What a dumb headline, Apple doesn’t loudly remove items from its store.
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Apple Quietly Removes 256GB iPhone SE Model From Online Store
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The sole purpose of the iPhone SE is to get rid of the remaining parts of old models, in Tim Cook's highly efficient way of managing the company. It is not supposed to be a permanent device on iPhone's line-up. And if there is a risk of it cannibalizing the already not so great sales fo the more premium mini model, then Apple will certainly axe it.
It is about time, as all but low-end Android phones are moving to 128 GB minimum.
Maybe "sneakily" would have been the correct adverb ?
Back then iPhoneOS (.ipsw) was just ~300MB and iPhone 2G had poor 2MP camera. Now iOS14 is 5-6GB and we have 4k video camera. So yeah, 64 GB is not much anymore.
It was the quietest quiet move ever. So quiet! 🤣😂What? No keynote?!?
I hope the new SE comes soon. My "dream" scenario: based on the iPhone 8+ (so with Touch ID!) with an A15 chip and 4GB RAM. And of course minimum 128GB storage.
Isn't this normal when they release a new iPhone lineup?
They remove some older devices and storage capacities for older devices.
Nothing new, nothing that is ever "loud" about this.
People commenting here seem lost to this normal behavior and acting like it is a peculiar thing for Apple.
They remove some older devices and storage capacities for older devices.
Nothing new, nothing that is ever "loud" about this.
People commenting here seem lost to this normal behavior and acting like it is a peculiar thing for Apple.
I don't think that is the case. That device exists to mop up the price conscious customers (like myself). It's money they would have otherwise left on the table and an opportunity to get people attached to the Apple ecosystem. I'll be buying it or its successor when my iPhone 7 stops getting updates.
Do you really think Apple has 1.5 years production worth of parts laying around though? 😂
Very glad I got my 256GB SE a few months after it was released. it even came with EarPods and a power adapter! It’s not about price, it’s about TouchID.
Crazy that they didn’t drop the price after removing those.
Good catch! It’s still the only option if you want a TouchID iPhone.
Crazy that they didn’t drop the price after removing those.
Good catch! It’s still the only option if you want a TouchID iPhone.
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
I truly wish Apple made these decisions just as arbitrarily.
That way we could have all that and the iPad Air as the base iPad, and let both the old iPad design and the dumb 'Air' name die once and for all (except for wearables, of course).
Same for the MBA, make it the base MacBook, kill the 'Air' suffix.
And start EVERYTHING at 128GB.
Alas, NONE of that is happening.
There is nothing sneaky about discontinuing an item. So why would Apple keep something they no longer sell on their shop site?
'Cheap people' don't get the good things. Apple is in the business to sell things, I know, *SHOCK*, but if they still sold the older models in the larger sizes, people wouldn't feel the need to buy the newer, now larger, iPhones.
Apple isn't being 'naughty', they are being 'prudent'. And they have done this time and time again in the past...
Looking at the sizes, I'm surprised they didn't discontinue the 128 too.
Apple kept the 1st gen iPhone SE around for 2.5 years because there was that much excess supply of parts for it? 🤣
That would mean Tim Apple isn't the supply chain guru people make him out to be.
I think the purpose of the iPhone SE is to attract price sensitive buyers -- those who typically buy mid range Android phones because that's the sweet spot in value. Think of the iPhone SE as a gateway product into Apple's ecosystem.
Plus, there are many people who want an iPhone, but not everyone can afford to pay $700+ for one of the flagships (iPhone 13) or former flagships with a reduced price (iPhone 11 and 12). The iPhone SE is also perfect for all those teens who want an iPhone but can't afford one (no job), or for parents to gift to their kid(s) as a present (birthday, Christmas, etc.).
The margins on an iPhone SE probably aren't as good as on a flagship iPhone, but that may not matter as much to Apple when they have even better margins on services, particularly their App Store, and on other products and accessories (Apple Watch and AirPods) they'll end up buying for it.
I'm still a little unclear why Apple didn't just add the Power TouchID button to the iPhone 13 line-up to have in addition to FaceID. Maybe cost, but still, moving forward I really think they should have multiple biometric options of getting into one's device. But maybe there are some logistical/security issues they want to work through like they did with adding the Apple Watch as an authenticator for unlock.
I doubt that many in the SE demographic ever buy even the 128G model. I have never purchased an entry model iphone, plan to get the 13Pro and will not get more than 256GB, if that.
All low end Android phones? No, they're not. I can show you dozens of newly released low end Android phones that still come with 32GB or 64GB which is fine because they have expandable storage.
If you had said budget/mid-range Android phones, you'd be correct.
But maybe your definition of low-end is different than mind. For me, low-end means under $200.
Apple wants those looking for higher memory variants to buy costlier iPhone
Not to mention the R&D cost has been amortised to death across the 6, 6s, 7, 8 and SE