12 things I learned by switching from the $1,400 Galaxy S20 Ultra to the $399 iPhone SE

Making the move from the most expensive Android phone to the cheapest iPhone opened my eyes to the things I often overlook.

- MICHAEL SIMON

It’s been a long time since I used a phone with a 4.8-inch screen and a home button for more than a few minutes. But when the iPhone SE arrived on my doorstep last month, I popped the SIM out of the Galaxy S20 Ultra and stepped back into 2016.

After the initial shock—which was like leaping from a luxury car to a motor scooter—I settled in and immediately began to learn some important things about Android versus iOS. I knew the camera would be way better on the Galaxy S20 Ultra so you won’t find any shootouts here, but such a drastic switch made the two phones’ strengths and weaknesses crystal-clear, and in some cases painfully so.

1. SIZE DOESN’T REALLY MATTER

Over the past however many years, we’ve come to equate bigger with better when it comes to phones, whether it’s the S20 Ultra or the iPhone 11 Pro Max. I thought that moving from a 6.9-inch phone to a 4.7-inch one would be torture.

I was wrong. There were fewer tweets in my feed and more scrolling while reading, but it was an acceptable trade-offto enjoy true one-handed operation. The SE has shown me that it’s really not so bad to go back to a sub-6-inch display, especially with such a reasonable price tag. When I pick up the S20 Ultra now, it feels comically large and heavy.