What in the blazes? Is this for real? It looks like Apple wasn’t kidding when it said that the new iPhone SE is “the most powerful 4-inch smartphone.” Based on a published AnTuTu score in China, Apple’s little one is looking a lot more like a tiny monster.
In 2013, Apple decidedly took the leap to make a ‘cheaper iPhone’ targeted at first time smartphone users, as well as appealing to the China market, and emerging economies. Now this was a purposeful attempt, with a whole new form factor. Not a discounted past year model. The iPhone 5c, as it was known, was unapologetically plastic and was mostly based on the iPhone 5.
It was sold alongside the then flagship iPhone 5s. It was the first time that Apple took a dive into the ‘affordable’ device segment. Evidently, it was also the first time the iPhone got funky colours, albeit a little less Lumia-esque.
Tiger in sheep’s clothing
This time around though, Apple didn’t skimp on the internals. Sure, an untrained eye would find it hard to differentiate the iPhone SE with the older iPhone 5s on the outside. While some quarters are accusing Apple of being plain lazy, I think there’s a solid reason for it. To separate the ‘budget’ iPhone from the flagship iPhone 6s.
What’s really important is that the iPhone SE essentially runs the same internals as the bigger iPhone 6s. This means exactly the same 64-bit Apple A9 processor. The exact amount of RAM (2GB btw). And that means an astonishing amount of compute power in a small 4-inch package. It also means mind-blowing 12-core graphics power.
Apple rarely focuses on specs, so much so you’d be hard-pressed to find details on processor clock speed, amount of RAM and etc.
The sleeper
Someone in China claims to have had the iPhone SE long enough to run AnTuTu benchmarks. And the results are impressive. The published results show a chart-topping score of 134,358.
And guess what? This is higher than the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus that average 132,620. And just for general knowledge, the current king of the hill – the new Samsung Galaxy S7 returns around 130,000+ in Exynos 8890 or Snapdragon 820 guise.
Understandably, the iPhone SE has a smaller, lower resolution screen, thus needs to draw less pixels and therefore delivers a better score. Nonetheless, it is impressive.
Apple’s done it right
Let’s be clear here. The iPhone SE isn’t about innovation. It’s about strategy and it’s about pricing it right. It’s about giving what a market wants and meeting lower price points, without diluting the brand.
And for that, the iPhone SE is a winner. And it will undoubtedly sell millions.
Source: Slashgear
