iPhone SE 3 Reportedly Entering Trial Production Phase With Launch Set for Early 2022

[jwdsail]

The SE should really adopt the Mini's design, the iPhone 6 design is way out of date, Apple's really neglecting it now.

I disagree?

There's plenty of users who will never buy an iPhone w/o a Home button?

They hear about gestures to do everything, and say, "I've got a gesture for you!" and flip the bird to whatever they're watching?

It's not so big that it require a purse or fanny pack to carry, and not so small that fat fingers have trouble typing?

I have several customers who consider the design to be the best iPhone Apple has made?

Apple likes taking their money, so an iPhone SE 3 with the 6, 8, SE 2 design that many customers still love... makes sense?

 

[SpotOnT]

People are already complaining about the battery in the SE2. How is this going to manage 5G and an A15 chip, all in the same form factory, while still managing to have some battery life?

We will see I guess.

 

[gammamonk]

People are already complaining about the battery in the SE2. How is this going to manage 5G and an A15 chip, all in the same form factory, while still managing to have some battery life?

We will see I guess.

I came from an Android with truly awful battery life (3 hours SoT max) to the 12 Pro. It's way better, but I still needed to buy the MagSafe battery to get through heavy days. If the battery life is worse, and it doesn't have MagSafe, that would be really lame.

 

[Aoligei]

I disagree?

There's plenty of users who will never buy an iPhone w/o a Home button?

They hear about gestures to do everything, and say, "I've got a gesture for you!" and flip the bird to whatever they're watching?

It's not so big that it require a purse or fanny pack to carry, and not so small that fat fingers have trouble typing?

I have several customers who consider the design to be the best iPhone Apple has made?

Apple likes taking their money, so an iPhone SE 3 with the 6, 8, SE 2 design that many customers still love... makes sense?

Regardless, Home Button is on its way out. There is only one iPad that includes home button and it is the lowest end iPad. I am confident that next entry level iPad will adopt iPad mini 6 design.

With iPhone, rumored iPhone SE plus will adopt iPhone XR design. So iPhone SE 3 will be the last one with he screen.

iPhone 6 design is now 8 year old, edge to edge display had already taking over. Foldable phone is also getting popular. Home Button will be gone.

 

[chhum]

I was thinking the same thing. It almost seems lazy of Apple to use this dated design, but it's probably the only way they can keep this price point, which is an important one for the lineup.

Hmm. I know quite a lot of people who still prefer the “classic” iPhone design - particularly older users (think grandparents)- so I think keeping it in the lineup makes sense.

I know they’ll ditch the mini but that’s a shame-My wife moved from an original SE to the mini as she found the newer SE too big, but she did baulk at the price. I bought the XS Pro because it was the smallest new phone I could get at the time, but I’ll replace it with the Mini if there is one when it’s time comes.

 

[VaruLV]

Certainly for me not something I would call next-gen/3rd gen, the same looks, grossly outdated design, just with updated chipset and some camera improvements(its SE, so probably minor ones?), while still essentially being the same as SE2.

Plus, price in my parts of Europe is above 450 euros, thats about 500$ US, certainly not worth the money, better spend it on either nice Android phone or add 150-200 euros and get yourself flagship terriroty Android or add a bit more and get yourself iPhone Mini when discounted while it lasts.

 

[rosswell]

Touch ID Face ID they each have their own advantages. Remember touch ID in the bitter cold of winter when you had to take your glove off to use it? never liked that. Special gloves didn’t work well for me. Also bad when cooking/eating and greasy fingers…

For my purposes the Apple Watch unlock mechanism has been working wonderfully.

I do like touch ID I have it on my iPads, but my phone is frequently accessed in cold weather and I prefer face ID and/or Apple Watch unlock. (Not to mention that the Apple Watch unlocks my Mac desktop as well)

 

[turbineseaplane]

Is anyone actually excited about this?

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

The SE should really adopt the Mini's design, the iPhone 6 design is way out of date, Apple's really neglecting it now.

