With the four-inch iPhone SE now available to consumers, the new Apple handset will naturally be up against the Galaxy S7; the most recent smartphone from Samsung. These are the two major mobile releases of the year so far, and Apple will be hoping that it can steal some of Samsung’s core market away with this new iPhone iteration. But how do the two compare?
iPhone SE vs Galaxy S7
Price
The new Apple device naturally wins out quite comfortably in this department, with the price tag of $399 being considered particularly impressive. Certainly before the release of the affordable iPhone variant it was assumed that it would cost in the region of $450, or even $100 more than the ultimate retail price. While it is possible to find a Galaxy S7 the right side of $600, it is significantly more expensive than the iPhone SE, and thus Apple seems to have pitched its product correctly in terms of attracting the budget end of the marketplace.
Build
Ironically, neither the Galaxy S7 not the iPhone SE features entirely new casing, with both building strongly on blueprints handed down by predecessors. Nonetheless, both feel like premium devices, with the iPhone SE mostly based around aluminum, while the Galaxy S7 features a combination of aluminum alloy and Gorilla Glass 4. Both have a pleasing visage, and considering that the iPhone SE is considered an affordable smartphone, no apparent expense has been spared with ensuring that this is an attractive device.
Size
Naturally the iPhone SE is significantly smaller than the Galaxy S7 in all dimensions, and is indeed intended to be a flexible, sleek and convenient performer. It is also somewhat lighter than the Galaxy S7, with width, thickness and the weight of the iPhone SE making it feel much smaller in the hand than the Samsung offering. This will obviously appeal to those wishing to utilize a handset with one hand only.
Display
In many ways, it is almost impossible to compare the two devices in this department. The Galaxy S7 has a significantly larger 5.1-inch screen that utilizes a Super AMOLED panel. Its quad HD resolution is over double that of the iPhone SE, although considering the smaller display of the affordable Apple handset, the difference in pixel per inch rating is considerably smaller than the resolution gap would suggest.
With 3D Touch functionality having been omitted from the iPhone SE, neither of these two smartphone contenders features pressure-sensitive functionality.
Connectibility
Both phones have 802.11ac Wi-Fi and NFC, although the NFC chip in the iPhone SE is currently only utilized for Apple Pay, while the Galaxy Pay is still in is relatively early days, it is accepted in many more vendors than Samsung Pay and Android Pay, and indeed these mobile payment systems have in fact yet to be launched in some key marketplaces, such as the United Kingdom.
Battery, storage and performance
The Galaxy S7 features a micro SD slot which is absent from the iPhone SE, with the latter not featuring the large memory storage options of the premium Samsung offering. Apple believes that consumers will be satisfied with a maximum 64GB of storage with his new affordable smartphone, and it is difficult to contest this conclusion, even if the Galaxy S7 does offer 128GB via microSD.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 has an octa-core Exynos 8890 CPU with four cores clocked at 2.3GHz and four lower-power cores at 1.6GHz in some nations, while in other territories the phone uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, which is a slightly less powerful quad-core processor. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that the Galaxy S7 is an outstanding performer in processing terms.
The iPhone SE uses the same processor as the iPhone 6S; a dual-core Apple A9. This will be extremely competitive for an affordable handset, considering that it is the same unit used in a premium iPhone. The 2GB of RAM included in the iPhone SE, coupled with Apple’s traditional proprietary hardware and software setup, ensures that this will be an extremely competitive smartphone, even if the Galaxy S7 is armed with a pretty massive 4GB of RAM.
And the Galaxy S7 has a much larger 3,000mAh battery, with the iPhone SE expected to be just over half this in capacity. Battery life should be superior in the Galaxy S7, but Apple claims that the iPhone SE will deliver 30 hours on a single charge.
Camera
Finally, the megapixel rating in both smartphones is exactly the same; 12-megapixels. The Galaxy S7 does have more sophisticated camera sensors, as well as including the recent dual-pixel technology; intended to improve shooting in low-light conditions. The Galaxy S7 features the best camera currently available in a smartphone, but the iPhone SE is respectable considering its very affordable price tag.
