iPhone SE (3rd gen) review: Flagship-chip performance and Touch ID in Apple’s cheapest, oldest body.
The cheapest way into iOS — if you can live with a 2017-era body.
The iPhone SE 3 pairs a fast A15 chip and long software support with the old iPhone 8 chassis. The small LCD, big bezels and tiny battery are the cost of the $429 price and the Touch ID home button.
01Display
58/10058/100 is one of the weaker display results among mid-range phones of 2022 — 9 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
02Camera
70/10070/100 puts it above the 67-point average for mid-range phones of 2022.
03Performance
80/10080/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2022.
04Battery
64/10064/100 is one of the weaker battery results among mid-range phones of 2022 — 7 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
05Build
74/10074/100 trails the 77-point cohort average for mid-range phones of 2022.
06Value
78/10078/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2022.
- Flagship A15 chip at the lowest iPhone price.
- Touch ID — the only current iPhone with a home button.
- Compact and light at 144 g.
- Long software-support runway.
- Dated 4.7" 60 Hz LCD with large bezels.
- Small 2,018 mAh battery.
- Single rear camera.
- Lightning port; 64 GB base storage.
How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 2-phone cohort of mid-range devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .