Apple iPhone SE Vs iPhone 5s: Comparison
After months of endless rumors and reports, Apple recently unveiled its much-awaited 4-inch iPhone SE (Special Edition) at its spring event in Cupertino on March 21st. The phone comes as a replacement to the Apple iPhone 5s, which has been one of the bestselling iPhones for the Cupertino tech giant in the recent years. The iPhone SE packs powerful features in a small screen. It brings the high-end software and hardware, which the company introduced in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s series flagships in a compact design of the iPhone 5s. The iPhone SE looks exactly like the iPhone 5s, and will impress those users who still love to use a small screen smartphone in the highly populated world of phablets running different operating systems.
If you currently own an iPhone 5s, and looking for a powerful replacement in the 4-inch segment, then the iPhone SE is one of the best offerings, as the brand is touting it as the world’s most powerful 4-inch smartphone. To find out how the iPhone SE and iPhone 5s stand out against each other, let’s compare their specifications.
Apple iPhone SE vs Apple iPhone 5s: comparison of the successor and predecessor
Design
When it comes to the design, the Apple iPhone SE and iPhone 5s offer the same design language. These certainly are among the most beautiful smartphones Apple has produced till date. They sport metal body with slightly rounded corners for easy handling in one hand. They both get fingerprint sensors integrated into the home button for enhanced user data security. As for the dimensions, the iPhone SE measures 7.6mm around the waist and the scale at 113 grams. The iPhone 5s measures the same as the iPhone SE when it comes to thickness, but is lighter by just 1 gram. Overall, when it comes to the design, the iPhone SE and iPhone 5s offer similar features.
Display and OS
The Apple iPhone SE sports a 4-inch LED backlit IPS display bearing a screen resolution of 640 x 1,136 pixels that result into a pixel density of 336 pixels per inch, which Apple touts as the Retina Display. The Apple iPhone 5s offers the same display size and resolution as the iPhone SE. On the software-front, the Apple iPhone SE runs the latest iOS 9.3 version out of the box. The Apple iPhone 5s has recently received the same OS update. So in the display and OS section, they both offer the same features.
Configuration
While the Apple iPhone 5s is powered by an Apple A7 processor and M7 motion co-processor, the latest iPhone SE joins the high-end iPhone line up with an A9 processor and M9 motion co-processor, which is the same as the iPhone 6s. The iPhone 5s was released in 16GB and 32GB variants. The iPhone SE on the other hand comes in 16GB and higher 64GB internal memory editions. While the iPhone 5s packs in 1GB of RAM, the iPhone SE comes equipped with 2GB of RAM. Overall, configuration is one of the best reasons to upgrade to the latest iPhone SE from the iPhone 5s.
Camera
In the camera section, the Apple iPhone SE is a clear winner as the phone flaunts a 12-megapixel primary snapper, which supports 4K video recording, Live Photos, improved low-light images, sapphire crystal lens cover, and Panoramas up to 63-megapixels. The iPhone 5s on the other hand sports an 8-megapixel primary snapper with full HD video recording support. As for the selfies and video calling, they both offer 1.2-megapixel secondary snappers on the front.
Connectivity and battery
The Apple iPhone SE packs Lightning connector, which was first introduced with the iPhone 5s, and has been since found on all iPhones. The iPhone SE and iPhone 5s, both smartphones offer 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS connectivity options. However, the iPhone SE sports NFC for mobile payments via Apple Pay, and gets VoLTE support along with faster Wi-Fi, which sports 433mbps and Wi-Fi calling support. The iPhone 5s delivers 10 hours of video playback, 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 10 hours of 3G talk time, and 40 hours of video playback. The iPhone SE on the other hand gets 10 extra hours of audio playback, three more hours for Wi-Fi browsing and four more for talk time. So iPhone SE is a winner in the connectivity and battery section too.
Conclusion
The Apple iPhone 5s is one of the company’s best-loved iPhones ever. The phone offers a bright 4-inch Retina Display, decent configuration, decent camera specs and battery life. It has just got a spiritual successor in the form of the iPhone SE, which brings the same design and display as its predecessor, but gets a more powerful processor, higher RAM, a 64GB memory variant, better Wi-Fi with VoLTE support, improved battery life, and much better camera specs. Since Apple has just halted the production of the iPhone 5s, users who love 4-inch iPhones have no other option then to go for the iPhone SE. However, looking at the features of the iPhone SE, you won’t be disappointed by the 4-inch monster from the company. Its base 16GB model has been priced at Rs 39,000, and will go on sale in India from April 8th via Redington’s retail channels across the country.
