Me too, I still have my iPhone SE, I was hoping they would bring back some smaller version of the iPhone + Touch ID, I refuse to upgrade just because of the lack of Touch ID
The camera is what finally pried my SE out of my hands, replaced by a 17 Pro. Hate it. Heavy, no more Touch ID, forced into iOS 26. Even the button placement drives me bananas. The amount of times I accidentally take a screenshot because I’m trying to adjust volume...
Still have my SE. When I pick it up, it’s striking just how much better it feels.
I KNOW RIGHT?!? why would they move the left-side buttons down!? (It’s actually probably because otherwise they’d be hard to reach in these huge phones with our tiny hands but boy did the change mess with my muscle memory to find the buttons).
I’m still on the 1st gen SE from 2016. Imagine my disappointment when I found out that the iPhone Pocket was, in fact, not an iPhone that fits in your pocket.
Looking at replacing my SE with a keitai supplemented with an Android emulator
It’s totally shot lol. I’ve had the battery replaced it once already, and frankly it didn’t make too much of a difference. The battery always shows 1%, even if it has 50% charge left in actuality, and I never know when it’s going to die. I don’t really use my phone enough for this to be a problem but it’s annoying. I blame Apple for shipping heavier and heavier versions of iOS that demand more and more power for no discernible reason (Liquid Glass being the latest example).
I don't want to look at my iPhone every time I need to unlock it, for example, when I am riding my motorbike, the helmet would block my face. This isn't a problem when I use Touch ID because I can use fingerless gloves. Another case is when I need to discreetly check my phone for a moment, like when I am in a meeting or a dinner.
I don't have anything against Face Id, BUT I just don't see why they eliminate the sensor and remove the option.
I used to think the same thing. And ya TouchID is handy sometimes over FaceID. But FaceID overall between the two if one has to choose is superior. If you haven't lived with it daily yet, I wouldn't let that stop you from getting a 13 mini. It helps a lot too with longevity, less to break. You are obviously one of us, those that keep their phones for a very long time. It never needs wiped off, it's incredibly consistent. The durability feature starts to matter when you're using something this many years. Not trying to change your mind, just share a perspective as I do understand where you're coming from for sure. You're not exactly wrong.
FaceID works a very few angles with glasses. Won’t work if my glasses have been exposed to rain (it rains like 70% of the year where I live). Struggle to work with face masks and glasses. I have to hold the phone at eye level to unlock it (ie: can’t unlock it discretely). If I’m lying in bed and the phone is lying in front of me, I can just tap to unlock with TouchID, but need to shuffle it around and raise my face for FaceID.
I rolled back to TouchID after a few months, it was intolerable.
I have an impression this gets worse the more correction your glasses have.
It's worse than motor memory (no thought required) gesture, because it requires a more expensive non-motor-memory physical movement that depends on context of the human. Face ID requires moving and orienting phone close enough for the Face ID sensor to capture a 3D image of face and moving eyes for attention, so it's a function of both phone and human position.
TouchID is context free: grab phone and touch button in fixed position. By the time the phone has turned to facing the user, it is already unlocked.
I love TouchID and can’t stand FaceID. But the home button is terrible. It’s just too hard to be used comfortable, and I end up hang that floating software button instead.
