iPhone SE battery bests iPhone 6s, Samsung Galaxy S7 in stress test

AppleInsider · March 24, 2016 2:49PM

Battery life could be a key difference maker for the iPhone SE, as the smaller handset has been shown to last far longer than more expensive phones -- including the iPhone 6s.

Under stress tests cycling through websites with uniform brightness, the SE managed 10 hours, according to the Wall Street Journal. That was over two hours better than the iPhone 6s, as well as the iPhone 5s, which like the SE has a 4-inch, 1,136-by-640 display. Screen-on time is often the biggest source of battery drain on a smartphone, with wireless connections being close competition.

The SE achieved nearly a three-hour lead over the Galaxy S7, Samsung's latest flagship smartphone, which does however have a 5.1-inch Quad HD (2,560-by-1,440) display. The more comparable iPhone 6s has a 4.7-inch 1,334-by-750-pixel panel.

The Journal noted that the SE's screen is inferior to the 6s not just in terms of size but also contrast, and a lack of 3D Touch support.

Preorders for the iPhone SE went live earlier today. The device will initially be available in 13 markets, but come to another 47 next month.

Price is the main selling point of the device, which -- starting at $399 -- is $250 less than the iPhone 6s, while still having the same A9 processor, 12-megapixel rear camera, and Apple Pay support.

roake · March 24, 2016 2:57PM

Apple seems to have done an excellent job both on creating a budget phone and recreating the 4" niche that so many people enjoyed. This phone appears to be a high performer, especially for the price.

schlack · March 24, 2016 3:01PM

cool thing is it's not a budget phone. it's a premium phone in at a bargain. i'd argue the 5/5S is a better phone design than the 6/6S

bdkennedy1002 · March 24, 2016 3:03PM

I don't think anyone cares with a screen that small if it's inferior to the iPhone 6s. And better battery life is to be expected from a thicker phone which is what many people wanted for years.

supadav03 · March 24, 2016 3:11PM

I don't think the thickness made much of a difference in the battery. It's battery is better because it's powering a smaller screen with lower resolution and no 3D Touch. Even though it's thicker, it likely has a smaller battery than the 6S. So it's not like that added thickness gave it more room for extra battery.

ireland · March 24, 2016 3:15PM

So if Apple has their head screwed on the right way around they make the 7 absolutely-no-thinner, squeeze in extra battery by pushing components down into the post-headphone-jack area and use the additional efficiency offered by the A10 to push battery life to the next level. And when iPhone reaches a full day of heavy use with some juice left, only then consider going thinner the next year—with the condition that same or better battery life is reached. That's what people actually want.

The thin for design race is over, no one wants thinner anymore if it means they need to connect to an outlet.

Battery cases should only be reserved for weekend camping trips without power or other exceptional circumstances.

dysamoria · March 24, 2016 3:27PM

"The iPhone SE is a win for ergonomic choice, but Apple doesn’t score any points for originality."

Exactly why good products get abandoned: the obsession with change for the sake of change. This is why we have the iOS 7 look and everyone has adopted flat design. I can't wait until "flat is outdated" becomes the new obsession.

rogifan_new · March 24, 2016 3:34PM

dysamoria said:

"The iPhone SE is a win for ergonomic choice, but Apple doesn’t score any points for originality."

Exactly why good products get abandoned: the obsession with change for the sake of change. This is why we have the iOS 7 look and everyone has adopted flat design. I can't wait until "flat is outdated" becomes the new obsession.

So we should all be wearing the same style clothes we did 20 years ago? iOS 7 wasn't change for the sake of change. Everything looking the same forever would be incredibly boring.

mnbob1 · March 24, 2016 3:36PM

I had an iPhone 5s and if this iPhone had been available I probably would have switched to it instead of the 6. I never felt the 5s screen was inferior. There's a point where the pixel density vs. size of the screen vs. battery trade off creates a clear choice for an old guy like me and I'm guessing a number of younger people too. The smaller screen size allows me to easily use my phone with one hand. The increased battery life that Apple has been able to achieve is a tremendous improvement. The pixel density was never a problem and there comes a point that it becomes more of a sales feature rather than a requirement while in the end requires a more powerful CPU/GPU that chews up battery. The size of the phone required is almost dictated by the battery required. All the power packed into the iPhone 5se with the A9/M9 more RAM, the advanced iSight camera and iTouch with Apple Pay. Who cares about 3D Touch? I'm able to use the iPhone with one hand! I'm tired of seeing the word "inferior" in the iPhone 5se articles. It's not inferior, just different features. Do you really think Apple was looking to cannibalize the high end premiere iPhone lineup? If you do you don't know Apple marketing!

ISNot_Available · March 24, 2016 3:44PM

oh Man the SE has a downright yuck screen from 3 years back. even 200 androids do better in terms of viewing angles than the iPhone 6S display. Galaxy S7 is a superior phone with a camera that leaves the SE and their brethern in DUST

scartart · March 24, 2016 3:45PM

supadav03 said:

I don't think the thickness made much of a difference in the battery. It's battery is better because it's powering a smaller screen with lower resolution and no 3D Touch. Even though it's thicker, it likely has a smaller battery than the 6S. So it's not like that added thickness gave it more room for extra battery.

