So this 2022 version of the iPhone SE is currently the latest and most affordable iPhone starting with a price from only RM2,099!

BUT there have been lots of negativity from tech reviewers surrounding the phone, making this a so-called “forbidden fruit” to have. Well, let’s find out if that’s true.

Unboxing

Starting from the unboxing, the box comes in white, with the visuals of the phone in front. Then at the back, there is the storage option that you choose and the color variant as well.

Opening the box, you will immediately find the phone itself. Underneath, towards the top, there is the documentation, the SIM ejector pin, the Apple Sticker. And below that, there is the USB-C to Lightning cable.

And since the version that I have is the Product (RED), which, in case you didn’t know, is when Apple will contribute a portion of this iPhone purchase to the Global Fund to support HIV / AIDS programs.

 

Build & Design

Next, let’s talk about the build and the design.

Now disclaimer, I only started using an iPhone daily only from the iPhone 12 onwards, so as much as I am aware that the build quality and design are similar to the previous versions of iPhone SE’s and the iPhone 8, I never got to use them daily, so this is my first-time experience. 

From the build quality’s perspective, coming from using the iPhone 13 Pro Max daily, it was lots of difference, obviously, but NOT in a bad way.

First of all, because I have more of a medium-sized hand, the phone felt super easy to use with just one hand.

The back is made out of the similar rear glass to the current iPhone 13 lineup, which was really pleasing to know, and even though it had a very slim profile at only 7.3mm but because the sides had a matte finish, it made gripping the phone daily super easy as well, where there was no anxiety of dropping the phone to the point that I didn’t even use a case on the phone when I was using it daily, and it was really light weighing at only 144 grams.

And  I did really appreciate the fact that the phone also had an official IP67 Dust and Water-resistant rating as this would be something that Apple could not have done with an affordable version of their phones, so kudos to them for including that as most smartphones within this price range don’t have such IP rating.

Next, looking at the ports and buttons, other than the Lightning port below, there is one of the stereo speakers towards the right, where the other speaker grill on the left is for aesthetic purposes as the other speaker is at the earpiece area.

There is the volume rocker and the physical Ring and Silent switcher on the left.

As for the right side, there is the Power button and the SIM card slot. 

And I have to say that I kind of really enjoyed having a physical home button with Touch ID, which unlocked the phone very quickly, and it gave me that old school nostalgic vibe when I used a home button on an Android phone.

 

 

Display

As for the phone’s screen, it comes with a 4.7-inch Retina Display, which is an IPS LCD display, and I have to say that I have seen lots of IPS LCD Display smartphones, and this has to be one of the best out there, yes, of course, would prefer an OLED screen but considering the price, that is to be expected.

In terms of the resolution, it has an HD display of 1334×750 pixels, and once again, because of the quality of the IPS Display, it still looked great with excellent viewing angles, compared to some budget AMOLED screens that I have seen which have horrible viewing angles and color reproduction.

I know it may seem like I am just giving some sort of justification for the phone’s screen but trust me, if you have been following my channel for a while, you would know that I review lots of budget smartphones too, so I can surely tell the difference when it comes to the display panel’s quality.

The screen has up to 625 nits of brightness, and there were no issues using the phone in bright daylight. 

It has HDR10 and can playback HEVC, H.264, and even ProRes video files as well, something no other smartphone can do within this price range.

As for playback on Netflix, what’s super nice is that it has Dolby Vision support and even on Disney+ Hotstar.

Now one thing that it took a while for me to get used to is the amount of screen real estate that the phone had because I am very used to an edge to edge kind of display, so I kept stretching the screen to maximize the video, but other than that, the viewing experience was very pleasing indeed.

 

Cameras

As for the camera specs, the iPhone SE 2022 has a single 12-megapixel f 1.8 aperture lens, and the front has a 7-megapixel f 2.2 aperture lens.

And here is where there were complaints about how the hardware is not on par with smartphones in the year 2022, but here is the thing, guys, I rather have a damn good single lens, rather than have 25 lenses that consist of dedicated bokeh lenses, black and white lens, ultra spectrum lens, dedicated macro lens, and grandma lenses…

Because, yes, the hardware is from the previous generation iPhone, but ultimately we need to know if that hardware is still great, and of course, the software’s image processing is flawless too.

