The second generation iPhone SE is available for pre-order. It comes in three colors — black, white and (PRODUCT)RED — with prices starting at US$399.
The iPhone SE— which should begin arriving to some customers on April 24 — features a 4.7-inch Retina HD display, paired with Touch ID for security. It’s powered by the Apple-designed A13 Bionic. If you weren’t one of the first to order, you’ll have to wait: delivery estimates for the device have slipped to the first week of May in the U.S. for any color, storage, and carrier combination.
Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, says the iPhone SE also features the best single-camera system ever in an iPhone, which unlocks the benefits of computational photography including Portrait mode, and is designed to withstand the elements with dust and water resistance.
The smartphone is water- and dust-resistant with an IP67 rating for water resistance up to 1 meter for 30 minutes. The 4.7-inch Retina HD display with True Tone adjusts the white balance to match the ambient light. The Retina HD display supports Dolby Vision and HDR10 playback.
The iPhone SE uses Haptic Touch for Quick Actions — such as animating Live Photos, previewing messages, rearranging apps and more — as well as contextual menus. It also features the familiar Home button designed with sapphire crystal to be durable and to protect the sensor, and a steel ring to detect a user’s fingerprint for Touch ID.
The iPhone SE sports a 12-megapixel f/1.8 aperture Wide camera, and uses the image signal processor and Neural Engine of A13 Bionic to unlock even more benefits of computational photography, including Portrait mode, all six Portrait Lighting effects and Depth Control. Using machine learning and monocular depth estimation, it takes Portraits with the front camera. Next-generation Smart HDR comes to iPhone SE, intelligently re-lighting recognized subjects in a frame for more natural-looking images with s highlight and shadow details, according to Schiller.
He adds that videos are even more immersive with stereo audio recording and cinematic video stabilization on the front and rear cameras. The rear camera supports high-quality video capture at 4K up to 60fps, and extended dynamic range comes to iPhone SE for more highlight details up to 30fps. Customers can also take advantage of QuickTake video on the front and rear cameras, allowing video recording without switching out of Photo mode.
