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Apple Reportedly Cutting iPhone SE Production Just Weeks After Launch Due to 'Weaker-Than-Expected' Demand
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The SE (2020) was the #2 selling smartphone in 2020. Obviously not everyone wants bigger screens.
iPhone 11, iPhone SE Were Top-Selling Smartphones of 2020; iPhone 12 mini Surprisingly Secures 10th Place
The iPhone 11 and iPhone SE were top two most-popular handsets of 2020, but somehow, the iPhone 12 mini made it into the rankings
The XR is already a 4-year-old model. Not very future proof with updates and all that. Another 2 years and it’s done. The 11 is right behind that.
It certainly seems more and more plausible.
I agree with you on a lot of that, particularly as you have framed it in the context of the reported timelines for the notch going away.
For a long time, we've heard rumors of an SE based on the XR/11. These made more sense for a product that would have arrived in 2022 or 2023 as reports claimed. Obviously 2022 didn't happen, and does 2023 even make sense now that Apple spent the money to upgrade the existing iPhone-8-based model? Perhaps they could keep the SE2022 in the lineup and call this other new low end 2023 iPhone something else (Air? SE Plus?). But that seems like it would make for a needlessly confusing and bloated lineup. Better to wait until 2024 which, as you point out, opens up the door for for the 12/13 chassis to be adopted for SE duty.
A compelling argument for an 11-based SE is that, despite the fact that it is larger than the Mini (so, more raw material per unit, at a bare minimum), it has what we can assume are cheaper components like an LCD screen and simpler camera array. Sure, a Mini-based SE could simply use a downgraded camera and, as you also point out, 60Hz OLED screens will probably be essentially low-end components by then, too. But are these enough to tip the business case in its favor?
At any rate, in either case, rather than just use "old" FaceID they could just elect to remove it entirely. That would indeed give the SE the highest screen-to-body ratio, but not by much. And I think the pill-plus-hole cutouts for FaceID on the other phones will be far less controversial than the notch has been.
In 2021, SE 2020 was #8 in top selling.The SE (2020) was the #2 selling smartphone in 2020. Obviously not everyone wants bigger screens.
iPhone 11, iPhone SE Were Top-Selling Smartphones of 2020; iPhone 12 mini Surprisingly Secures 10th Place
The iPhone 11 and iPhone SE were top two most-popular handsets of 2020, but somehow, the iPhone 12 mini made it into the rankingswccftech.com
And? If last year the SE was top 10 out of ALL smartphones, that says that there are plenty of people out there who like the small display.
The 12/13 Mini didn't even make the list, and SE dropped on the list. All signs point to a change in taste against smaller phones. SE barely made the list because it is the cheapest iPhone, not because it is small.
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I wonder what the overlap is between people who want Touch ID and a small phone? Without both, I won't upgrade from my 2nd Gen SE. I would stick to the OGSE if the screen wasn't so dreary.
Please let’s not forget the folks that vastly prefer a home button.
I have many middle-age to older age relatives that really really like the simplicity and ease of use with the home button.
At times I’m not sure the younger demographic understands just how difficult it is to interact with all the swiping and gestures are for many folks.
My older relatives don’t care at all about control center or notification center and certainly not multitasking. All this stuff that is popping up when they don’t want it and getting in their way and confusing them and they don’t know how to get rid of it
I have many middle-age to older age relatives that really really like the simplicity and ease of use with the home button.
At times I’m not sure the younger demographic understands just how difficult it is to interact with all the swiping and gestures are for many folks.
My older relatives don’t care at all about control center or notification center and certainly not multitasking. All this stuff that is popping up when they don’t want it and getting in their way and confusing them and they don’t know how to get rid of it
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Maybe XR but they clearly said that they want to push age of their devices to the limit. I think that XR will be here long enough. Look at my 8 Plus. Still getting love.
the carrier is giving you those discounts/credits , as long as you're paying a line and some unlimited plan. it makes sense if you're going to use Verizon anyways.
You wrote it is "too expensive" but you are going to pay double for the 13 Mini that probably has a worse performing battery, better features than the SE3 but you are not interested in the feature bump up from the SE to the SE3, in addition to paying double, you are going to buy a phone that has a notch and face id, two features you hate, why do I feel like some of the posts in this thread are fake.
I wish we could install some of the people in this thread as temporary CEO's, the stock would crash and we could buy in at a discount, I bet none of them contemplated, hmm, maybe Tim Cook would like to add millions of users to Apple services, get them hooked on that, and now potentially have millions of new lifetime Apple users around the world, this is not rocket science, this is a way for Apple to hook people into their services who might not be able to afford a $1k phone.
Try iPhone 6 design. The guts might be different but aesthetically it's a 6.
Has JB ever done that heavy of a discount before? I'd totally jump on replacing my 2nd gen SE if they did!
I don't really have an opinion, but the headline is pretty misleading. "Cutting production" has a different meaning to "cutting back on production". The headline implies they've completely stopped making it, whereas the article says they're slowing down production.
OfficeWorks did, catch though, it was locked to Voda prepaid, you had to pay Voda $50 to unlock it.
They were selling the previous model SE for $450 + $50 to unlock the phone, $500 ?
Huh? Nope, that's not what I mean. What I mean is the SE2/3 is not aimed at people wanting a small phone, it is aimed at people wanting a cheap, basic, but fast, phone.
Apple gave up on the small phone idea due to lack of demand for the Mini.
The only phone they have ever made specifically to target the small phone market is the 12/13 Mini, and it was not targeting the cheap/basic market.
The only phones they have made to target the cheap/basic phone market are the 5c, SE2, and SE3, and they were/are not targeting the small market.
Apple have never made a phone that targets both the cheap/basic and small phone markets simultaneously.
I wouldn't try and read too much into this alleged news. We don't know it is fact nor do we know if there are other mitigating factors.
If I am not mistaken, Apple was alleged to have done this kind of thing before and in the end, the story was more hyperbole than anything else.
If I am not mistaken, Apple was alleged to have done this kind of thing before and in the end, the story was more hyperbole than anything else.
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Look up the dimensions, please, someone, anyone here, can you point me to a phone other than the Iphone 13 Mini that is smaller than the Iphone SE 2022, something that is currently being sold brand new, any Android phone, anyone, the screen on the SE is the smallest, perfect for one handed usage, I don't care what Apple's aims are, if you want a small phone, the SE 2022 and the 13 Mini are the only games in town.
Clearly Apple is not giving up on the small phone market, if the rumors are true and they are killing off the Mini, this will be the small phone alternative, 4.7" screen, only slightly larger in dimension than the Mini, and until someone finds it, smaller in dimension than any new 2022 Android phone.
Do people even read their own posts, this is the cheap and small phone, just because it is slightly larger than the Mini, it does not suddenly make it a large phone.
Honestly, it's a bit too large for me. I'm still hanging on to my original-generation iPhone SE (now on its third battery) because the SE2 and SE3 just feel too big, unwieldy, and I can't stand the rounded-off shape.
My wife has an iPhone 12 Mini, and while it's still a bit too large for my tastes, something about its build and squared-off shape makes it feel more manageable and comfortable than the SE2. If I was to upgrade, it would be to that rather than a new SE, because the SE2 and SE3 are comparatively bigger, and the rounded-off form factor makes them feel flimsy.
Honestly, I feel anything bigger than the iPhone 4 was a step backwards in terms of dimensions. Wasn't miniaturization meant to be the future? But the 5S form-factor is still manageable, and the Mini feels like its true successor, even if it's getting a bit on the large-side.
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