Keep dreaming. The SE is deliberately the way out of date iPhone 6 design. The idea is to give people a cheap iPhone option, but so that it has the latest processor so that it can handle the latest iOS updates, but to make it look so out of date that if you want the prestige of looking up to date at all, then you need to fork out for the expensive latest iPhones. Only when the current iPhone look is changed to something new, will you see the SE also change to a newer design, most likely to the iPhone 11 design. It's all very clever and deliberate, and gets people into the iOS ecosystem who don't have the budget for the 13, and get them sucked into paying for stuff off the App Store, which with its massive 15/30% Apple cut, is a humungous profit machine for Apple. The SE has nothing to do with making it a small phone. I highly doubt there will ever be an SE Mini.

 

[apparatchik]

Keep dreaming. The SE is deliberately the way out of date iPhone 6 design. The idea is to give people a cheap iPhone option, but so that it has the latest processor so that it can handle the latest iOS updates, but to make it look so out of date that if you want the prestige of looking up to date at all, then you need to fork out for the expensive latest iPhones. Only when the current iPhone look is changed to something new, will you see the SE also change to a newer design, most likely to the iPhone 11 design. It's all very clever and deliberate, and gets people into the iOS ecosystem who don't have the budget for the 13, and get them sucked into paying for stuff off the App Store, which with its massive 15/30% Apple cut, is a humungous profit machine for Apple. The SE has nothing to do with making it a small phone. I highly doubt there will ever be an SE Mini.

You're right, it's a wish, remember the SE started with the 5 / 5S design which was the last small iPhone before the 6, 6+, and forward took to ever larger footprints. Until the Mini that is. In a sense, those of us who preferred smaller, more pocketable phones, saw on the initial SE an attractive alternative.

I understand the idea is exactly not to sell you a current desgin, but, there's a part of your statement were I disagree. The SE cannot be so much out of date design wise that it looks completely outclassed by similarly priced but up-to-date designed Android's. Because there's a point where even if it's an iPhone, with the Apple logo in it and everything, the benefits a modern SoC and the Apple brand might bring, will not make up for a phone that looks from 10 years ago.

IMHO, the tipping point where this design is bringing the whole $399 proposition down has been reached. So maybe time to bring it to iPhone XR design, or as, you mentioned, iPhone 11. Due to the SE being in a 2-3 year update cycle, this means Apple will keep trying to sell you the iPhone 6 design, for $400, well into 2023.

 

[dysamoria]

I must recognize that it was also tough for me to get rid off the jack when switching from the 6 to the SE 2nd Gen, I've never been a fan of wireless audio (just using it on the iPhone and sometimes on MBP for convenience) ... so I can understand your GF, but at the end if you listen to streaming music, even on high quality, differences are quite negligible, at least for me and speaking as an amateur audiophile.

I have a lot of problems with Bluetooth audio, especially in the car. Then there’s Airplay, which looks like trash. I personally stick with cables, even with adapters.

 

[mgarc1125]

It would be reeeally hard to go back to this after the Mini. It's actually *larger* and has a smaller (and worse) screen at the same time.

I think this is what many of us like about this form factor. 4.7' is just the right size that most people can use the phone one-handed while easily reaching the top and bottom corners of the screen without readjusting your hand. The mini goes just beyond that now and with the need to use the top left for control center and bottom for gestures it renders the phone unusable one-handed, for me at least. The form factor's actual larger size also means we have some where to solidly hold the phone plus an area for the home button which I still prefer. I've never hated bezels like so many people do. Its good to have that space to hold the phone without obstructing the screen. I'm patiently waiting for this phone as my beloved iphone 6S is finally getting too slow. It's going to be a horrible pain to lose the headphone jack but I tried a Pixel phone for a while and hated it.

 

[dampfnudel]

It's great that they continue with this device, there is people that get sick with the OLED of the iPhone (maybe because apple uses that flickering system to control brightness) or faceid is not reliable to them and shows that apple cares about them

There has to be some good reason why Apple continues selling an iPhone with a nearly eight year design. I’m not sure it’s the reason you mentioned, but who knows? The cheapest iPhone hardware they can offer at the moment?

 

[ghanwani]

There has to be some good reason why Apple continues selling an iPhone with a nearly eight year design. I’m not sure it’s the reason you mentioned, but who knows? The cheapest iPhone hardware they can offer at the moment?

