Apple recently revealed the latest model of its iPhone SE smartphone during its "Peak Performace" event on March 8.
According to Apple's announcement, the phone will have "an iconic design, exceptional capabilities, and performance at an incredible price."
Apple also mentioned that the new iPhone SE would be available for pre-order on March 11, while the phone's official launch is scheduled on March 18.
Here are the phone's most noteworthy features that you should take note of as well:
A15 Bionic Smartphone Chip
The new iPhone SE comes equipped with Apple's a15 Bionic, which also powered the iPhone 13. Apple claims that the chip will make almost every experience better, from launching apps to handling demanding tasks with ease.
As a summary of the chip's architecture, the A15 Bionic chip features a 6-core CPU with two high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. This architecture will make the new iPhone SE almost twice as fast (1.8 times faster) than the iPhone 8, even more so when compared to other models.
The new iPhone SE will also be capable of enabling faster machine learning computations for third-party apps. It will also be able to unlock features for iPhone SE like on-device dictation and Live Text in the Camera app with iOS 15, which we'll cover in a bit. These features are added to the phone thanks to the A15 Bionic's 16-core Neural Engine, which is capable of 15.8 trillion operations per second.
Better Battery Life
The A15 Bionic chip also makes it possible for the new iPhone SE to work together with the latest generation battery chemistry and tight integration with iOS 15 to enable better battery life for the phone. Insterested customers can expect the new iPhone SE to last longer than the previous-generation and older 4.7-inch iPhone models.
The new iPhone SE is also compatible with Qi-certified chargers for wireless charging. It also supports fast charging, meaning the phone can charge its battery up to 50 percent in 30 minutes with a 20W adapter or higher.
Although Apple did not disclose any specifics of the new iPhone SE's battery life, 9to5Mac stated in its report that the new iPhone SE has 15 hours of battery for video playback, 10 hours for video streaming, and 50 hours for audio playback.
Simply put, the new iPhone SE's battery life is on par with the iPhone 12 mini, but less than the phones in the iPhone 13 lineup.
However, we'll have to wait for official information from Apple to see if 9to5Mac's numbers hit the bullseye.
New Camera System
The new iPhone SE will also feature a new camera system powered by its A15 Bionic chip. It comes with a 12-megapixel ƒ/1.8 aperture wide camera that gives "incredible photography benefits." These benefits include Smart HDR 4, Photographic Styles, Deep Fusion, and Portrait mode, which can recognize people.
The Smart HDR 4, which was first seen with the iPhone 13, applies different adjustments to a photo subject's color, contrast, and noise versus the background, ensuring faces are properly exposed even in low-light environments. The Smart HDR 4 also renders people in the same photo individually, with different adjustments optimized for lighting and each person's skin tone.
Another returning feature from the iPhone 13, Photographic Styles, gives the new iPhone SE the ability to enable users to bring their personal photo preferences to every image while still reaping the benefits from Apple's multi-frame image processing. This means that preset and customized preferences will be retained across scenes and subjects. Additionally, Photographic Styles apply the necessary adjustments to different parts of the photo to ensure the preservation of important elements, such as skin tones.
Meanwhile, Deep Fusion gives the phone the ability to do pixel-by-pixel processing, optimizing every part of a photo's texture, details, and noise thanks to its advanced machine learning.
Finally, the A15 Bionic's image signal processor provides significant improvements to videos with reduced noise in low-light environments. It also gives a better white balance and a more accurate skin tone.
iOS 15 and 5G Capability
Apple's new iPhone SE will come with iOS 15 already installed to give potential users "more ways to stay connected, powerful updates that help users focus and explore, and intelligent features to get more done with iPhone."
As such, the new iPhone SE comes with FaceTime that feels more natural thanks to spatial audio and the new Portrait mode. The phone also has SharePlay to share experiences with friends and family while on a FaceTime call, redesigned notifications, and Live Text that uses on-device intelligence to recognize text in a photo and allows users to take action.
Apple's new Focus feature also makes a comeback, helping users reduce distractions while sleeping, working, or for whatever situation they find themselves in.
Apple Maps will also be included to help users navigate and explore the world. It comes with a three-dimensional city-driving experience and walking directions in augmented reality.
Apple also redesigned the Weather app to give full-screen maps and more graphical data displays. The company also made changes to Wallet to support home keys and state IDs. It also added privacy controls in Siri, Mail, and other places across the phone's system to better protect user information.
The new iPhone SE also comes with 5G capabilities to take advantage of the latest generation of wireless technology. Users can expect faster uploads and downloads, lower latency, and better experiences during FaceTime calls and Share Play.
The phone also comes with Smart Data mode to help users conserve battery life by shifting the phone to LTE when 5G speeds are not needed.
An Iconic Design Meets Stronger Materials
Apple said that the new iPhone SE is "as durable as it is beautiful." With the materials used for the phone's design, it probably does.
The new iPhone SE features an aerospace-grade aluminum and glass design, now with the toughest glass in a smartphone on the front and back, just like what Apple did with the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro.
The new iPhone SE will also come in three colors - midnight, starlight, and (PRODUCT) RED, a color that customers can purchase to contribute directly to the Global Fund to combat pandemics like COVID-19 and AIDS.
The phone is designed to protect against spills and being submerged one meter deep in water for 30 minutes. As such, the phone is rated IP67 for water and dust resistance.
However, users should take note that this protection is not permanent due to normal wear and that liquid damage is not covered under Apple's warranty.
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