The two iPhone minis, the 3rd gen SE and the 14 Plus model all had "underwhelming" sales according to rumors. This is the reason Apple is so eager to run to the popular 6.1 inch size.
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6.1-Inch iPhone SE 4 OLED Panel to Be Supplied by China's BOE
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From the articles I have read, it's not so much about nostalgia but rather people realizing that smartphones have become an addiction in their lives and have decided to part ways with the tech to take back control.
Yeah, it seems that around 6 inches is just a popular size for consumers.
I think that a fair portion of the online discourse surrounding the SE is so heated because people forget that the purpose of the SE is to be cheap, not small. As it turns out those two often coincide, but that doesn’t mean that the average SE buyer is buying it because it is small. They’re buying it because it is (relatively) cheap. If they could have an iPhone with a bigger screen for the same price or just a little bit more, I suspect that they would go for it. And Apple seems to think so too.
Motorola are one of the top companies for cheap Android phones in NA, and guess what - most of their phones have big displays. Just because a buyer has less money doesn’t mean they want to be reminded of that every time they look at their phone because it has a small display.
Smaller smartphones come off to me as the brown manual station wagons of the phone world - something that online enthusiasts care more about than actual consumers. There is a market for them, but not a big one. And probably not one worth targeting over the market for big, affordable phones.
And with that, there goes all my hopes for a usable SE. 
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Yes, sadly I’m not impressed with the 3x zoom as much I hoped.
The 2x is pretty good with the 48mp “combined” to 12mp.
No clue why the 3x can’t be as sharp a good :/
According easily identifiable usage data from real world metrics. It's easy to plot how Apple's devices sell from numerous data metrics collected on the web.
And yes, you're right. These experiment sizes have all done poorly. 6.1 does well, and Apple needs badly to get an affordable 6.1" phone with USB-C on the market ASAP.
I wonder who the potential buyers will be. I'm not likely to be one of them after having the iPhone 8, 2020 SE, and 2022 SE.
If the new phone had a somewhat (5.2 inch) larger 1080p display and Touch ID in the power button, I would have bought it. What they continue to describe is something almost no one will buy. It doesn't fit the current iPhone SE users, nor will the top end buyers want it as an economy phone.
If the new phone had a somewhat (5.2 inch) larger 1080p display and Touch ID in the power button, I would have bought it. What they continue to describe is something almost no one will buy. It doesn't fit the current iPhone SE users, nor will the top end buyers want it as an economy phone.
Yeah last SE wasn’t great. As far as processor , I’d take apple over the competition any day.
No one wants a mini design. And as for premium pricing… $429 does not sound premium to me.
Potential buyers may be those wanting a modern looking smartphone with fairly new chip, decent camera setup, six or so years of iOS and security updates, etc. at a price around 40% less than an iPhone 15. Of course, where pricing actually comes in will be key as the "SE" is meant to be a value/budget device.
The 13 will almost surely be kicked out by the SE. That’s what happened with the iPhone 5S and iPhone 8 - they were dropped in the spring of what would have been their last full year in the lineup when the equivalent SE replacements arrived.
it will be interesting to see what happens with the 14 though. The SE will probably be differentiated with a simpler camera array and only 4 GB of memory, but it will also likely have a one generation newer processor.
No, because they will remove the most expensive parts the low-end customers wouldn't mind missing out on for the price. They also want to test out the new Apple Modern tech.
How can you realistically expect it be lower than the current SE when it will have a bigger screen and Face ID components vs a 4.7” LCD and Touch ID?
Your comment strains credulity.
You'll get appx 2 years of updates from an SE as it will have an up-to-date processor, assuming it follows tradition. Hardly a waste.
I'd guess the 13 mini will be discontinued completely unless the rumors of 6.1" are rubbish and it's the mini turns out to be the basis for the new SE
I'm actually wondering what we're giving up between the SE4 and iPhone 15? With the jump to OLED, it doesn't sound like much, I guess the notch instead of dynamic island with that visible "this is the new one" factor, but some would argue the oldest notch is the most out of the way. You'd only give up one ultrawide camera, since the base model doesn't have the tri camera setup or lidar or later Periscope with the Max/Ultra/whatever. The Ultrawide is sometimes valuable but for people thinking about whether to jump up a significant price tier?
It also sounds like it's the phone debuting Apple's in house 4nm modem/wifi combo chip, and I assume the A16 the base 15 will get, so you'd still have to jump all the way to Pro for the new 3nm A17.
Between the regular models and the SE4 it doesn't really sound like the sacrifices are that much to me, unless there's things we still don't know. I guess at worst they go back to the OG OLED retina 625 nits rather than the brighter HDR highlights and brighter in sunlight models, but again this is livable to me so long as it's moving past the 326ppi LCD.
RAM? I would want to upgrade past the 4GB in my XS Max so if the SE4 still has 4 that would be one thing
It also sounds like it's the phone debuting Apple's in house 4nm modem/wifi combo chip, and I assume the A16 the base 15 will get, so you'd still have to jump all the way to Pro for the new 3nm A17.
Between the regular models and the SE4 it doesn't really sound like the sacrifices are that much to me, unless there's things we still don't know. I guess at worst they go back to the OG OLED retina 625 nits rather than the brighter HDR highlights and brighter in sunlight models, but again this is livable to me so long as it's moving past the 326ppi LCD.
RAM? I would want to upgrade past the 4GB in my XS Max so if the SE4 still has 4 that would be one thing
Oled I find is better for my eyes lcd screens all ways hurt my eyesight after a few hours of use
Hi neuropsychguy,
It may very well be that there are no high quality studies on this subject!
But I do know, as objectively as I can know, that these displays truly bother me and many others.
There's a strobe-ness to these OLED screens that I absolutely hate. I do not deny that the contrast for example is way better, though.
Anyway, to clearly experience what I mean, just move a non-OLED iPhone back and forth very fast, and then do the same with an OLED model. The "unrest" in the OLED screen will become clear immediatly.
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Agree. In fact, it will most likely be discontinued this September just as the 12 Mini was last September when the 12 hit the the $599 price slot.
But, I also think there‘s an outside shot that it either sticks around a bit longer or gets the axe for now and then comes back later with a newer processor. They could keep it priced higher than the SE just as the iPad Mini is compared to the larger entry level iPads. Like the iPad Mini, the iPhone Mini is a niche product, but at the same time its diminutive size is a feature that could allow it to command a premium over other models.
Despite telling this a hundred 100 times before it was even reported, Macrumorr's comment still believe Apple is moving out of China.
I'd love to think it would come back as the SE to be honest. I think Apple genuinely missed the mark when it was released by making the smallest handset on offer have the same features as its big brother especially at a time when the world was in lockdown mode staring at screens all day. "Small" was the polar opposite of a selling point back then.
My gut says the majority of folk who wanted a small phone were/are less about the feature set (going by my own personal feelings and many others aired on release here) and more about being a cheap, but up-to-date knock-around. But that would not have made sense when the SE uses "Old" designs, so they'd have needed an old phone to base it on in the first place.
A cheap Mini SE, with up-to-date processor, usb-c, even a single camera, LCD screen and on-button touch ID is what I'd like to see (but 100% wont get).