Premium iPhones and some of the best Android smartphones might grab all the attention, but mid-range devices remain the bread and butter of all smartphone brands. Even Apple, the poster child of luxury electronics, with the associated price tags, has long had a relatively affordable handset or two in the mix. The launch of the iPhone SE line solidified that stance with a price and feature set that positioned it as the perfect first iPhone, an iPhone for kids, or even as a second phone.
However, a lot has changed in the years since the iPhone SE originally hit the drawing board. For one, there is no dearth of high-quality Android smartphones in the $300 to $500 segment. Moreover, it is possible to pick up an older iPhone with a much superior feature set for not much more money. All this to say, I’ve spent the last two weeks with the iPhone SE (2022) pondering over how to accurately gauge the handset. There’s more to the phone than the hardware proposition would suggest, and that requires taking a long and hard look at the bigger picture, which is what we’re going to do here. For a full deep dive into the iPhone SE (2022) be sure to check out our in-depth review.