Apple iPhone SE (2022) vs iPhone 16e

Here we compared two mid-range smartphones: the 4.7-inch Apple iPhone SE (2022) (with Apple A15 Bionic) that was released on March 8, 2022, against the Apple iPhone 16e, which is powered by Apple A18 and came out 3 years after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone SE (2022)
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Weighs 23 grams less
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 16e
  • Comes with 1987 mAh larger battery capacity: 4005 vs 2018 mAh
  • Thinner bezels – 21.8% more screen real estate
  • Has a 1.4 inches larger screen size
  • Shows 51% longer battery life (26:44 vs 17:41 hours)
  • Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
  • 40% higher pixel density (457 vs 326 PPI)
  • Delivers 29% higher peak brightness (838 against 649 nits)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • 20% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1612K versus 1346K)
  • The phone is 3 years newer
  • OLED display (versus competitor's IPS LCD)
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K

Review

Evaluation of Apple iPhone SE (2022) and iPhone 16e crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
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📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 92% Yes
Yes, this is a clear and meaningful upgrade.
Updating from Apple iPhone SE (2022) to Apple iPhone 16e is a clear step forward, and the improvements should be easy to notice.
Main improvements: battery life, display, and camera.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type IPS LCD OLED
Size 4.7 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 750 x 1334 pixels 1170 x 2532 pixels
Aspect ratio 16:9 19.5:9
PPI 326 ppi 457 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 625 nits 800 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 1200 nits
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Tempered glass Ceramic Shield
Screen-to-body ratio 65.3% 87.1%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.9% 99.9%
PWM - 60 Hz
Response time 38 ms 10 ms
Contrast 1655:1 ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
iPhone 16e
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
iPhone SE (2022)
4.7″ (16:9 ratio) = 9.4 in2
~49% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
649 nits
iPhone 16e +29%
838 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 138.4 mm (5.45 inches) 146.7 mm (5.78 inches)
Width 67.3 mm (2.65 inches) 71.5 mm (2.81 inches)
Thickness 7.3 mm (0.29 inches) 7.8 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 144 g (5.08 oz) 167 g (5.89 oz)
Waterproof IP67 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Red White, Black
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-button No
Repairability - Average (2.79/5)
Drop resistance - Good (C) · 90 drops
Screen-to-body ratio
iPhone 16e +33%
87.1%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Apple iPhone SE (2022) and Apple iPhone 16e
SoC
Chipset Apple A15 Bionic Apple A18
Max clock 3223 MHz 4040 MHz
CPU cores 6 (2 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Blizzard
- 2 cores at 3.23 GHz: Avalanche
- 4 cores at 2.42 GHz: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 4.05 GHz: Everest
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 5 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Apple Neural Engine Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Apple GPU 4 core Apple GPU
GPU shading units 640 640
GPU clock 1338 MHz 1490 MHz
FLOPS ~1712.6 GFLOPS ~1907 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Apple iPhone SE (2022) and Apple iPhone 16e
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
iPhone 16e +36%
3281
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
iPhone 16e +33%
8035
Compute Score (GPU)
iPhone 16e +35%
24041
Compute Score (GPU) 17777 24041
Single-core score 2404 3281
Multi-core score 6040 8035
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
iPhone 16e +20%
1612788
CPU 396583 485100
GPU 363070 445832
Memory 162337 185536
UX 424045 496320
Total score 1346035 1612788
Samples [8 tests] [5 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability - 82%
Graphics test - 9 FPS
Graphics score - 1226
3DMark Solar Bay
iPhone 16e +85%
5507
Stability 75% -
Graphics test 11 FPS 21 FPS
Section 1 16 FPS 26 FPS
Section 2 11 FPS 21 FPS
Section 3 7 FPS 15 FPS
Graphics score 2969 5507
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 70% -
Graphics test 14 FPS -
Graphics score 2387 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple iPhone SE (2022)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-18 (Bionic)AnTuTu 111336740
📘 2026-06-19 (Bionic)AnTuTu 111375075
📘 2026-06-14 (Bionic)Geekbench 6 CPU2404 / 6040
📘 2026-06-14 (Bionic)AnTuTu 111362289
📘 2026-03-13 (Mistral)AnTuTu 111342610
Apple iPhone 16e
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-03-11 (Matviy)AnTuTu 111600106
📘 2026-02-27 (iPhone user)AnTuTu 111591246
📘 2026-02-10 (Virtuose)AnTuTu 111721718
📘 2026-01-14 (Glib)AnTuTu 111656396
📘 2026-01-13 (киря)AnTuTu 111612788

Memory

RAM
RAM size 4 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR5X
Channels 2 4
Storage
Storage size 64 GB 128 GB
Storage type NVMe NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system iOS 15.3 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) iOS 18.3 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5)
OS size 12 GB 24 GB
OS updates - 7 years
Security updates - 7 years

Battery

Capacity 2018 mAh 4005 mAh
Max charge power 20 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging No No
Bypass charging - No
Fast charging Yes (61% in 30 min) Yes (57% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:18 hr 1:50 hr
Battery cycles - 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:07 hr 11:59 hr
Watching video 10:31 hr 15:01 hr
Gaming 03:43 hr 05:04 hr
Standby 87 hr 127 hr
General battery life
17:41 hr
iPhone 16e +51%
26:44 hr

Main camera

Matrix 12 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 8064 x 6048
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash Quad LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
1) Standard: 48 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- Bokeh mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 12 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.6
Focal length - 26 mm
Sensor - Sony IMX972
Sensor size - 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 1.22 micron 0.7 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 50 -
Preview 71 -
Zoom 29 -
Samples Photo samples of Apple iPhone SE (2022) from DxOMark -

Selfie camera

Megapixels 7 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 3088 x 2320 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/2.2 f/1.9
Focal length - 23 mm
Sensor - Sony IMX714
Sensor size - 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Pixel size - 1 micron
Autofocus - Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No Yes

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type - USB Type-C
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort - No
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode - Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
88.4 dB

Other

Category Mid-range Mid-range
Announced March 2022 February 2025
Release date March 2022 February 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $429 $599
Successor - Apple iPhone 16e -
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger Not included Not included
Further details
Notes on iPhone 16e:
    - The smartphone doesn’t have a cinematic mode like the higher-end models in the series.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 16e is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
44 (37.3%)
74 (62.7%)
Total votes: 118

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