And that is a huge YES, as the A15 Bionic Chipset made all the photos look as close as their flagship smartphones, and features like the Photographic Styles, Deep Fusion, and other software enhancements were brought into the phone.

Because of the Smart HDR 4, there is an overall fantastic dynamic range, details, and way better tone mapping on skin tones and color separation.

Portrait Mode for the Rear was performed exceptionally well.

And there was another common complaint about how the phone does not have a dedicated Night Mode on the phone, but check these images out, as these photos were taken at night without the dedicated night mode, which performed very well compared to other non-night mode smartphones that I have tested before.

And one might think that having a 7-megapixel lens would not give the best results for the front camera, but yet again, it has proved to perform very well, even at night, when taking selfie portraits at night too.

Then as for video, the rear can record up to 4k 60 frames per second, and on the 30 frames per second frame rate, the image stabilization was great, and the video quality was really good with lots of dynamic range.

[Check out my YouTube video for the video recording footages]

And the front camera can record up to 1080p 30 frames per second and check out the great stabilization and also the amount of the dynamic range in the sky area, where typically, the exposure for the sky, it would be blown out for a similar smartphone within this price range once again.

Do check out my YouTube video for the video and audio test (aka vlogging test) on the phone.

 

Software

So this iPhone SE  ships with iOS 15, where the current version that I was at is version 15.4.1.

And because of the latest A15 Bionic Chipset and 5G support, you would expect a swift and seamless experience when using the phone daily, and I am happy to note that even though the keyboard was way smaller than my larger screen, iPhone 13 Pro Max, but I almost never made a typing mistake, even didn’t need to make those swiping keyboard gestures. It also has Wi-Fi 6, so I had a great and consistent connection without any problems over here.

However, there was one thing that I was not used to at first, which took me about a day to get used to, which was the navigation gestures. As this was new to me, where to go to the recent apps, I will need to double click on the home button instead of the swipe up and holding on to the screen.

Going into Control Center is by swiping up instead of swiping on the top right and swiping down from the top of the screen on the left goes to my Notification Menu and to take a screenshot is through holding the power button and the home button.

Now the reason why this was “new” to me, as I mentioned, is because it is the first time that I am using an iPhone with a Home button, so if you are familiar with the likes of the previous iPhone SE models or even the iPhone 8 then it will be very much home to you.

 

Battery

Now the battery life on the previous generation iPhone SE was the common complaint that users and tech reviewers alike mentioned, and it’s nice that Apple has fixed that issue on this new iteration of the iPhone SE, as I got an average of 3 hours and 39 minutes of screen-on time with very heavy usage.

And here is where you would definitely get more battery life with most smartphones within the price range, so this is probably the ONLY Achilles heel for the phone.

And this iPhone SE can support up to 20 watts of fast charging, and I do appreciate that there is wireless charging on the phone, again something that most smartphones in this range don’t have.

 

Gaming

When it comes to gaming, thanks to the A15 Bionic Chipset once again, the gaming performance on the phone was really great.

Then when it comes to gaming on Genshin Impact, I tested the game at High Settings at 60 frames per second, where it ran smoothly with no micro lag or stutter issues.

The phone did become warm within 5 minutes of gameplay, where the only part that became warm is the top left of the camera and also a little on the frame. And the good news is there is no battery drain issue unless you are playing it at the highest settings for about 45 minutes to 1 hour when playing Genshin Impact continuously.

Then as for PUBG Mobile, it was at Ultra HD settings, where the frame rate was also at Ultra. It was super smooth and very optimized as expected.

There is no stutter or any micro lag at all. And of course, since the game is very optimized, there were no battery issues and the phone also feels very comfortable in the hands during my very long gameplay due to the phone size and the overall frame finish. 

 

Conclusion

So, in conclusion, the iPhone SE 2022 is a smartphone that I would totally recommend because a large percentage of people still prefer to have a small form factor smartphone that fits into their pocket easily.

And there are many people still holding on to their iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 who can benefit from making the switch to this phone without worrying about spending too much. I feel that the iPhone SE is indeed the right formula. It is a great performing smartphone with the right price as well, especially because Apple always supports their phones for five or even seven years with software updates.

And speaking of switching, if you are someone who wants to make a switch from an Android smartphone to an iPhone without breaking the bank, well, this would be the natural recommendation!