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iPhone SE (2016) First Gen SE: How much longer viable?
- Thread starter rwh63
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It's official, you won in battle. Your award is one virtual candy. 🍭
We both have to eventually update to a newer device regardless of which approach we take, we can agree on that. I feel like I have had a much better experience having updated my iOS consistently though. I also get to use my phone once it’s retired as my daily driver as a secondary device at home as the entire app suite will still be accessible on it. Even my 6S/OGSE still work perfectly as secondary devices, despite the battery life no longer making them viable daily drivers (for my personal battery demands).
I personally couldn’t care less about whether I have a door stop with a lot of battery life or a door stop with significantly less battery life once the device is fully retired, because guess what? I won’t actually be using it! It’ll be in my cupboard back in its original box, lol. I prefer to enjoy the device while it’s still relevant rather than having it obliterated by not updating the firmware.
I agree with you that iOS 15 is perfect at the moment with no noticeable difference (other than superficial improvements) to iOS 18. My iPad Mini 4, 6S and OGSE are all topped out on iOS 15 and all of those devices run Safari perfectly (albeit the Mini 4’s performance is poor). The Mini 4’s main use to me would be as a video streaming device as it can still access all major media apps and stream video as well as any other device. I have a strong feeling that this the last year we will be able to use iOS 15 devices with no compatibility issues as app support will likely leave us after the release of iOS 19. Soon my Mini 4, OGSE and 6S are going to become useless bricks which will go into a cupboard for the rest of time. Luckily my 8 will still be useful for a further year.
Two completely different scenarios.
You get used to what you have. An old phone with old performance might seem ok if that’s all you use. Compare it to a newer phone and that’s where the differences show up. It’s all subjective.
This is my point. Compare it to an original iOS version and it’s not okay as well.
If you have been used to years of updates you’ll pretty much tolerate anything. I don’t.
Tolerate? It’s not tolerating, it’s improvement. The original OS gets refined with time. Better battery life, less bugs, improved integration with apps. I’m having a hard time understanding your philosophy.
Very funny. The experience worsens with iOS updates. Saying that it actually improves is ludicrous.
I’d only understand it if you were somebody who upgrade every year and has no experience with updated devices.
I can’t have a serious conversation with somebody who actually thinks battery life and performance improve with iOS updates. They worsen. Every time. What we were discussing is the degree of acceptance different users have with it, but the baseline is a fact: devices worsen with iOS updates. If you disagree with that I can’t take you seriously, sorry.
Battery life and performance decreases with each new iOS update however app compatibility is all that matters to 99.9% of users. You must also remember that performance hits are negligible with these powerful SoCs, we aren’t talking about an iPhone 4S. I genuinely see no difference in performance between iOS 15 and iOS 18 on my 13.
iOS 9 and iOS 18 are both completely different also in terms of animations, plug ins, integration with widgets & AI, etc… you can’t honestly believe a 6S could run iOS 18 as well as it runs iOS 9 even if Apple had made attempts to optimise it? Obviously not, iOS 18 requires a lot more processing power therefore the hypothetical performance would be underwhelming.
You seem to be fixated in a fantasy land where there is one perfected universal iOS version which is compatible with all apps at all times and never requires updating. That will never happen since we live in the real world. I have explained before that an ancient laptop running Windows 98 would not perform well on Windows 7.
There are apps that wont run on it and the battery life is terrible. I can only get about 30 minuets of continuous use on mine before it dies. Even in standby it will last 24 hours at most before it drains. Also 32GB isn’t enough to have more than a few apps installed.
That’s because you require a battery service.
No point in changing the battery when it isn’t my daily driver. I have a 15 pro max.
Fair, but your post about the poor performance is directly due to an old device needing a new battery
It's unfair to dump on a device when it has a critical component that has timed out
You didn’t make it clear that you were aware the power issues with your SE was due to a depleted battery. The phone would work fine otherwise.
That's amazing! Why did you leave, if you don't mind me asking? I remember you were on a hiatus...If you mean from ASC. Yes, that's me
Nothing funny at all, just facts. There is minimal, if any, battery performance loss with updates. The betas can have issues as they work through the builds but I have never experienced any significant loss, other than actual battery degradation, over time. I just came from an IPhone 12 Pro. Battery, on 18, lasted all day without issue.
As others have stated you are fixated on a belief that has no merit in the real world. We must look at not only our own experience but the experience of a large group to understand reality.
Yes. That is true. However, there are still some apps which are no longer supported. Not bad for a 9 year old phone though.
Those apps are banking apps as some are no longer compatible with iOS 15, likely due to Apple dropping security updates. I agree that I wouldn’t daily drive an OGSE anymore as I require those apps along with a longer battery life.
I get that. But when that large group consistently denies (and has denied) reality for as long as I can remember… why should I believe you now?
Because people have been saying that even the 4s on iOS 9 is fine. People have said that the Xʀ is fine on iOS 18. When pressed, they reply with “it’s fine for a seven-year-old iPhone. What do you expect? Like-new battery life? If it’s seven years old!
When you show them the numbers, they deny it or they say “well, I’m not getting your battery life, but it’s fine for me”.
I acknowledge that an iPhone 13 might have a better battery life with a new battery than a similarly updated iPhone 6s, but it isn’t perfect. I will try an updated iPhone 11 and let you know.
But since I can’t trust the general internet public when it comes to this, because our reactions and our expectations differ, I have to wait until I see it for myself. I will try the iPhone 11 on iOS 18 with my usage and I’ll let you know. If it’s decent, I’ll be the first one to celebrate.
Wow, a 2016 SE in use as a daily in 2025?! I took mine out last week before the new ‘SE’ was to be announced. I was actually taken a back by how recently it lost OS support! It worked remarkably well but hot. I used a 2020 SE before buying my 16 in November… that thing was not fit for purpose. Not worthy of the shelf space like the real SE so it was traded in
Most cars in the last 50 years have a 12 volt lighter plug and battery banks are a thing. Being able to charge a phone when not near an outlet has been a thing for a long time.
disappointed by the new SE, aka 16e. unfortunately, my daily driver SE1 has a damaged screen that is making it hard to use, so i need a solution soon. the price jump for those in the older SE market is significant. even though some may not recommend it, i am considering purchasing a new old stock SE w/128gb for about $150 to get me through the next year or so.
So now I have to carry a cable, a battery pack, AND I have to juggle all three in bright sunlight with my nearly 2kg battery pack because I have a garbage iOS version that kills my battery after 1.5-2 hours of camera use. And I have to juggle it twice because one midday charge isn’t enough, it runs out of battery again with heavy use because a fully updated iPhone is THAT awful.
Do you see my point?
You may tolerate that. We have a different opinion. I don’t.
I lost you the first time with 2kg battery pack and for the second time with 1.5-2 hours of camera use… 😱