“As expected, Apple unveiled its new 4-inch iPhone SE on Monday. As far as the hardware goes, there weren’t any big surprises,” Adam Levine-Weinberg writes for The Motley Fool. “The iPhone SE incorporates a lot of the improvements in processing power and camera performance from the iPhone 6s into the same form factor as the iPhone 5s. (3D Touch is missing, though.)”
“However, one somewhat surprising aspect of the iPhone SE rollout was its price,” Levine-Weinberg writes. “Even though the iPhone SE essentially represents a two-year technological leap over the iPhone 5s, Apple set the U.S. starting price $50 lower, at $399.”
“With the iPhone SE, Apple will test just how much price has been constraining demand,” Levine-Weinberg writes. “Price-sensitive customers can now get an affordable iPhone that’s on par with Apple’s most expensive models in terms of performance. This could allow Apple to make more headway with lower-income customers across the world, particularly in key emerging markets like China and India. Given that the smartphone market has matured in most developed countries, Apple will need to succeed in these emerging markets to grow iPhone sales in the years ahead.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’ll be an interesting test. It would have been a bit purer with 3D Touch, but still more than enough to compare/contrast with iPhone 5c.
Apple are just doing what they did with the iPod – fleshing out the range to hit more price points.
Great point, one I have shared for years.
No, this is not a repeat of the PC vs Mac wars as many have claimed – it is a repeat of the iPod vs other music players war. The iPod won because of iTunes and the iPhone will win because of its app store and related services.
NOT the thing I wanted:
1) no 3D Touch;
2) previous generation screen;
2) previous generation Touch ID;
3) previous generation frontal camera.
I understand that Apple points at $400 price category, but I would much prefer that the company would keep iPhone 5S, but make iPhone SE truly flagman devices, without cuts here and there, and sell it for $600.
Apple sold 30,000 of the small model last year which was a two year old technology at a higher price point.
Not telling how many of these iPhones Apple is going to sell with this power and at this price.
Should be 30,000,000 not 30,000. Sorry
Ok, that’s it!
I can’t believe the only things that are coming out of march 21th is the iPhone SE and the iPad Pro.
I’ve been overwhelmed with their Liam presentation as well as their environnement plans and sustainable energy. It feels great to buy from a responsible company.
Those anouncements should be far more important than the products they unveiled that day.
I am guessing journalism and WS don’t give a fu** about those issues. Yet they should.
As far as the iPhone SE. Today’s power in a smaller form factor is welcome.
High five Apple! (again)
Tim Cook continues to miss the point. Apple’s current battleground for future revenue growth is Apple Pay. To attain and secure dominance Apple needs to produce top end phones at cheaper prices, and thereby increase market share. The new SE phone should have been branded as the 6SE, and it should have matched the 6S specs at the very least. The inferior selfie cam, and old fingerprint button are the most glaring errors here. The 5 casing in combination with the reduced size of internal components was a good idea if extra battery fills the space. The bonus for the end user is that all those legacy peripherals remain current; thanks Tim! Despite that the phone will be a success. Apple is now bloated in size, and underachieving when it comes to software implementation, and quality testing. A continued fail is not sorting out the lamentable state of the AppStore; the curation of which is just not good enough. This is no time for complacency now that market lead of phone capability and app exclusivity is all but lost. However it’s not all doom and gloom, the company continues to lead in build quality and iOS ease of use. Overpaying for beats, and the mismanagement of implementing maps has been survived. Now Apple can still win the game with ceaseless innovation, patent writing, and build quality. All Tim needs to do is remain focused on the business rather than social issues, and not get too greedy with iCloud, and iPhone memory prices. Cleaning up the AppStore and iTunes when your at it wouldn’t go amiss either. Tomorrow the electric car!
It will be interesting to see what analysts make of this. More sales = good, but lower profit margins = bad.
Ironically this iPhone is what many analysts have been asking for.
Personally, I would have preferred a fully specced 4″ iPhone with a commensurate higher price, but the spec offered is better than I anticipated that Apple would offer if they were going to reduce the selling price.
One of Apple’s greatest strengths is being able to devise a very clever balance of features. Industrial design isn’t about making the biggest, fastest, toughest, with no compromises. It’s actually about making choices and balancing features so that they all work together. I think that they’ve ended up with a very good balance of features in the 6 SE and I’m certainly going to be ordering one ( or maybe two ).
My guess is that the rather small 6 SE is going to be a very big success.