Apple iPhone SE (2016) / Specification

The iPhone SE (2016) put the flagship internals of the iPhone 6S into the compact, beloved 4-inch body of the iPhone 5S. It paired the Apple A9 chip and M9 motion coprocessor with a 12 MP rear camera capable of 4K video and added Apple Pay via NFC, all at a price far below Apple's larger flagships. For fans of small phones, it was the most powerful four-inch iPhone Apple had made.

The trade-offs were honest ones. The SE kept the dated, several-years-old iPhone 5S design with its squared-off edges, and it omitted the 3D Touch display and the faster second-generation Touch ID sensor found on the 6S. It also lacked a barometer. The 4.0-inch 640x1136 Retina display and 1.2 MP front camera were modest even for 2016.

Despite those compromises, the iPhone SE became a small-phone fan favourite, prized for fitting current-generation performance and a 4K camera into a one-handed, pocketable shell. It retained the 3.5 mm headphone jack and received an unusually long run of software support, from iOS 9 through iOS 15. From about $399.