iPhone SE 3 vs iPhone 11
Several factors decide which iPhone you should buy. These factors include Design, Display, Processor, Camera, Connectivity, Battery, and Price. We have compared all the aspects and come to a final verdict.
Design
The iPhone SE 3 design is the most controversial part of it. iPhone users worldwide expected the design to be modern, like an iPhone XR. But Apple disappointed everyone by sticking with the older iPhone 8 like design. You will get the same huge bezels on both the top and bottom. An iPhone 8 like design means the presence of Touch ID. On the other side of the story, iPhone 11 has a modern design with narrower bezels on top and bottom. It also has a display notch, making room for the Face ID. The front panel of the iPhone 11 looks less intrusive than iPhone SE 3. Moving on to the rear panel, iPhone SE has a single camera sensor with a LED flash and secondary noise cancellation mic. The iPhone 11 has two rear sensors housed in a modern camera module. The Apple logo remains in the center of the back panel. Both the iPhones are IP rated; the iPhone SE 3 has received an IP68 rating, whereas iPhone 11 is IP67 rated. Despite all the hate, we think that Apple has done well to keep the older iPhone design alive. Every other iPhone has already moved to the newer design. There should be an iPhone with a good old iPhone 8 like design and, most importantly, Touch ID. And that’s exactly what Apple was thinking.
Display
Talking about the display, the iPhone SE has a 4.7-inch (1334×750) LCD IPS Display. On the other hand, iPhone 11 fits a bigger 6.1-inch (1792×828) IPS LCD Display. Apple likes to call the iPhone SE 3 display Retina HD Display and iPhone 11 display Liquid Retina HD Display. Leaving the marketing terms aside, both iPhones have an HD display. Other than size, specifications and features of iPhone SE 3 and iPhone 11 displays are identical. You will get 326 PPI, 1400:1 contrast ratio, and 625 nits max brightness on both displays. The available features are TrueTone, Wide Color, and Haptic Touch. After comparing the display of iPhone SE 3 and iPhone 11, it all comes to your preference. Whether you want a small 4.7-inch display with huge bezels on top and bottom or a big 6.1-inch display with minimal bezels and a display notch, if you consume a lot of content iPhone 11 big display will suit you the most.
Processor
Processor is the only segment where iPhone SE 3 shines the most. The iPhone SE 3 packs Apple A15 Bionic Chip. As you might know, the current iPhone 13 lineup features the same chip. It means you are getting the best possible performance on an iPhone. Not just better performance, you will also get 5G support on iPhone SE thanks to the newer chip. On the other side, iPhone 13 comes with an older A13 Bionic chip. No doubt, A13 Bionic is a very capable chip, but now it is two generations older. In typical day-to-day usage, you shouldn’t be able to find a big difference. But When we compared both the iPhones side by side, the iPhone SE 3 was faster than iPhone 11 while launching apps and games. Digging dip into A15 Bionic and A13 Bionic processors. The A15 Bionic is fabricated on a 5nm FinFet process, whereas A13 Bionic uses a 7nm process technology. The narrower process technology of A15 Bionic means you can expect a better thermal performance and power efficiency on iPhone SE 3. On the CPU front, both the chips come with a six-core design. However, A15 Bionic has a new 6 Core CPU with two performance and four efficiency cores. The same story repeats in the GPU round, both A15 Bionic and A13 Bionic features a 4-Core GPU, but the one used on A15 Bionic is newer and more capable. The most significant difference is in the Neural engine. The A15 Bionic has a new 16 Core neural engine, whereas A13 Bionic has an 8-core neural engine. By looking at the processor, it is apparent if all you need is better performance, go with iPhone SE 3.
Camera
The iPhone SE comes with a single 12MP Wide Camera with an F/1.8 aperture. Whereas iPhone 11 has a dual-camera setup. Both the sensors are 12MP, one of them is Wide, and another is Ultra Wide. The aperture of Wide and Ultra-Wide lenses is F/1.8 and F/2.4, respectively. Both the iPhone cameras have support for optical image stabilization. You will get 5x digital zoom on both iPhones, but iPhone 11 provides an additional 2x optical zoom using the secondary lens. You will also get features like Deep fusion, portrait mode, Portrait Lighting. The video capturing abilities are identical on both iPhones. You can shoot 1080p or 4k videos at 60fps. iPhone SE 3 comes with a 7MP sensor with an F/2.2 aperture on the front. On the other hand, iPhone 11 has a 12MP TrueDepth camera with the same F/2.2 aperture. You will get Retina Flash, Smart HDR, Portrait mode, and Portrait light on both iPhones. When it comes to video recording with the front camera, you can shoot only 1080p 30FPS videos on iPhone SE 3, whereas iPhone 11 can shoot 1080p or 4k 60fps videos. If you take many selfies or want to record videos with the front-facing camera, iPhone 11 is a better pick for you.
