“With the launch of the iPhone 6, Apple had finally tapped into the latent demand for bigger iPhones, and as a result we saw some record-setting quarters from Apple. However, at the same time by moving to a larger display size there was a fairly sizeable audience that was being left behind,” Brandon Chester writes for AnandTech. “While a 4.7-inch phone is generally a one-handed device for most, there’s definitely a sizeable portion of iPhone users that bought the iPhone 5s because the 4-inch size was the largest they could go without facing problems with one-handed usability.”
“It’s really not difficult to come to a conclusion on the iPhone SE. It’s clearly the best 4-inch smartphone on the market, and you can ignore all of the specs when making that assessment because it achieves that by virtue of being the only offering at this size,” Chester writes. “Android manufacturers have essentially given up on making small smartphones, and most of them haven’t actually made a top tier smartphone at the 4-inch size in about four years.”
“Even when you consider the smallest high-end devices from the Android manufacturers, it’s not hard to see that the iPhone SE comes out on top. Apple’s A9 SoC is still one of the fastest chips you’ll find in a smartphone,” Chester writes. “The smaller display is just not for me, but when Apple can sell thirty million two-year-old 4-inch smartphones in a year there’s clearly demand for a smaller smartphone with high end specs. The iPhone SE delivers that, and I think users who have been holding on to an iPhone 5 or 5s should seriously consider it, because it’s the phone that they’ve been waiting for.”
Read more in the full review, including the “Going Back To A 4-Inch Smartphone” section, here.
MacDailyNews Take: Just don’t get the 16GB model unless you know exactly what you’re doing. Apple should kill that 16GB option off and start at 32GB across the board. 16GB is just not usable for the vast majority of iPhone users and especially in BRICS economies where iPhone is often the users’ sole personal computer.
SEE ALSO:
Ars Technica reviews Apple’s iPhone SE: An apology to big-phone haters everywhere – April 6, 2016
iPhone SE event led to website traffic spike in China and India – April 5, 2016
Daring Fireball’s Gruber reviews iPhone SE: ‘Feels the best in hand’ – April 1, 2016
Macworld reviews iPhone SE: ‘It’s a pocket-size powerhouse’ – March 31, 2016
TIME reviews Apple’s iPhone SE: ‘The perfect smaller smartphone’ – March 30, 2016
Mossberg: Understanding Apple’s iPhone SE and 9.7-inch iPad Pro – March 30, 2016
Wired reviews Apple’s iPhone SE: You’ll use it differently – March 29, 2016
USA Today’s Baig: Apple’s iPhone SE is like a cute, adorable baby – March 24, 2016
The Daily Mail reviews Apple’s iPhone SE: The ‘perfect first time iPhone’ – March 24, 2016
WSJ reviews Apple’s iPhone SE: ‘Smaller gets smarter with better battery life to boot’ – March 24, 2016
Apple tries to stimulate growth with the powerful 4‑inch iPhone SE – March 23, 2016
Why the tiny 4-inch iPhone SE will be a gigantic hit for Apple – March 22, 2016
Apple just put a Mac mini in your pocket (with keyboard and screen) – March 22, 2016
Apple’s got millions of reasons to make the smaller iPhone SE – March 22, 2016
The new iPhone SE finally makes a small phone feel powerful – March 21, 2016
Apple unveils iPhone SE, the most powerful phone with a four-inch display – March 21, 2016
Agreed. Kill the 16 gig model already!!! It’s 2016 for god’s sake!!
Don’t know why they should kill it. I have the 128GB iPhone 6 and after two years I still have 94GB available even with over 12GB of photos and six screens of apps. Plainly I needn’t have bothered paying for storage I don’t use: cloud services do the rest. All my music is on a home server with 3 separate media centre outputs or Apple Music which I can access from anywhere I go. If I think I’m going anywhere really ‘dark’ it’s a minute’s job to download a playlist.
Notes, mail…everything resides on my home server.
Obviously that’s just my user requirement but I’m sure I’m not the only one and Apple has said as much in public statements on the lowest phone capacity so they are servicing a need.
What I think you really want, is to get a 32GB lowest storage capacity, at the old price for 16GB.
Not gonna happen.
Apple has publicly confirmed (subject to SEC, so it is real) that by far most of iPhones never reach even 16 GB use, let alone anything bigger.
Companies buying iPhones for company use don’t need more.
Although I have no issues with my 16GB model I do agree that 32GB should be base standard now.
The SE is just the start. It will suck any of the remaining profit from other manufacturers.
Next year Apple should release a cheaper phone to push competitors out of the mid-range market.