SE is a worthwhile comeback over the iPhone seven — though the iPhone SE 3's hope makes it worth waiting for that phone's expected launch.

Philip Michaels is a senior editor at Tom's Guide. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics and onetime movies. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.