The iPhone SE is an even better value than we thought (AAPL)

Antonio Villas-Boas/Tech Insider

We already knew that the iPhone SE is a great value.

It has the same fast performance, great camera, and several of the premium features as the iPhone 6s, all while costing $250 less.

It also has the best battery life out of most premium flagship smartphones.

The only major difference is the 4-inch screen size versus the 4.7 and 5.5-inch screens on the iPhone 6s generation.

But a recent teardown of the iPhone SE performed by tech site Chipworks revealed that the iPhone SE is almost all iPhone 6s.

That means it's a better value than we thought it was.

The majority of the parts, including the chip, as well as a bunch of other components, come from the iPhone 6s. It even has several brand new components that Chipworks hasn't seen before. Those new components aren't that interesting, but it is significant that they're brand new.

In fact, the only parts that came from older iPhone models is the exterior design itself, and something called a "touchscreen controller." As you might guess, it helps the iPhone make sense of your finger taps and swipes when you use the touchscreen.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing. All it really means is that it doesn't have the 3D Touch feature like the iPhone 6s does. But, honestly, that's OK. It's not a deal-breaker.

While a great idea to add shortcuts for common actions when you press hard on an app icon, 3D Touch isn't a particularly exciting feature at the moment, as it's unclear which apps are compatible with the 3D Touch feature. As a result, I rarely ever use it, and when I do, I haven't been wowed by it. 

So, $400 for the smaller version of a $650 phone? That sounds like pretty good deal to me. The only thing that would stop you from getting the iPhone SE is if you prefer bigger screens or if you love 3D Touch.

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