Apple iPhone SE 3rd Gen Review: Surprise Edition!

tech.hindustantimes.com:

I was fascinated by the iPhone SE in 2020 for its value proposition as someone's first iPhone. In fact, I was so spellbound that I bought the 2020 iPhone SE in the shiny Product Red colour, and happily went around carrying it as my daily driver, all the while I was exposed to the modern-day marvels that were the Samsung Galaxy S21, or the iPhone 12. The phone was not perfect by any means and there were countless moments when it had to bear the brunt of my frustration. But my love-hate affair with that tiny iPhone SE continues, considering it was the first iPhone I bought.

Hence, for the 2022 model, I had desperately prayed for all those leaks and rumours to be untrue. After all, most SE users like me wanted it to offer a newer iPhone experience at the same low-cost price. That did not happen and we have the “new” iPhone SE as basically a minor spec-bump over the older model. It has 5G now and promises longer battery life, but that is not what existing iPhone SE users had hoped for -- we wanted a "new" iPhone SE.

Casting aside my reservations, I begun my 10-day experience of the new iPhone SE 3rd Gen and in the end, I came back to the iPhone 13 Pro Max, but only because I had tasted the honey. The 2022 iPhone SE 3rd Gen is a surprise package!

I am in no mood to waste your time here — the iPhone SE looks the same as the old iPhone SE 2020 that I have, which in turn was the same as the iPhone 8, which again was a refinement of 2014’s iPhone 6! Only Apple is brave enough to pull off something like this! In an age where we criticise Android phones for having a slightly thicker chin on a near-bezel-less design, the iPhone SE flaunts retro screen bezels like a daredevil. Unless you are used to your old iPhone 7’s design, the