iPhone SE vs iPhone 5S – time to upgrade NOW

Camera

While the iPhone 5S has the older 8-megapixel camera, the iPhone SE has a brand-new 12-megapixel model. To be fair, both cope well, but the iPhone SE’s shots have more detail, better exposure and less noise. You can see this in the sample shots below, with the iPhone SE top and the iPhone 5S bottom.

The iPhone SE also has the new Live Photos mode, where the phone shoots a little video before and after you press the shutter. This gives your photos a sense of context when you look at them later and play the video part. Both handsets have the excellent True Tone flash, which matches the flash’s colour to the ambient light, making for more natural images.On top of that, the iPhone SE can shoot slow-motion video at 240fps (720p) or 120fps (1080p) and it can shoot 4K video. The iPhone 5S can shoot 120fps at 720p, but can’t do 4K.

Round the front, the iPhone SE has a 1.2-megapixel camera, the same as the 5S’. Given that the SE has Retina Flash, which uses the screen as a True Tone flash, the newer phone is king for selfies in darker locations.

Features

Touch ID and Apple Pay: Both phones have the same Touch ID fingerprint sensor, which is not quite as fast as the new one, but still works brilliantly. With the 5S, you can pay for goods in-app using Apple Pay, but only the SE supports Apple Pay in-store, as it has an NFC chip.

Wireless: A faster 4G chip supports more networks on the SE, while its 802.11ac Wi-Fi adaptor means that you can connect to super-fast wireless networks; the 5S has only 802.11n Wi-Fi.

Operating system

Both phones can run Apple’s iOS 9.3 operating system, which is the best one yet. It’s a little slicker and faster on the SE, due to its quicker processor, but there’s little in it in terms of features.

Conclusion

The iPhone SE improves all the areas that really matter: performance, battery life, camera and Apple Pay. More importantly, it doesn’t change the things that made you want a 4in phone in the first place: size, build quality and style. If you’ve been holding onto your iPhone 5S hoping that Apple would release a suitable replacement, the iPhone SE is that phone. It’s also excellent value, with great contract prices and costing just £439 unlocked for the 64GB model.

Specs