Teardown Video Compares New iPhone SE to iPhone 8

When it comes to design, the iPhone SE is identical to the iPhone 8, featuring a 4.7-inch LCD display, thick top and bottom bezels, a single-lens rear camera, and a Touch ID Home button.

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Unsurprisingly, the ‌iPhone‌ 8 also looks a lot like the ‌iPhone SE‌ inside, as detailed in a teardown video by a Chinese YouTuber who has one of the devices on hand. The video, which has subtitles, was shared on Reddit earlier today.


Most of the components of the ‌iPhone SE‌ are identical to the ‌iPhone‌ 8, but there are differences in the modem and WiFi chip, the battery connector (which is the same as the battery connector in the ‌iPhone‌ 11, and the flashlight setup. There's also a different rear camera module and, of course, a different processor as the ‌iPhone SE‌ uses the same A13 chip that's in the ‌iPhone‌ 11 and 11 Pro.

Many of the components in the ‌iPhone SE‌ and ‌iPhone‌ 8 were able to function interchangeably, demonstrating just how similar most of the parts are. The front display of the ‌iPhone‌ 8, for example, can be swapped onto an ‌iPhone SE‌ and it fits perfectly.

The ‌iPhone SE‌ is priced at $399 and the first orders will begin arriving to customers tomorrow. We'll see an even closer look inside the ‌iPhone SE‌ once teardown sites like iFixit take apart one of the new smartphones.

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Top Rated Comments

bodonnell202 Avatar
41 months ago

In other words, the so-called SE is really a cost reduced iPhone 8. Why did you have to pollute the SE name, Apple? Why?
The original SE was a cost reduced 5s. What’s your point?
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
41 months ago

Apple's big issue here is the naming scheme doesn't allow for out of order products, which is why they've bastardized the SE monicker. Nobody for a moment believes this is an iPhone SE given its form factor is too big. It's disingenuous of Apple to try to connive people who are actually intelligent enough to know the difference. This simply ain't an SE and nobody should call it that.


Apple is insulting you by trying this SE stunt. It's like a flat can of soda.
I don’t feel insulted in the least. I think you overestimate the emotional attachment people have toward the names of cellular devices.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
supergt Avatar
41 months ago
Would be interesting to see if 3D Touch can work if an iPhone 8 screen is transplanted on the SE.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
superiska123 Avatar
41 months ago
The most interesting bit for me is that the rear camera is different. Not that it matters (as the photos would be better because of the newer chip anyway) but I'm glad that people can now stop saying it's the same camera as the iPhone 8
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
41 months ago

If they are reusing leftover stock/parts, that’s how they were able to afford the $400 price point for this phone.

What Apple did was really smart. They have tons of iPhone 8 parts and are probably getting even more through recycling.
FWIW, I think it’s not that they have leftover stock or parts (warehouses full of parts for more than a few days worth of production is inefficient and costly), but rather that they have all the tooling - and their supply chain has all the tooling - to produce those exact parts at high volume and to extremely precise tolerances. And all that tooling is long since paid for. And they’ve got the whole assembly and QA process thoroughly debugged. So they just have to keep feeding in raw materials at one end to get perfect, low cost chassis out the other end.

They replaced the main chip on the circuit board with the newest one, and the camera with the one from the XR, oh, and maybe asked for the screen to be made without the 3D Touch layer, but the rest of it is the well tested iPhone 8.

If the price could be explained by “leftover parts” - the math for that only works if they’ve got several years worth of these leftover parts sitting around - if the price was low because they had, say, a month’s worth of leftover parts, then what happens after a month, does the iPhone SE price go up? No, Tim Cook made his name by being able to control the supply chain the way a conductor controls an orchestra - he never would have let them end up with years worth of extra parts in the first place.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
44267547 Avatar
41 months ago

For the audience this phone target, they couldn't care less. The iPhone SE is just another avenue for Apple to print money and get those remaining stubborn iPhone 5S, 6, and 6s users to finally upgrade.
So you’re telling us all something that is blatantly obvious? Of course Apple is out to make money, why do you think they revived this phone to begin with? (Both rhetorical questions.) Especially given how popular the 4.7 inch form factor is.

I think the misconception is, it’s not just about upgrading the 5s/6 owners, this is a global phone. It’s a phone that will survive in many markets, because of its low price point, which has Apple competing in a global segment, not just the North American market.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)