In recent months, two big competitors were released, the iPhone SE and the Huawei P40 lite, but which should you go for?
Here is a quick comparison to help you decide.
Design
The iPhone SE uses the same design as the older iPhone 8, which looks dated given the large bezels around the screen. At the bottom you will see a fingerprint sensor and on the top is the selfie camera and speaker. On the back sits a single lens camera.
The Huawei P40 lite is larger, has a full view display and very thin bezels, giving you the best screen experience. The fingerprint sensor is located on the side button, which also doubles up as the power button. On the back you will see the four prominent camera lenses.
Display
The iPhone SE has a smaller 4.7-inch HD display with a 1334x750 pixel resolution and pixel density of 326 pixels per inch (ppi). Given its dimensions of 138.4mm x 67.3mm x 7.3mm, it has a screen-to-body ratio of roughly 65%.
The P40 lite has a big 6.4-inch IPS display with a higher 2340x1080 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 398ppi. Its dimensions are 159.2mm x 76.3mm x 8.7mm, giving it an over 90.6% screen-to-body ratio, which is great for a full view experience.
Hardware
The SE is powered by the latest A13 Bionic chip, 3GB of RAM and has storage options of 64GB, 128GB and 256GB with no option to expand on it. Only the iPhone SE 2020 64GB is available in SA.
It has one SIM slot and the option for an eSIM (not available yet in SA). The P40 lite runs on Huawei’s Kirin 810 octa-core chip (2.27Ghz + 1.88Ghz), 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage that is expandable up to an additional 256GB. It has dual-SIM functionality and can fit two physical SIM cards.
Camera
The SE has a 12MP wide-angle single lens with 5x digital zoom. It has portrait mode for bokeh shots, optical image stabilisation, takes panoramic shots, and supports burst mode. To the front is a 7MP selfie-cam with portrait mode and shoots videos in 1,080p.
The P40 lite has a quad-camera set-up on the rear, which comprises a 48MP wide-angle; 8MP ultra-wide; 2MP macro and 2MP bokeh lenses. It shoots portraits, panoramic, supports night mode, image stabilisation, and lets you shoot macro from 4cm. It has a 16MP selfie cam that supports portrait and night modes, and shoots video in 1080p.
Battery
The SE has a smaller battery capacity of 1820mAh, which is the same as the iPhone 8, and supports wireless charging. It can be fast charged with an 18W Lightning cable of up to 50% in 30 minutes.
The P40 lite has a huge 4200mAh battery capacity and comes with a SuperCharge 40W USB-C plug. It is capable of a 70% charge in just 30 minutes. Battery life can be prolonged dramatically using Ultra Power Saving Mode.
Software
The SE runs on iOS 13 with access to the App Store.
The P40 lite runs on Android 10 but uses Huawei’s Mobile Services (HMS) instead of Google Mobile Services. This means Play Store or Google Apps are not pre-installed.
Price
The iPhone SE starts at R9,999 (64GB) and the P40 lite is R6,499.
The Huawei P40 lite comes in cheaper by at least R3,500 but gives you more value in terms of a larger screen, expandable storage, quad-cameras, dual-SIM support and a bigger battery.
This article was paid for by Huawei.
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