Still 4 years with 6s+ and everything works well. I changed battery 4 months ago. Don’t need better pictures than these, 1 second faster app opening is not big deal for me. Really satisfied with this phone and don’t see any reason to change it?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone 6, 6s, & 7 vs. iPhone SE: Should You Upgrade?
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Keep convincing yourself, that’s fine. I agree keeping things for a long time makes sense; out of interest, when you replaced your 2001 VW, did you buy exactly the same car again brand new?
agree at all. Have 6S+and don’t see any reason to change it. 1-2 seconds faster application opening or bit better picture, it’s not worth
I’m an iPhone 7 user and think this is a good upgrade. The camera improvements would be the biggest draw for me, but A10 to A13 will be a noticeable difference right now and will mean much better support down the road. Wireless charging, faster LTE, faster WiFi, and Bluetooth 5 would also be welcome but are less important. For some, dual SIM alone might be reason enough to upgrade.
All of that said, I think I’m going to resist and try to wait for the 5.4” iphone 12 in the fall. But I don’t understand saying “no reason to upgrade” when the SE improves on the 7 in a number of ways.
(quote didn’t work. In relation to comment saying iPhone 7 still feels fine)
Feel exactly the same. I do have the battery case though...
Feel exactly the same. I do have the battery case though...
I am also going to wait to see if there is a marginally bigger screen, e.g. like a + size screen, but in the smaller body. I don’t think anyone disagrees that the SE offers some good upgrades, but in my circumstances, it would cost me £419 + my pristine 6S to get the SE 128GB; it‘s just not worth it.
I would have...In fact, I replaced my '01 Golf TDI 4-door (no wagon available then in the US) after 392K miles (best car ever) with another 5-speed Silver Golf, this time a 2016 gasser Sportwagen. No diesel available in '16 of course. Over 40 mpg hwy, another fantastic car. Unfortunately VW wants to sell SUVs for more $$$ so no more Sportwagen after '19 models in the US. Coincidentally, the '16 Golf is based on a design first released in 2014, as was the iPhone 6... Design-wise I'm 6 years behind the times, I guess.
I think that 2020 is not the time to get an Apple 5G phone. I'll wait for the kinks to be worked out...3rd year should be the charm. So, the new SE it is for now...should last me 3 1/2 or 4, maybe 5 years....I'll wait and see what advantage 5G actually brings for iPhone 15 in Fall 2023.
Last edited:
Neither size, in regard to thickness:
iPhone 6: 6.9 mm
iPhone 6s/7: 7.1 mm
iPhone 8/SE: 7.3 mm
The problem with apps resetting when you switch because of the little RAM... well, I think it's the app developer's fault first, and Apple's second.
First, because iOS doesn't kill your app out of the blue: it tells you it has to shut you down, and you can save your app's state. Why the community of app developers decided it's better to have apps "restarting at the beginning" is beyond me.
Second, because we are in 2020 and phones no longer have 2 GB of storage. There's no reason for iOS to not have memory swapping, like any desktop OS has had since, well, forever? I'm pretty sure Windows 2.0a/386 did have it. Proper tuning will avoid any storage and battery issue.
First, because iOS doesn't kill your app out of the blue: it tells you it has to shut you down, and you can save your app's state. Why the community of app developers decided it's better to have apps "restarting at the beginning" is beyond me.
Second, because we are in 2020 and phones no longer have 2 GB of storage. There's no reason for iOS to not have memory swapping, like any desktop OS has had since, well, forever? I'm pretty sure Windows 2.0a/386 did have it. Proper tuning will avoid any storage and battery issue.
So get this:
In terms of your comment about CPU/power, I have an older iPad Air 2 {A8X processor} that was laying around that hardly is used, that I decided to upgrade through iOS 13 today through my Mac (OTA isn’t available). So when I went to check which version of iOS my Air 2 was on, it was on iOS 9.3! And it still performed with optimal speeds prior to the OS update [With the exception of a few apps that need to be updated]. If you think about it, I was four iOS updates behind and I didn’t notice any performance Lag/issues whatsoever.
In conjunction with my point above, the A11 will easily supersede another four years in terms of performance. The A-Series processors are severely underestimated, especially given they can outperform outside iOS updates that may not even be available anymore.
that was a big deal for me. I on my old SE I had nightshift on 24/7 to get that effect and yellow my screen a bit.
[automerge]1587907464[/automerge]
I went to my provider to order the new SE to replace my old SE only to find out for $70 more I could own the XR. (Apple puts the screws to non-U.S. countries when pricing. Being generous with exchange rates between USD and CDN Apple could've easily charged $499 but the "budget" phone is $599 CDN.)
Agreed about the True Tone display. Work phone is an iPhone 8 and I enjoy its screen more than the one on my 7.
This simultaneous comparison video (which has over 1 million views) perfectly sums up the camera differences between XR, 11, and SE.
Last edited:
It’s even more than that. You can’t use pressure to select text using the keyboard with Haptic Touch, since there is no pressure sensitivity.
The way the loss of 3D Touch has been under-explained is the exact reason why we lost it. If these sites didn’t write it off like it’s no loss or ignore it completely, more people would’ve understood the value of it and it could have stayed.
I'm still on a 6s, which I don't even like that much, but there's nothing in the SE that would make me want to upgrade. It's still the annoying soap bar design with an upgraded CPU as we're all constantly being told that you really need that juice in your smartphone, when really I couldn't care less. I don't play games on my smartphone and I really don't care whether my mails app opens up in 3 seconds or 1.5 seconds. We are so deep into the land of diminishing returns with this, that I probably wouldn't even mind using my old iPhone 5.
Can't tell from MacRumors what the sales trends will be for the masses with respect to the 6, 6S or 7. I see this as a potential first time phone for the younger set as well.
This is something that I think many people are overlooking, and even this author kind of glossed over by simply saying that the new bands would only help international service.
For anybody who has an iPhone 8/X or older, you’re missing band 14 which is a huge part of AT&T’s low-band LTE capacity. That’s the “FirstNet” band — that’s the 700 MHz band that’s going to get you improved in-building coverage. And it’s available for all customers to use, not just FirstNet subscribers. Not to mention that the XS and newer support 4- or 5-carrier aggregation. Anybody who doesn't have an iPhone XS, XR, 11/11 Pro, or this new SE is missing out on a lot of speed and coverage.
Likewise, with T-Mobile, band 71 is equally important for the same reasons. I understand that the iPhone 6s and 7 look similar by design, but the improvements in LTE bands and CA make a huge difference for coverage and capacity, which actually helps out everyone by spreading data load across more spectrum. And that’s a huge part of the value of upgrading 2+ year old iPhones that’s really not being discussed here.
I’m switching my iPhone X for the SE. This is great to here! I noticed my coverage with ATT inside my house hasn’t been so great.
I upgraded from a 7 because while it still felt fast and responsive, the battery life has degraded over time. I used to be able to go all day and still have around 25+% left, now I have to switch to low power mode in the late afternoon otherwise I won't make it the whole day. My new SE still has around 30-40% battery life remaining at the end of the day so it was worth it for me.
I had a 6+, but upgraded to the 11 because of a BOGO promotion at Verizon. The main reason for upgrading is that the 6+ no longer receives iOS upgrades (though they still send out regular security updates). The 6 was still in great shape and I got $75 for it on Swappa. The 11 is a LOT heavier than the 6+, but it's the only drawback IMO.