 This is the new iPhone SE. It's Apple's newest iPhone, although it's not necessarily the company's best new iPhone. On the one hand, it's a really tiny phone that has almost all of the features of the flagship iPhone 6S. On the other hand, it's basically a very improved iPhone 5S, which came out in 2013, so you would think maybe in three years these technological advancements might happen anyway. So how good is the iPhone SE, and who is it for? I'll answer that last question first. The iPhone SE is probably not for someone who already has a large phone and likes it. Over the past few days, I have found that it feels pretty weird to go back to a smaller smartphone after using big screen phones, or even using a normal sized 4.7 inch phone like the iPhone 6S. The iPhone SE is really for people who want to stick with that smaller 4 inch display size. It's also the least expensive iPhone that Apple has ever sold, at least in terms of starting price, which is $399 for a 16GB phone. That makes it a good first smartphone for a lot of people, or an easy upgrade for iPhone 4S or 5S holdouts. Of course, that cost is still relative, because $400 or $500 for a phone is still a lot for a lot of people. And it's still not as cheap as comparable Android phones, but it's not as expensive as say, a $700 iPhone. So if you ever had an iPhone 5S, or you've at least seen one of those, the iPhone SE is going to look pretty familiar, because it is essentially the same smartphone on the outside. It has the same boxy body and chamfered edges, the buttons are all in the same place, and of course, there's the 4 inch retina display. Personally, I used to really like the way that the smooth aluminum iPhone 5S felt in the hand, and also the fact that it fit in my hand. And the iPhone SE feels exactly the same. But it's what's inside the iPhone SE that's really supposed to make it better. It has most of the same parts as the 6S, but crammed into this tiny body. The biggest improvement is in its processing power. The iPhone 5S ran on Apple's A7 chip and had 1GB of RAM. The iPhone SE runs on Apple's faster A9 processor. The same chip powering the 6S and 6S Plus. Apple hasn't said how much RAM the new phone has, but based on my experience so far, the SE feels super speedy. The more efficient processor also impacts battery life, and in a good way. Even though they're the exact same size, the iPhone SE gets better battery life than the older iPhone 5S. It really takes a few weeks to get to know an iPhone's battery, but in the few days I've been testing this, it has gotten me through a full day. The camera is also a lot better than the camera on an older iPhone. It focuses more quickly, the 12 megapixel rear camera sensor matches the rear camera on the iPhone 6S, and the front facing camera has a retina flash for selfies. The iPhone SE actually captures 4K video. And now there's Apple Pay. The iPhone 5S had Touch ID, Apple's authentication system, but it actually did not have Apple Pay. Now the iPhone SE does, so you can use this phone to quickly pay for things at stores that accept Apple Pay, or you know, on the flip side, hold up the line at places where you're not sure Apple Pay works, but you sure hope it does. Okay so real talk. The iPhone SE is not a huge leap forward. It's not a tiny little engine of technological advancement. It's today's tech in yesterday's phone body, and it's primarily a business move on the part of Apple. How can we get people upgrading to iPhones and not buying $300 or less Android smartphones, goes the thinking. And in truth, it's probably pretty smart thinking. Because even though the iPhone SE doesn't have all the features of the flagship iPhone 6S, it has made improvements where it matters. All of this, coupled with the new software for newer iPhones, makes the iPhone SE kind of a no-brainer for people who are looking for an upgrade. Or you know, for people with really small hands.