Apple iPhone SE review: Reminiscence

Performance

The iPhone SE may come with dated looks, but its hardware is up to date. It is powered by the latest Apple A9 chipset, which packs a dual-core 1.84 GHz Twister processor, PowerVR GT7600 six-core graphics, and 2GB RAM. And we believe the A9, coupled with the lower (than iPhone 6) resolution screen would be a monster.

Apple has always been focused on the single-core performance since it is the most important one when it comes to interacting with the iOS user interface and the single-core GeekBench test proves the 64-bit Twister core is still the best and fastest CPU core currently on the market.

GeekBench 3 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone SE
  2562
• Apple iPhone 6s
  2542
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  2305
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  2170
• Apple iPhone 6
  1594
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  1363
• Xiaomi Mi 4s
  1254

The multi-core score of GeekBench 3 shows how powerful the dual-core Twister processor is. It beats the Snapdragon 810 chips, and does a lot better than the A8 SoC in the iPhone 6. It trails behind the 8-core Exynos models from 2015 (Galaxy S6) and 2016 (Galaxy S7), but not by a large margin, which is impressive given those are just two cores.

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S7
  6360
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  5358
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  5215
• Apple iPhone SE
  4469
• Apple iPhone 6s
  4427
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact
  3796
• Xiaomi Mi 4s
  3147
• Apple iPhone 6
  2835
• Apple iPhone 5s (iOS 8)
  2552
• OnePlus X
  2297
• Apple iPhone 5
  1296
• Apple iPhone 5c
  1280

The compound AnTuTu 6 benchmark puts the iPhone SE on par with the iPhone 6s, and very close to the Xiaomi Mi 5 and Galaxy S7 top dogs.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S7
  132084
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  131758
• Apple iPhone 6s
  129990
• Apple iPhone SE
  123961
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  89345
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  79038
• Xiaomi Mi 4s
  59850

The compound BaseMark OS II 2.0 test gauges CPU, GPU, Memory, Web and System performance. In this test the iPhone SE is once again on par with the iPhone 6s, Galaxy S7, and the latest Xiaomi Mi 5 (Snapdragon 820 chip).

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s
  2195
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  2180
• Apple iPhone SE
  2163
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  2128
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  2040
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  1674
• Xiaomi Mi 4s
  1545
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact
  1440
• Apple iPhone 6
  1429
• OnePlus X
  1213

Next - graphics performance. The iPhone SE utilizes the six-core PowerVR GT7600 GPU, which is quite the beast. The 1080p off-screen benchmarks speak for themselves. It is as powerful as the Mali-T880MP12 GPU inside the Galaxy S7, but is bested by the Adreno 530 (S820) within the Xiaomi Mi 5.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 5
  45
• Apple iPhone SE
  39.6
• Apple iPhone 6s
  39.5
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  38
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact
  25
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  24
• Xiaomi Mi 4s
  13
• Apple iPhone 5s (iOS 8)
  12.9
• OnePlus X
  9.9

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 5
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  28
• Apple iPhone SE
  26.8
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact
  18
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  17
• Xiaomi Mi 4s
  8.1

The iPhone SE has a sub-1080p display resolution, which makes a massive difference in comparison with the 1080p and Quad HD phones in the performance chart, and shows top-notch gaming performance (if you are into the 4" display gaming).

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone SE
  59.2
• Apple iPhone 6s
  53.6
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  43
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact
  39
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  27
• Apple iPhone 5s (iOS 8)
  24.3
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  17
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  14
• Xiaomi Mi 4s
  12
• OnePlus X
  10

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone SE
  58
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact
  38
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  29
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  15
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  11
• Xiaomi Mi 4s
  7.9

Finally, Android has OpenGL ES 3.1 as latest generation graphics, while iOS 9 has Metal. Both allow games to make full use of the built-in GPUs and BaseMark has launched the BaseMark ES3.1 / Metal apps so we can compare the performance cross-platform. Combined with the lower resolution of the iPhone SE, the Metal test really produces outstanding results.

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone SE
  882
• Apple iPhone 6s
  879
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  732
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  580
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  504
• Apple iPhone 6
  370
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  311
• Xiaomi Mi 4s
  219

We knew the Apple A9 is a beast since we first saw it running on the iPhone 6s. There is no surprise it's a flagship-grade chipset and it delivers on all fronts. Apple's choice of designing its own processor pays out every year and makes sure iOS users never have to worry about lackluster performance. The Apple A9 has the power to handle everything you can get on your phone today and is future-proof for years to come with some huge power reserves under the hood.