Advertisement

The iPhone SE vs. the competition: Battle of the mid-range

You don't need to spend a lot for top-shelf features.

iPhone SE in black (Apple)

The past few years have seen the major phone manufacturers release handsets that were low on price but big on features — basically flagship phones at a mid-range price. Today Apple announced an update to its own offering, the iPhone SE. It packs in the powerful Apple A15 Bionic, 5G connectivity and a dedicated home button, while coming in at a nice affordable $429 to start.

But the SE isn't the only stunning midrange phone; Samsung has offered up a slew of affordable handsets for years now, and Google continues its line of “a” phones with the 5a. And if you’re outside the US, you may even have the option of picking up a OnePlus Nord 2. We’ve taken all of these outstanding affordable phones and lined their specs up in the table below so you can get an idea of the power on offer, but make sure you check out our review of the new iPhone SE when it drops later this spring.

iPhone SE

Pixel 5a with 5G

Galaxy A52 5G

OnePlus Nord 2

Pricing

$429 / $479 / $579

$449

$500

£399 (no US release)

Dimensions

138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3 mm (5.45 x 2.65 x 0.29 inches)

156.2 x 73.2 x 8.8 mm (6.1 x 2.9 x 0.3 inches)

159.9 x 75.1 x 8.4 mm (6.30 x 2.96 x 0.33 inches)

159.12 x 73.31 x 8.25 mm (6.26 x 2.89 x 0.32 inches)

Weight

144g (5.09 ounces)

183g (6.46 ounces)

189g (6.67 ounces)

189g (6.67 ounces)

Screen size

4.7 inches (119.4 mm)

6.34 inches (161 mm)

6.5 inches (127 mm)

6.43 inches (163.3 mm)

Screen resolution

1,334 x 750 (326 ppi)

2,400 x 1,080 (413 ppi)

2,400 x 1,080 (407 ppi)

2,400 x 1,080 (410 ppi)

Screen type

Retina HD LCD

OLED

AMOLED

Fluid AMOLED

Battery

Up to 15 hours, mAh unknown

4,680 mAh

4,500 mAh

4,500 mAh

Internal storage

64 / 128 / 256 GB

128 GB

128 GB

128 / 256 GB

External storage

None

None

microSD up to 1 TB

None

Rear camera(s)

Wide: 12 MP, f/1.8

Dual pixel: 12.2 MP, f/1.7
Ultra-wide: 16 MP, f/2.2

Main: 64 MP, f/1.8
Ultra-wide: 12 MP, f/2.2
Macro: 5 MP, f/2.2
Depth: 5 MP, 2.2

Main: 50 MP, f/1.88
Ultra-wide: 8 MP, f/2.25

Front camera(s)

7 MP, f/2.2

8 MP, f/2.0

32 MP F/2.2

32 MP, f/2.45

Video capture

4K at 60 fps

4K at 60 fps

4K at 30 fps

4K at 30 fps

SoC

Apple A15 Bionic

Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G

Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G

MediaTek Dimensity 1200-AI

CPU

3.23 GHz hexa-core

2.4 GHz octa-core

2.2 GHz octa-core

3.0 GHz octa-core

GPU

quad-core Apple GPU

Adreno 620

Adreno 619

ARM G77 MC9

RAM

4 GB

6 GB

6 GB

6 / 8 / 12 GB

WiFi

802.11ax

802.11ac

802.11ac

802.11ax

Bluetooth

v5.0

v5.0

v5.0

v5.2

NFC

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Operating system

iOS 15

Android 11

Android 11

Android 11

Other features

IP67 certified, Lightning port

IP67 certified, USB-C

IP67 certified, USB-C

USB-C

Catch up on all of the news from Apple’s Peek Performance event right here!

If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.