The new iPhone SE is going on sale today and an early teardown shows the similarities between it and the iPhone 8.
Reported by 9to5Mac, a YouTube Channel called Wenzhou Ao Technology posted a video of a teardown of the new iPhone SE. The channel specializes “in mobile phone repair and technical training”.
During the teardown, the team places an opened iPhone SE next to an opened iPhone 8 and the two phones are nearly identical on the inside. The only obvious differences between the internals of the two devices is, within the iPhone SE, the presence of the new A13 Bionic processor and the new wide camera.
There are noticeable cosmetic differences between the SE 2020 and iPhone 8 such as the position of the brand logo and the words “iPhone” etched into the bottom half of the rear panel.
Both the phones have the same form factor and measure 7.3mm at the thickest point and weigh 148 grams. Inside, the internals of the SE 2020 has been arranged like that on the iPhone 8. The battery size the same while the speaker, haptic engine, motherboard, camera, and even the antennas are placed in the same position.
The display on the iPhone SE 2020 works if paired up with the iPhone 8, essentially proving that it’s the same universal screen. Moreover, the other components such as the front-facing camera, speaker and haptic engine are the same as iPhone 8. This is revealed when the iPhone 8’s motherboard is connected to the SE 2020 and it works almost perfectly, save for the rear camera.
Essentially, what’s upgraded in the iPhone SE 2020 is the CPU, rear camera, Wi-Fi and the battery connector (though the size remains the same). This would make the SE 2020 an easier phone to produce as Apple has been manufacturing these parts from the past few years.
Despite Apple reusing the iPhone 8 design and most of its components on the 2020 iPhone SE, the latter is being hailed as the best budget smartphone under $500 right now thanks to its excellent performance.
