Surely the iPhone SE (2022)’s small 4.7-inch screen makes playing Diablo Immortal quite difficult? Surprisingly, it doesn’t. But something else holds it back.
The iPhone SE (2022)’s small 4.7-inch screen must make it pretty bad for playing games like Diablo Immortal, right? After all, the game’s screen is busy most of the time, and when there’s plenty going on, everything looks pretty small — even on a big-screen phone like the Asus ROG Phone 6.
Is Apple’s smallest, cheapest brand new iPhone too compromised to really enjoy games like Diablo Immortal?
The iPhone SE isn’t the first phone you think of if you’re planning to play a lot of games, but at $429, it’s very tempting if you’re looking for a cheap way into Apple phone ownership (or aren’t keen on very large phones). The specification doesn’t make any decision much easier, as this is a seriously powerful device.
The iPhone SE (2022) uses Apple’s A15 Bionic processor, which has masses of power and is also found inside the company’s top iPhone 13 models. It’s easily capable of running the latest, most hardcore games like Diablo Immortal. That bodes well for the iPhone SE (2022) to play the game, right? It does, but you’ll be doing so on a 4.7-inch screen, which is mini by modern standards, and holding a phone with actual bezels at either side of the screen.
The screen’s size means it has a modest resolution of 1334 x 750 pixels, which equates to a 326 pixel-per-inch (PPI) density, far lower than the approximately 460 PPI of an iPhone 13 Pro. While it does come with Apple’s True Tone technology, it’s an LCD (Apple calls it a Retina HD screen) panel and not an OLED Super Retina XDR panel like the iPhone 13 Pro models.
With its top processor, small LCD screen, and big bezels, the iPhone SE (2022) is a mix of cutting-edge and old-school mobile gaming. How would it affect our enjoyment of Diablo Immortal?
Yes, the screen is small. It’s not quite “get-your-magnifying-glass-out small”, but it’s not far away from it, and my myopic eyes didn’t enjoy looking at it from a distance at all. However, this aside, I was surprised at how quickly I adjusted to playing on the 4.
