iPhone SE: What You Don't Get When Compared to the iPhone 6s

Apple on Monday unveiled the iPhone SE, the latest addition to its smartphone lineup. The iPhone SE largely carries the same innards as the ones seen in the iPhone 6s, which Apple launched last year. But how does it fare when you pit it against the last year's iPhone 6s?

The general consensus is that the iPhone SE is a cheaper, and smaller variant of the iPhone 6s. And rightfully so, the iPhone SE houses the same A9 SoC, M9 coprocessor, and 12-megapixel iSight camera as the iPhone 6s. But when looked closely, there are some differences between the two. Here's is a list of iPhone 6s features and hardware capabilities that you don't get in the iPhone SE.

No second-generation Touch ID sensor
The iPhone 6s was launched with the second-generation Touch ID sensor, which is considerably faster than its predecessor. You cannot expect the same performance from the iPhone SE, because the fingerprint sensor it carries is from the first-generation. The iPhone SE has the same Touch ID sensor as the iPhone 5s.

No 5-megapixel FaceTime camera
While Apple stuffed the same 12-megapixel iSight camera on the iPhone SE as it did in the iPhone 6s, when it came to the FaceTime camera (front-facing sensor), the company opted for a 1.2-megapixel sensor. In fact, the 1.2-megapixel sensor on the iPhone SE isn't even as powerful as the FaceTime camera in the iPhone 6, despite both having the same megapixel count. Unlike the iPhone 6, which has a front-facing sensor with f/2.2 aperture, the iPhone SE's 1.2 megapixel banks on a f/2.4 aperture.

No barometer
The iPhone SE, unlike the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone 6 Plus, doesn't have a barometer sensor in it. For a refresh, a barometer sensor enables an iPhone to gauge air pressure. This, in turn, enables your iPhone to determine altitude as well elevation changes.

No 128GB storage option
The iPhone SE, unlike the iPhone 6s, comes in two storage variants: 16GB and 64GB. There's no 128GB variant in the offering. If you're someone who likes to put their entire music library on the iPhone, and for that, would like to opt for the top-of-the-line 128GB iPhone SE model, you're out of luck.

No 3D Touch display
The iPhone SE doesn't have a 3D Touch display, one of the headline features of the iPhone 6s. The 3D Touch display allows a user to hard press on the screen to trigger a number of software actions. The hardware capability is able to gauge the pressure a user is exerting on the screen, and trigger software actions accordingly. The iPhone SE, unfortunately, doesn't have it.

(Also see: Apple iPhone SE vs Apple iPhone 6s vs Apple iPhone 5s comparison)

No Dual-Domain pixels
Furthermore, the display on the iPhone SE also lacks a feature called "Dual-Domain pixels." Dual-Domain pixels significantly improve the viewing angles on a display. This is possible because a Dual-Domain pixel-equipped display houses electrodes in the pixels that aren't aligned. Their skewed arrangement enables the display to compensate for uneven lighting, and change in colour and offer a faster fall-off of contrast. All the iPhone models launched in the last two years - the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 6s Plus have dual-domain pixels.

No LTE Advanced
The iPhone SE, unlike the iPhone 6s, doesn't offer LTE Advanced network capabilities. LTE Advanced offers a range of benefits over standard LTE support. For instance, LTE Advanced offers smoother "handoffs" when travelling between cell towers. This allows your smartphone to not lose the connection so much. LTE Advanced, furthermore, also offers a faster data rate, and theoretical throughput.

To summarise, there are more than a few trade-offs Apple has made when building the iPhone SE. But if the iPhone 5s design and size pleases your eyes, and the price tag seems appealing, perhaps the iPhone SE is the iPhone for you.