I’m gonna echo what most people here are saying, an iPhone SE has a potato for a camera and if pictures are one of the main draws to your phone, don’t bother with it. I wouldn’t go any lower than a 12, but I think your best bang for the buck is going to be an iPhone 13, Depending on what size screen she’s accustomed to you can get it in small, medium and large.

If you say she uses your phone a lot for pictures/videos/facetime, don’t get the SE. The camera and screen are just not worth it.

I’m not super familiar with the A12 but it looks like it uses USB-C and I’m assuming she has a number of those cables lying around. In that case, I would recommend the 15 at minimum.

If that’s too much, you may want to specify a firm budget for recommendations.

iphone SE (gen 3) is an almost 10 y/o phone with minor improvements to the iphone 6. yes the CPU is way better but you can almost only use it for the same things as an iphone 6. single lens camera is difficult to compare to an android in the same price range, screen is ridiculously bad in todays standards and also uncomparable

the SE is only good if you need a cheap entry to get in the apple ecosystem, but there are alternatives for blue messaging and facetime

The iphone 15 plus would be a bigass upgrade in every respect. Plus its battery life is epic

Food for thought as someone that’s new to iPhone. USB C was a huge selling point for me since every charging adapter and cable(car and wall) I’ve had for the last 8-10 years is usb c. Not sure what her charging habits are if she’s a ‘plug in at night’ person anything will work if, like me, she is a ‘20%-80% charge any time’ person she might need multiple bricks, cables, or even a battery pack. I would have had to spend another ~$100 just on chargers if the 15 didn’t have usb c.

Would also say at that point either the 13 (solid and cheap) or directly iphone 15 then you have like 7 years peace with it and has usb-c

Base 15.

My dog sitter had a Samsung galaxy Z flip three and it was her last android. She kept saying how much she liked all of the pictures that I was sending her and how she loved the quality. I got her an iPhone 13 last summer and she loves it. I think that is a pretty good initial iPhone!

Get her the 12 or the 13 mini. If she’s barely on her phone anyway, she’s going to get pissed if she has to eventually learn an entire new setup than the ol’ home button iPhone arrangement.

Ask her if she wants to switch to IOS first then bring her to a store for her to try an iPhone to see if she likes it or if you are using one ,you can let her try yours.

If she doesn’t want to then just stick to Android and buy her one of the model. But if she decides to make the switch, I recommend going for iPhone 15s (if your budget allows you for it) mainly for the USB C as she would already have alot of it laying around.

If you’re thinking of getting her the SE, I’d look at getting a certified refurbished 13 mini.

You get the same chip, better screen, Face ID, better camera, MagSafe, better battery and is around the same price as the SE

iPhone 15 is great in pink color.

There nothing wrong with Android. Definitely tell us which model she has. The SE, as good as it is, does have drawbacks., notably the bezels, and battery life.

If she’s using androids she most probably likes the big screens. I’d recommend at least get the 13 (like everybody else said).

The SE caters to a niche market of people who absolutely have to have an iPhone and either don’t want to spend more or need the Touch ID. No happy android user is going to like an SE (at least the current one) because of its small IPS display and abysmal battery life. (Leaving aside the camera which is decent but nothing to be happy about). No matter how good the processor is, the phone feels extremely dated and looks like it’s already 7 years old out of the box.

I would take her into the store and have her demo the iphone models to see which best suites her. A hands on experience with the product is always the best solution to see what suites them more comfortably.