If the iPhone 6s was the same thickness it would have better battery life. Typically the larger the device the better the battery life because the percentage of battery to electronics increases more than the extra power consumption of the larger screen. This is why Android phones started to go large in the first place, to improve battery life, and why the iPad has better battery life compared to the iPhone.

cnocbui · March 24, 2016 3:56PM

sog35 said:

ireland said:

So if Apple has their head screwed on the right way around they make the 7 absolutely-no-thinner, squeeze in extra battery by pushing components down into the post-headphone-jack area and use the additional efficiency offered by the A10 to push battery life to the next level. And when iPhone reaches a full day of heavy use with some juice left, only then consider going thinner the next year—with the condition that same or better battery life is reached. That's what people actually want.

The thin for design race is over, no one wants thinner anymore if it means they need to connect to an outlet.

Battery cases should only be reserved for weekend camping trips without power or other exceptional circumstances.

Sorry most people don't give a crap about long battery life. 99% of iPhone users are perfectly fine with the battery in current phones.

People care about a phone looking sexy. Thinner = sexy.

When most people see or hold a new phone they don't care if it can provide 48 hours of battery life. They care how it looks and how it feels.

The iPhone7 will be hot:

Thinner than the 6
Smaller top and bottom bezel
No ugly antenna lines
No camera bump

If you want more battery life buy a battery case.

Battery life is the single biggest concern of phone users. Shooting from the lip again and just making it up.

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Survey-shows-battery-life-to-be-the-single-main-gripe-of-todays-mobile-phone-user_id49818
http://www.cultofmac.com/278855/survey-finds-battery-life-important-iphone-owners/
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/21/your-smartphones-best-app-battery-life-say-89-of-britons

Want more links, there are plenty more...

ceklund · March 24, 2016 4:18PM

It better its got a smaller screen, to begin with.

rotateleftbyte · March 24, 2016 4:26PM

sog35 said:

wish Apple made a 5 inch phone.

The 4.7 is too small.
The 5.5 is too big.

Some people just can't be satisfied with anything these days.

foggyhill · March 24, 2016 4:34PM

rogifan_new said:

dysamoria said:

"The iPhone SE is a win for ergonomic choice, but Apple doesn’t score any points for originality."

Exactly why good products get abandoned: the obsession with change for the sake of change. This is why we have the iOS 7 look and everyone has adopted flat design. I can't wait until "flat is outdated" becomes the new obsession.

So we should all be wearing the same style clothes we did 20 years ago? iOS 7 wasn't change for the sake of change. Everything looking the same forever would be incredibly boring.

We often ARE wearing the same clothes, or slight variations of them. Most of the change in clothing since the 1960s is more in materials, and how cheap they are to buy (read made in some Asian sweatshop) than anything else. These days though fashion is a lot more fragmented (because of lower prices people tend to buy a greater variety of clothing) than before with styles of various eras coming back at the same time, in waves.

hexclock · March 24, 2016 4:41PM

ISNot_Available said:

oh Man the SE has a downright yuck screen from 3 years back. even 200 androids do better in terms of viewing angles than the iPhone 6S display. Galaxy S7 is a superior phone with a camera that leaves the SE and their brethern in DUST

Yes the S7 is so superior that the carriers are running buy one get one free promotions already. /S

larrya · March 24, 2016 4:51PM

sog35 said:

schlack said:

cool thing is it's not a budget phone. it's a premium phone in at a bargain. i'd argue the 5/5S is a better phone design than the 6/6S

its alot easier to make a nice design with a smaller phone. Ever saw a really nice looking large SUV? But there are a ton of really nice looking small 2 door coupes. Its just harder to make big things look nice.

if you simply made the 6 with the same proportions as the 5 it would look clownishly thick and boxy.

The 6 is a very nice phone. Super thin and sleek. My only complaints is the top/bottom bezel is way to big and the ugly intenna lines in the back.

I have agree. For me, it's always shoes that look great in size-9's, but always look weird in my size 13's.

StimulatedBoy · March 24, 2016 5:09PM

ireland said:

So if Apple has their head screwed on the right way around they make the 7 absolutely-no-thinner, squeeze in extra battery by pushing components down into the post-headphone-jack area and use the additional efficiency offered by the A10 to push battery life to the next level. And when iPhone reaches a full day of heavy use with some juice left, only then consider going thinner the next year—with the condition that same or better battery life is reached. That's what people actually want.

The thin for design race is over, no one wants thinner anymore if it means they need to connect to an outlet.

How long battery time do you want? In my experience, we're there now. I started recharging my 6S Plus yesterday after 6 h, 18 min of use and 102 h, 2 min of standby modus, and still had 20% battery left. I actually want my phone leaner and more neat, so guess we have different desires.

http://bildr.no/view/UDdjaXcx

pmz · March 24, 2016 5:19PM

STOP comparing the iPhone SE to the iPhone 6s for holy shit's sake.

Compare it to the iPhone 5s that it replaces, in the tier it belongs to.

volcan · March 24, 2016 5:39PM

It would be a good phone for older people, teens and people on a budget.

Most 18-35 year olds probably prefer a larger screen. I use an iPhone 6 which is the perfect size for me.

singularity · March 24, 2016 5:42PM

sog35 said:

Talk is cheap. People say all kind of bull shit.

Your right! Especially you.

iPhone SE battery bests iPhone 6s, Samsung Galaxy S7 in stress test

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