SamsungA51 vs The iPhone SE: Pros and Cons

Android and iOS have been battling for years at the premium price point recently going above 1000$ but that battle still wages at the lower end. The entry level iPhone SE packs an awesome A13 bionic chip that performs as fast as any other flagship while the Samsung A51 rocks a beautiful design and a much better display. There is a lot to talk about these phones but let’s start with the price. They both come in around 400$ for the base models. Operating system preferences aside which is the best value. Let’s break this down into five major parts. Display, Processing power, Camera, Storage and battery/extra features.

Source: Tom’s Guide

DISPLAY

The A51 crushes the iPhone SE in this aspect rocking a stunning Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 compared to the Apples Retina IPS LCD capacitive touch screen found on the iPhone SE .The A51 is also bigger than the iPhone SE coming in around 6.5 inches with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 aspect ratio. While the iPhone SE comes around 4.7 inches with a resolution of 750 x 1334 pixels, 16:9 aspect ratio which is not at all okay, A 720p screen in 2020? Thanks, I’ll pass! The iPhone SE beats the A51 in max brightness at 625 nits compared to 565 found on the A51. The A51 adds a futuristic in-display fingerprint scanner which could be a turn-off or a major feature for some users.

PROCESSING POWER

This is the category where the iPhone SE outshines the A51 rocking the Apple A13 bionic chip found in Apple’s flagship phones paired with 3GB of RAM for all models. The iPhone SE also runs on Apple’s latest software IOS 13 and the phone is expected to get the latest software for a minimum of 4 years.  On the other hand, the A51 rocks Samsung Exynos 9611 which does feel sluggish, benchmarking test result weren’t really that great and the phone lags in day to day activities like launching and quitting apps. The A51 packs 4GB/6GB/8GB of RAM depending on the model you get. The A51 also runs on the latest version of Android [Android 10] on top of Samsung’s One UI 2.1 which is expected to get updates for at least 2 years.

Rear-view of the Galaxy A51; showing the four cameras.

CAMERA

The A51 has four rear cameras which is really amazing but you’d really ever need to use all of them, so they are just fancy features. In general, the phone takes good photo provided there’s good lighting. It’s also loaded with a 48MP wide angle with a 12MP ultra-wide and a 5MP Macro lens yeah and also the 5MP camera for depth sensing and a 32MP selfie camera. On the flip side, the iPhone SE has only one rear 7MP camera Apple’s phone does take comparable photos as the A51 even with low light images which the A51 has a dedicated night mode both phones still took solid images, with the A51 you just have more options. For video recording the iPhone is much better at recording videos with optical stabilization which you can’t find on the A51. The iPhone can shoot videos up to 4K@24/30/60fps, and 1080p@30/60/120/240fps while the A51 can only shoot videos up to 4K@30fps and 1080p@30/120fps. Both shoot videos up to 1080p@30fps with the selfie camera.

STORAGE

There’s not much to say in this category. For the base model of the iPhone SE you get 3GB RAM paired with 64GB ROM. For the central model, you also get 3GB RAM but with 128GB ROM while for the extreme model you get 3GB of RAM with 256 GB ROM. On the other hand, there are 4 four models for the A51. 4GB RAM with 64GB ROM, 4GB RAM with 128 GB ROM, 6GB RAM with 128GB ROM and 8GB RAM with 128GB ROM.

BATTERY

The A51 seems to beat the iPhone in terms of battery with a whooping 4000mah compared to 1624mah found on the SE. Although It doesn’t last as long as the numbers preach. Still, it lasts longer than the iPhone SE is a lot of scenarios.

Both supports fast charging but a little faster on the iPhone SE at 18W and 15W on the A51. The iPhone SE supports wireless charging which you can’t find on the A51. The A51 also doesn’t have water resistant which I get that can be a lot to ask for a 400$ phone but keep in mind the SE has.

     In conclusion, I would say it all boils down to personal preferences if you are a light user and you use your phone for video consumption or for taking pictures you should probably get the A51. But if you game a lot and all you care about is your speed or you take a lot of videos the SE is for you. Let me know what you guys think in the comment section.

For more info about the iPhone SE, see here.