Nothing wrong with a classic design. The HP 12c was introduced in 1981 and is still sold today.

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I would be even more excited if Apple brought back the 2016 SE with updated internals.

 

[dampfnudel]

I think this is what many of us like about this form factor. 4.7' is just the right size that most people can use the phone one-handed while easily reaching the top and bottom corners of the screen without readjusting your hand. The mini goes just beyond that now and with the need to use the top left for control center and bottom for gestures it renders the phone unusable one-handed, for me at least. The form factor's actual larger size also means we have some where to solidly hold the phone plus an area for the home button which I still prefer. I've never hated bezels like so many people do. Its good to have that space to hold the phone without obstructing the screen. I'm patiently waiting for this phone as my beloved iphone 6S is finally getting too slow. It's going to be a horrible pain to lose the headphone jack but I tried a Pixel phone for a while and hated it.

Yeah, I liked my 6s so much that I didn’t trade it in and now it’s part of my “Apple museum”, alongside my first iPhone, a 4S.

 

[dampfnudel]

Hopefully the new SE is the iPhone mini. The current mini is too expensive.

Not this time, maybe in 2 or 3 years.

 

[stinkhorn9]

Great news! Thought this was going to be released end 2022!

My only mini-complain with the SE 2nd Gen is the battery on certain circumstances, I thought they would improve it on the 3rd gen, but if it keeps exact-same form factor, I doubt that bigger battery cells are gonna fit if other components remain the same and/or unless these last processors are less power hungry.

For the rest, I think this is an excellent device for those who don't demand that heavy use on cellphones as myself. Add a slighly larger battery, a better camera, improved internals (CPU, 5G and other connectivity) and it would be the perfect replacement for the current one, at least for me.

edit-PS: My iPhone SE 2nd Gen still works smooth as hell and it's barely 2 years old, and most of the times, can't justify to upgrade in case I really can't stand with an old device for serious laggy reasons, but the 5G compatibility this time, is really tempting. What would you do?

Stick with my SE 2nd gen. Absolutely nothing wrong with it.

 

[Oscar_440]

Probably, iPhone SE3 is going to have the form factor of the iPhone Xr.

 

[streetsandtheatres]

I'd love a replacement for my original SE. Everything else I've tried feels too big!

 

[cmcbhi]

We each got a Mini this year. We switched from an 8 (wife) and an 8 plus, primarily because this is likely the last year Apple will produce a Mini.
I really like the size; I have an iPad and an iMac if I want to play games (I don't) and zoom calls. I don't need lots of on device storage because I can access whatever I want streaming from the Cloud. I use a real camera for photography and/or videos so the Camera(s) of the Pro models are useless to me.
We will keep these until Apple stops supporting them and, then, try to find a similarly sized phone.
I just find a Phablet too large to carry around.

 

[ignatius345]

Is anyone actually excited about this?

I'm glad they're keeping a low-end and smaller phone in the mix, but an updated SE is about as exciting as an updated toaster.

 

[Razorpit]

There's plenty of users who will never buy an iPhone w/o a Home button?

They may buy a different phone, once, but they'll be back.

 

[snipr125]

I have no qualms with Apple releasing the same 4.7" Touch ID classic form factor in this 3rd Gen SE, but if it is going to have 5G then they have to increase the battery size in line. I mean if Apple can fit a 2450 Mh battery in the 13 Mini, which has a smaller chassis than the current SE 2, then surely it can be done.

 

[ghanwani]

I have no qualms with Apple releasing the same 4.7" Touch ID classic form factor in this 3rd Gen SE, but if it is going to have 5G then they have to increase the battery size in line. I mean if Apple can fit a 2450 Mh battery in the 13 Mini, which has a smaller chassis than the current SE 2, then surely it can be done.

Isn't the mini fatter than the 2020 SE? That means they'd have to redesign the body at least slightly.

 

[snipr125]

Isn't the mini fatter than the 2020 SE? That means they'd have to redesign the body at least slightly.

The 12/13 Mini, I think are slightly thicker than the SE2 chassis (sorry my SE 2 is at home and I got my 12 mini with me at work so cant visually compare right now).