Home News Phone Reviews Video

Apple iPhone SE (2020) vs iPhone 12 Pro

Source： Date：

Apple iPhone SE (2020) vs iPhone 12 Pro

58 out of 100
Apple iPhone SE (2020)
VS
71 out of 100
Apple iPhone 12 Pro
Apple iPhone SE (2020)
Apple iPhone 12 Pro

Here we compared two smartphones: the 4.7-inch Apple iPhone SE (2020) (with Apple A13 Bionic) that was released on April 15, 2020, against the Apple iPhone 12 Pro, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 6 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone SE (2020)
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Weighs 41 grams less
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  • Has a 1.4 inches larger screen size
  • Thinner bezels – 20.6% more screen real estate
  • Comes with 994 mAh larger battery capacity: 2815 vs 1821 mAh
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
  • Shows 25% longer battery life (29:48 vs 23:55 hours)
  • 41% higher pixel density (460 vs 326 PPI)
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • 26% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (838K versus 665K)
  • Has 2x more RAM: 6GB versus 3GB
  • Delivers 22% higher peak brightness (810 against 663 nits)
  • Has an ultra-wide angle camera lens
  • OLED display (versus competitor''s IPS LCD)

Review

Evaluation of Apple iPhone SE (2020) and iPhone 12 Pro crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation

Value for money

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
iPhone SE (2020)
vs
iPhone 12 Pro

Display

Type IPS LCD OLED
Size 4.7 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 750 x 1334 pixels 1170 x 2532 pixels
Aspect ratio 16:9 19.5:9
PPI 326 ppi 460 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 625 nits 800 nits
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Tempered glass Ceramic Shield
Screen-to-body ratio 65.4% 86%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.9% 99.6%
PWM Not detected 277 Hz
Response time 29 ms 3.6 ms
Contrast 2457:1 ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
iPhone SE (2020)
663 nits
iPhone 12 Pro +22%
810 nits

Design and build

Height 138.4 mm (5.45 inches) 146.7 mm (5.78 inches)
Width 67.3 mm (2.65 inches) 71.5 mm (2.81 inches)
Thickness 7.3 mm (0.29 inches) 7.4 mm (0.29 inches)
Weight 148 g (5.22 oz) 189 g (6.67 oz)
Waterproof IP67 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Red Silver, Gold, Gray, Blue
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-button No
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Apple iPhone SE (2020) and Apple iPhone 12 Pro in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Apple A13 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic
Max clock 2650 MHz 3100 MHz
CPU cores 6 (2 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.6 GHz: Thunder
- 2 cores at 2.65 GHz: Lightning 		- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Icestorm
- 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm
Lithography process 7 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Apple A13 GPU Apple A14 GPU
GPU shading units 256 256
GPU clock 1230 MHz 1278 MHz
FLOPS ~629.8 GFLOPS ~654.3 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 129399 235725
GPU 223288 264025
Memory 107740 152158
UX 204233 182343
Total score 665085 838760
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 44.3 °C 38.1 °C
Stability 68% 76%
Graphics test 41 FPS 44 FPS
Graphics score 6878 7430

Memory

RAM
RAM size 3 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 64, 128, 256 GB 128, 256, 512 GB
Storage type NVMe NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system iOS 13 (Can be upgraded to iOS 17) iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 17)
OS size 8.4 GB 14 GB

Battery

Capacity 1821 mAh 2815 mAh
Max charge power 18 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes, Qi (7.5 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging No No
Fast charging Yes (55% in 60 min) Yes (59% in 30 min)
Full charging time 2:32 hr 1:30 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 09:36 hr 09:54 hr
Watching video 07:32 hr 12:40 hr
Gaming 03:06 hr 05:29 hr
Standby 86 hr 104 hr
General battery life
iPhone SE (2020)
23:55 hr
iPhone 12 Pro +25%
29:48 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 4032 x 3024
Zoom Digital Optical, 2x
Flash Quad LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens - 120°
Lenses 1 (12 MP) 4 (12 MP + 12 MP + 12 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 28 mm
- Pixel size: 1.22 micron
- Sensor: 1/3", Apple iSight Camera (CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.6
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.4", Sony IMX372 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.0
- Focal length: 52 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.4" (CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
Ultra-wide lens - - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Sensor: 1/3.6" (CMOS)
Depth lens - Yes
Camera features - Bokeh mode - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples Photo samples of Apple iPhone SE (2020) from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 Pro from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 7 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 3088 x 2320 4290 x 2800
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 32 mm 23 mm
Pixel size 1 microns -
Sensor type CMOS Exmor-RS CMOS
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display 		- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5 5
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE, A2DP
USB type No No
USB version 2 -
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG 		- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS
NFC * Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM * 1 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby -
eSIM support * Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat * 16 18
5G support No Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Mid-range Flagship
Announced April 2020 October 2020
Release date April 2020 October 2020
SAR (head) 0.98 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
SAR (body) 0.99 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint 		- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger Yes, 5 W -
* Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 12 Pro is definitely a better buy.

Related recommendations
Scroll to Top