Connectivity
Connectivity-wise iPhone SE has support for sub-6 GHz 5G with 2×2 MIMO. Although it doesn’t have mmWave 5G support, it is nice to see to have 5G on a budget iPhone. The 5G support is possible because of A15 Bionic. As iPhone 11 has an older A13 Bionic chip, it misses 5G. As far as 4G connectivity is concerned, iPhone 11 has Gigabit-class LTE support, whereas iPhone SE 3 only supports LTE Advanced. Both iPhones have other connectivity features like Bluetooth 5, Wi-Fi 6, VoLTE, Built-in GPS, NFC, and Wi-Fi Calling.
Battery
The iPhone SE 2 was heavily criticized for its poor battery life. Apple had pressure to improve the battery life on SE 3, and as expected, the company has done that. The iPhone SE has a larger 2018 mAH battery than 1821mAh on iPhone SE 2. A larger battery combined with A15 Bionic has helped Apple to offer a better battery life. The iPhone SE offers up to an extra 2 hours of video playback and up to 10 hours of additional audio playback compared to SE 2. When we put these numbers against the iPhone 11, things become challenging for SE 3. The iPhone 11 packs a 3110mAh battery. It is almost a 50% large battery than iPhone SE 3. A bigger battery doesn’t entirely mean iPhone 11 will offer a 50% better battery life than iPhone SE 3. You will have to keep the display size, processor, and other factors in mind. The iPhone SE 3 offers a video playback time of 15 hours which is 2 hours less than the 17 hours video playback time on iPhone 11. If you are streaming a video on iPhone SE 3, the battery will last 10 hours. And it is the same as iPhone 11. When it comes to audio playback, iPhone SE 3 offers an audio playback time of 50 hours. It fell short by 15 hours if you compare it with 65 hours of audio playback time on iPhone 11. Coming to charging, both iPhone SE 3 and iPhone 11 are capable of fast charging. You can plug them with a 20W or higher power Adapter, and the battery will charge up to 50% in 30 minutes. Do remind Apple is not bundling Adapters in the box. You will have to buy it separately.
Color
Apple has launched the iPhone SE 3 in three color variants: Midnight, Starlight, and Product Red. In comparison to it, the iPhone 11 is available in 6 colors: Purple, Yellow, Green, Black, White, and Product Red. Colour choice is highly subjective and varies from person to person. But if you like one of the colors available for the iPhone 11, you already know which iPhone you should go with.
Price
It’s pricing that might be confusing you the most. The iPhone SE 3 costs $429 (without trade-in) for the base 64 variant. Talking about other storage variants, iPhone SE 3 has two more variants, 128GB($479) and 256GB($579). The pricing of SE 3 is up by $30, from the iPhone SE 2 base variant price. When our expectation was for a cheaper iPhone SE 3, Apple increased the price. On the other hand, iPhone 11 is available officially at $499 for the 64 GB variant. The $499 pricing is at Apple Stores, and You might get a deal via the third-party retailers and get it as cheap as $449. If you think 64GB is less for you, iPhone 11 also has a 128GB variant priced at $549. There is no 256GB variant available for iPhone 11, whereas iPhone SE 3 has a new 256GB variant.
Conclusion
By now, we have compared all the aspects of the iPhone SE 3 and iPhone 11. And It’s time for a conclusion. iPhone SE 3 is a compact iPhone with a design many users have loved for years. It also has the best possible processor available for iPhones. Besides the compact design, the powerful chip iPhone 11 is superior in almost every aspect. It has a modern design with narrow bezels, bigger display size, Face ID, dual camera, bigger battery. We would recommend all of you to give priority to your requirements and then make a decision. Let’s make it even more straightforward If you want an iPhone that is as faster as newer iPhones, but in an older iPhone 8 design, then go with iPhone SE 3, and for anything else, iPhone 11 should be your ultimate choice.
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