Geekbench Scores of New iPhone SE Show On-Par Performance With iPhone 13

Geekbench scores for the new third-generation iPhone SE shows that Apple's most affordable ‌iPhone‌ features performance on par with the company's flagship ‌iPhone‌ 13, as they both feature the same A15 Bionic chip.

iPhone SE 3 stacked
Geekbench scores for an "iPhone 14,6," the model identifier for the new ‌iPhone‌ SE, show a single-core score of 1695 and a multi-core score of 4021. For reference, the ‌iPhone‌ 13 has a single-core score of 1672 and a multi-core score of 4481. The difference in scores are marginal and will not represent real-world difference for customers.

Corroborating MacRumors reporting from yesterday, the Geekbench scores confirm the new ‌iPhone‌ SE features 4GB of RAM.

Compared to the previous generation ‌‌iPhone‌ SE‌, Apple promises up to 1.2x faster graphics on the new ‌‌iPhone‌ SE. Apple also now claims up to 15 hours of video playback, which is two hours more than was advertised for the ‌iPhone‌ SE 2. The A15 Bionic chip also powers new features now available to ‌iPhone‌ SE customers, such as Photographic Styles, Smart HDR 4, and Live Text in iOS 15.

The new ‌iPhone‌ SE features the same 4.7-inch design with a Home button and Touch ID but now comes with 5G.

The third-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE starts at $429, $30 more than the previous model, and will be available for pre-order on March 11 and available on March 18.

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Top Rated Comments

ian87w Avatar
49 months ago
Err, what do people expect? It has the same chip.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jake.au Avatar
49 months ago
You mean A15 is actually A15? ?
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
robotica Avatar
49 months ago
It’s possible that it could have been down clocked as well. So it’s good that it appears not to be the case.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
snipr125 Avatar
49 months ago
The multicore score is about 400 units lower than the iphone 13 according to the article, so the A15 in the SE might be slightly down-clocked. Makes sense to conserve battery life.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
boak Avatar
49 months ago

It does? B/c that would actually be better than the SE2 which used the 8's lens...
Looks like I'm wrong. The SE3 has the same sensor as the SE2.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ApplesAreSweet&Sour Avatar
49 months ago

20% better
Yes. I checked gpu benchmark scores for iPhone 13 vs SE 2 and there’s a 20% difference.

My summation of SE 3’s upgrades are(in no particular order):

1. A15 chip aka around 1.3x better single core score, 1.4x better multi-core, and 1.2x better graphics over SE 2020.

2. 5G cellular (sub 6Ghz). But can’t make use of the extra fast mmWave 5G.

3. 4GB RAM (SE 2020 has 3GB RAM). In other words, 1.33x RAM.

4. No upgrades to camera hardware. But addition of Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 4, and Photographic Styles, which are software-based photography improvements, offering better handling of high-contrast scenes and noise reduction, etc. However, still no Night Mode.

5. (Seemingly) around *20% better battery life overall compared to SE 2020. This might be just because of A15, but could also be because of a few more mAhs.

*Unconfirmed until reviews are out.

6. *More durable front and back glass panels.

*Not marketed as “Ceramic Shield”. So it’s unclear how big the improvements are.

7. Comes in new, slightly different color options: Starlight(white) and Midnight(black) and Product RED. Product RED option appears identical to SE 2020 Product RED color.

8. Starting price for 64GB base model is now $429 which is $30 more than the SE 2020.


.. and that’s it, I think? No other changes or upgrades?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)