iPhone SE Teardown: 3D Touch Chip Removed, iPhone 8 Camera Sensor, and More

iFixit has published its full teardown of the new iPhone SE, confirming that the device has many similar or identical components as the iPhone 8, including the display, battery, cameras, Taptic Engine, SIM tray, and more.

The new iPhone SE appears to have the same 12-megapixel rear camera sensor as the iPhone 8, with the benefit of the A13 chip's improved image signal processor, as Rene Ritchie mentioned earlier this month. iFixit also found that the front-facing camera sensor on the new iPhone SE and the iPhone 8 are interchangeable.

ifixit iphone se vs 8 vs xr rear camera sensors

From left to right: iPhone SE, iPhone 8, iPhone XR

While the new iPhone SE and the iPhone 8 have virtually identical display assemblies, Apple has removed the 3D Touch module from the iPhone SE. iFixit even tested the new iPhone SE with an iPhone 8 display and found that 3D Touch still did not work, suggesting that the feature is disabled at the software level on the device.

The teardown also confirms reports that the new iPhone SE has a 1,821 mAh battery capacity, identical to the iPhone 8.

ifixit iphone se teardown 2020
The new iPhone SE has been available to order on Apple.com since April 17 and began arriving to customers on April 24. Pricing starts at $399 for 64GB of storage, with 128GB and 256GB options available for $449 and $549 respectively.

Related Roundup: iPhone SE
Buyer's Guide: iPhone SE (Caution)
Related Forum: iPhone

Top Rated Comments

Sirious Avatar
51 months ago
I miss 3D Touch!
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
citysnaps Avatar
51 months ago
Astonishing some people still don't understand why an inexpensive entry level phone has fewer features than a much more expensive high-end phone.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PickUrPoison Avatar
51 months ago

The 8se seems like a sore thumb. Why didn't Apple continue selling the prior generation at a cheaper price? This strategy of the 8se now seems like the marketing dept overdosed on something.
Just selling the iPhone 8 at $399 would have been lazy. Better to give it the SE treatment and upgrade the SoC to the current A13 (with 3GB of RAM). WiFi 6 is a nice touch.

$6-8/month for an iPhone that’ll be good for 4-6 years. That’s the whole point of making an SE.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
geachy92 Avatar
51 months ago

Didn’t the iPhone 11 Pro got 4hr extra from the XS a12 chip? Why is the SE still the same usage time as the iPhone 8? iPhone 8 had a a11 but no battery usage improvements.
Whilst some gains were made due to efficiency, the majority of the extra battery life for the 11series of iPhones was in physically larger batteries.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hlfway2anywhere Avatar
51 months ago

you only Show your Lack of Expertise in High quantity Production. A bigger battery costs almost nothing in design and production, just a slightly thicker body.

cheaper existing battery, can’t believe you really wrote that, ?
So much wrong about this, but the bigger lack of understanding here is your use of random uppercase letters.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Labyrintho Avatar
51 months ago

They didn't bother to change the camera sensor. They didn't utilise the extra space from removing the 3D Touch sensor.

I know, I know, $399 phone and all (don't forget that sales tax kiddos), but they're not even trying at this point!
They are trying – they are trying to keep it cheap.

That means you don’t retool and redesign unless there are big benefits.

And while it is simple in principle to talk about “just make the battery bigger“, that may well affect not only battery costs (since they have already driven the cost Way down of the existing battery) but other things related to fit in the Design and manufacturing of the phone.

So yes, a bigger battery was entirely feasible and would have been very nice, but it also would’ve increased the cost.

And they cannot forget that that also would make it more of a competitor with their premium phones.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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