iPhone SE Teardown Reveals a Frankenstein Mix of iPhone 6s and iPhone 5s Parts

The iPhone SE has made its way into the wild giving the more curious among us the chance to break one open and see what’s inside. The group over at Chipworks have done just that and it has resulted in some interesting discoveries.

After poking their way around the inside of an iPhone SE, they found that Apple’s newest iPhone uses many of the same components packed inside the iPhone 6s, and some which were even used in the iPhone 5s. Some of these internal similarities were expected in the SE, such as the same A9 processor featured in the 6s, however, it was interesting to find out the particular A9 processor inside the torn down SE was manufactured back in August 2015. This indicates the SE not only uses many of the same internals as the 6s, but uses leftover components that never found their way into a 6s.

The SE also comes with 2GB of RAM, thankfully, and the memory components on the torn down SE ware manufactured back in December 2015. The NFC module in the SE, used for Apple Pay, and the 6 axis inertial sensor are also components that were featured in the 6s. All in all, the teardown revealed that a shocking number of the components inside the SE are basically leftovers, which didn’t make it into Apple’s previous products.

While this revelation may cause concern for some, I think it certainly sheds some light on the most startling fact about the SE, the price. I was not alone when my jaw hit floor upon Apple announcing the starting price of $399 for the iPhone SE. It is easily the lowest entry price ever for an iPhone and the device is predicted to sell like crazy. Even the iPhone 5c, which was made out of less premium material than the SE, started at $549 at launch. When the $399 price was announced, I immediately asked, how?

As more information surrounding the internals and production of the SE come to light, the low price point starts to make sense. For example, Apple’s decision to stick with the same design as the iPhone 5s for the new SE was all about price. Highly regarded tech journalist, Walt Mossberg, recently released some information from an interview he conducted with individuals from Apple’s staff who worked on the SE.

He discovered Apple stuck with the design so they would not have to spend any extra money on manufacturing the phone because they already had the infrastructure set up from producing the iPhone 5s.

Along with using many internals already on hand, Apple has managed to create a flagship level phone at a fraction of the cost. The iPhone SE is easily the most full featured smartphone in its price range. Check out our overview of the SE to find out everything you need to know about Apple’s latest iPhone.

There are certainly things to both like and dislike about the device so let us know in the comments what you think of the iPhone SE.

Learn More: 5 Things You’re Doing Wrong on Your iPhone