I'm not afraid to say the original iPhone SE may have been one of the best iPhones I've ever used. Working in this business affords you the luxury of using loaner phones, but shortly after the iPhone SE's 2016 release, I went out and bought one with my own money. I was taken with its compact size and — especially — its miniaturized price tag.
That original iPhone SE gave up the ghost several years back, and the demands of phone reviews and feature writing have had me relying on a wide variety of iPhones and Android devices ever since. So last week, I got the chance to reacquaint myself ever so briefly with the iPhone SE 2022 for the first time since comparing Apple's phone to the Pixel 7a at some point last year. And as I held that still compact, still affordable device in my hand, one question kept echoing in my head about the iPhone SE.
