There have been several rumors lately about the future of the iPhone SE (and even some discussions on this board). Many rumors have pointed to Apple’s launch of a 6.1" LCD iPhone to become the new “entry-level” iPhone. It seems the focus there is on reducing price next to an otherwise expensive X and its rumored 2018 successor.
But so far there has been little noise regarding what Apple might chose to do about a small form factor iPhone. The SE is after all not just inexpensive, it’s also smaller than a frying pan which some people still see as a significant advantage.
This latest rumor (although vague and with little credibility) claims that Apple could simply stop selling the SE altogether. The 6.1" LCD would serve as the entry-level, the 7 or 8 could remain as low-budget alternatives. And everybody who enjoys smaller phones can get lost.
I was considering upgrading my SE in the spring if one actually came out, even though I don’t need an upgrade. I really love the size. I had a 4s from late 2011 until May 2016. I was also hoping there would be a nice buy it now price like there was when I go the SE ($50) - the current plans are stupid.
The article which was about a prediction not based on anything by an analyst… already been updated to a rumor just about current plans for the SE2, which doesn’t exist…
Only iPhones I’ve owned are 4 & SE. Both small. Have no need for a huge expensive phone. Bought SE less than a year ago, as I wanted iCloud. SE makes calls and checks email and that is all I want. Love the driver call blocking. Hope Apple stays with lower priced phones, it’s all I need.
I had a 4s but it was pretty full when I upgraded to the SE. I’ve always loved the size of the 5. Frankly most of my pockets will not fit a larger phone especially in shorts!
Indeed it was but Marilyn was highlighting that there has been a correction in the article.
"Update: BlueFin Research has informed MacRumors that the research note that was obtained and shared by Barron’s was misinterpreted.
It did not refer to the discontinuation of the iPhone SE, but rather suggested Apple has nixed plans to produce a second-generation iPhone SE, which has been called the “iPhone SE 2” in rumors. BlueFin Research did not mention the original iPhone SE model in its note and the information pertains solely to the iPhone SE 2. "
So the SE lives another for another round of rumours
I actually wouldn’t mind paying a hefty price for a full featured SE. When the SE came out it had the internals of the 6s which at the time was the best you could buy. If a new SE came out with state-of-the-art chipset, decent cameras (obviously, in the confined space there is only so much you can do in terms of cameras,), and great battery life, I would have absolutely no problem paying top Dollar. But obviously Apple believes people like myself are a tiny minority not worth catering to. They seem to have positioned the SE as some kind of budget-priced entry-level device for people mainly concerned about getting an inexpensive iPhone. And as Apple usually does, with stuff they don’t earn a lot of money on (or believe they can’t) they don’t spend much effort.
It’s interesting that this is also reflected on the Mac side with the Mac mini. The mini has been seriously neglected these last few years. It’s been positioned as some kind of low-power cheap device so I guess Apple doesn’t make much profit off of it and hence shows little interest. That wasn’t always the case though. The previous mini generation allowed configuring it to a machine that had some serious CPU power (for its time) and we have quite a number of those here at the lab I work that are still used as inexpensive, quiet, and low-power number crunchers. I personally would be absolutely willing to pay a hefty price for a mini with a serious CPU (think the 6-core i9 that went into the latest 15" MBP) and decent mem bandwidth and capacity. I’m sure there would be plenty of profit to be made off of such a box. But apparently Tim et al. believe only a small minority would ever be interested in that. Kind of a shame. There are PCs that attempt to cater to that segment, but of course they’re not as nicely engineered as the mini and Linux, despite being a great tool to get my work done, is not as nice as macOS. But enough of that, this should be about the SE.
Simon wrote: “The [Mac] mini has been seriously neglected”
I’ll add the iPad mini to the SE and Mac Mini. Apple has a bad blindspot - they don’t update a type of hardware, and people stop buying it because people sensibly don’t want to pay modern prices for old hardware. Apple seems to conclude that it’s the form factor people don’t want, so they stop updating it completely, so it’s less and less of a good purchase, making Apple more determined to not bother updating it.
Most people I know -love- Mac minis, but what we all love is the 2011 that you can upgrade yourself, and that had a option for i7 plus real graphics if you needed that. The price for used ones (when you can find them at all) are now higher than they were originally. A lot of people I know prefer iPad minis, because the regular size is just too big to carry around everywhere, or to use comfortably while waiting for a bus. But what we want is a fully up to date ipad mini with a recent processor, enough RAM, and lets you use the Pencil. Not necessarily a Mini Pro (though that would be wonderful), but a mini version of the current normal ipad with size being the -only- difference. But the only thing on offer is a 3 year old model (old specs even then) at $400, only $30 less than the current iPad. Oddly enough, sales are probably really poor.
The claim is this would be a new SE, but considering they’re talking about a 4.7" iPhone with XR internals, it sounds to me more like an iPhone 8s. Which probably makes sense now that the 7 will be gone, and the 8 would otherwise be left as the only pre-A12 iPhone.
If this comes to fruition though it underscores that Apple is looking to have an iPhone at ~$500 rather than have a small iPhone. Too bad I’m in the latter camp. I’d gladly pay $800 for an iPhone with the SE’s size, but the latest internals and a good single-lens camera. This rumor says that’s not going to happen.
Yeah, I do wish that there would be more distinction between small and low-cost. Those goals, if Apple has either one of them, don’t have to intersect in the same device.
In fact, the goal of inexpensive device should be fairly easy to achieve if it’s on its own. They could just take the 8 case, stick with TouchID and LCD, and add some XR internals along with its single-lens camera. Possibly even just an 8 camera. If they choose 64GB for the entry-level that should make for a device that’s rather inexpensive to produce based on parts they’re already are well familiar with and could stockpile cheaply.
The small form factor device I would imagine is a lot more tricky. Personally, I’d love to see something like an iPhone X (no bezels, no chin, no home button) on a device the size of the SE with the internals of an XR. The problem with that is that even if they’d stay with LCD, that design likely requires FaceID (if we for a moment assume it’s true that once Apple got FaceID to work they never spent any more effort on getting TouchID integrated under the display). FaceID will makes it more expensive and calls for more internal real-estate. While LCD would help with battery life, you’re now looking at a device that’s likely expensive to manufacture and might still have battery life issues. You could alleviate the latter by dropping the clock and/or limiting the amount of RAM, but if you do that to the point where it’s enough to get good battery lifetime despite limited battery capacity, you could end up having something that doesn’t perform according to what its price tag would lead customers to expect.
Personally, I’d have no trouble paying top $ for such an iPhone, but I am perfectly willing to believe that’s not a huge market segment and one that indeed Apple might choose to just ignore. If true, bummer for me. But hey, maybe they’ll surprise us. ;)
I purchased an XS rather than a XR precisely because of it’s smaller size. I would probably only go smaller than this though if it was also cheaper. Those two things intersect quite a bit, I suspect.
As a long term SEII holdout, I’ve come to the conclusion that the demands of the modern OS requires a larger battery than the current form factor can provide.
This rumor says exactly that is going to happen. According to Mig-Chi Kuo, Apple has chosen low cost (8 remake) instead of small (SE with edge-to-edge display and modern internals).
