iPhone SE Sales Forecasted as 'Lackluster' Over First Weekend

[theluggage]

Where are all the people that wanted a new 4 inch iPhone?

All six of them decided to pre-order a Tesla instead (although you'll look even more ridiculous holding one of those up to your ear - but maybe the autodrive feature will be good for one-handed texting).

Or, they gave up and bought a 6s last year, stopped worrying and learned to love the phablet.

Lets see:

Q: Why do some people like 4" phones?
A: Because their main usage is phone calls and text messaging, for which a 4" display is more than adequate & still usable for the occasional bit of web surfing or video playing.

Q: Why do some people prefer 4.7-5.5" displays?
A: Because their main usage is web browsing, games, photography, watching videos etc. for which a large display and a fast processor are better, but the phone still fits into a shirt pocket or handbag and is OK for calls and texting.

Q: How do you sell phones when everybody has one?
A: Offer them a must-have feature that makes them upgrade.

Q: If your main usage is phone calls and text messaging and you already have a 4" phone that does these perfectly, why would you want to upgrade to a larger screen, faster CPU?
A: Er...

Yahoo for user choice, brand loyalty etc. - and maybe Apple should have made the 6 in 4" and 5" versions in the first place rather than big and bing'n'bendy, but its not a big surprise if the SE is not a big seller.

 

[TonyC28]

The SE has the same performance as the current flagship. What is confusing about that?

No 3D Touch and last-gen Touch ID, but yea...

 

[sracer]

Right here. I'm one of those people who wants a new 4-inch iPhone. And until one is released, I'll continue to use my iPhone 5s.

I think this type of sentiment gives credibility to claims that there is some percentage of Apple customers who buy for the "boutique mystique". I don't say that as an insult, but there are people who are more concerned with "form" over "function".

For those people, you are correct, the SE is not for them.

 

[zoomcrypt]

totally sold out here in china. the workers at apple store quoting 1-2 weeks delivery and seems to be decent interest as you had to wait in crowds about 3 deep just to touch one this weekend. Originally before release apple was saying they were expecting there to be apple supply for launch so I'd say it's doing pretty well compared to apple's expectations. People comparing it to iPhone 6/6s release are making a incorrect comparison, this is an additional model to the line in mid cycle. it wasn't meant to a big new cycle launch.

 

[bigchrisfgb]

The SE is designed to capture people who are unwilling or unable to pay for the premium level iPhone. As a result the majority of these people will not be the type of customer to rush out of the gates to buy one, they will instead get one when their existing phone contract ends, their existing phone is no longer usable, and when they have the money to do so. This will mean that the SE will have steady sales over time. Of course in countries where wages are less (China) it will be more sought after and the only reason why people there don't already have an iPhone is due to price and the SE caters well to their market as it captures more people who want an iPhone but have never been able to afford one.

 

[anek007]

Nobody's talking about the fact that this is the first phone released after AT&T stopped subsidizing them. Paying full price is a big deterrent.

Not the first phone but first iPhone. I'm pretty sure people who went into the stores got the surprising news. A lot of people I know didn't know that subsidizing was gone. I'm pretty sure a lot more people still don't know and will get the surprise when they want to upgrade to the iPhone 7. I usually upgrade every 2 year but not anymore. I'm keeping my 6s plus for while.

 

[gaximus]

Tesla has proven themselves to be the new Apple and Musk is the new Jobs. The king is dead, long live the king!

Musk is not the new Jobs, Jobs was a show man, Musk is not a great speaker. That being said I still really enjoy watching Musk's keynotes.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

If the phone was 4.7inch, would you be interested? I'm confused.

I do agree with you that the entry-level should've been 32GB. But $499 for a phone as advanced and capable as the iPhone is a great price. I think people forget just how much technology is packages into these "simple" devices these days... how many man-hours go into creating them. Apple's margins are slim on the SE, I'm sure of that.

I can get a better Android phone for $499 or cheaper.

Moto X which is water resistant, 5.7 Quad HD screen, 2200 mah, Fast Charging, 21mp camera, and etc ... is $399 for 16gb and at only $50 more for 32gb for $449.

I wanted to switch things up and have the iPhone SE for my second line. But Apple just had to be stingy with it's options. I don't care about Apple's margins or reasoning, they lost a sale from me, and probably many others.

 

[lkalliance]

This weekend I checked in with one of my local Apple Stores. I'm in the Minneapolis area, and there are five in the Twin Cities area. I was looking for a Space Gray 64 GB, which I expected was the most popular model (a representative told me over the phone that actually the Rose Gold 64 GB seemed most popular, Space Gray second-most; when I went to one of my local stores the Rose Gold seemed to attract a lot more attention at the sample tables). I was told they were all out of that model throughout the area.

I went to one of the stores, to reacquaint myself with the styling and feel of the phone, and they had just received a new shipment an hour previous, but the model I was looking for (in either SIM-free or AT&T) had already sold out. So, there's that anecdote. I placed an order online yesterday, April 3, and my confirmation email advised me it would deliver between April 20 and April 25...though that may be purposefully conservative, we'll see.

 

[maflynn]

I'm happy with mine, but this may not be good news for a 4" phones in Apple's line up moving beyond the SE.

 

[kdarling]

To be fair, I don't think it's been heavily advertised or constantly mentioned in the news.

So a lot of casual consumers likely don't even know about it.

Hey, does Apple ever buy ad time during the NCAA tournament? That would get some attention.

 

[Soccertess]

I think the form factor needed a refresh. The benzels had to be reduced, made it thinner, and rounded out the edges. Then they should have renamed it the iphone 6 Mini.

But what do I know

 

[bigchrisfgb]

size is a preference, but people still want their phones to be cutting edge. the se doesn't have the same features as the flagship phone and to many i'm sure was obsolete from the start. this in part is why people are bothered by the rumors of the dual camera lens being only available in the larger model

It essentially does have the same features as the flagship iPhone, the only things missing are 3D Touch, and the 2nd generation Touch ID sensor. The SE is in the same form factor as an older iPhone, let's not confuse form factor and features as the same thing.

 

[Jsameds]

I can get a better Android phone for $499 or cheaper.

Moto X which is water resistant, 5.7 Quad HD screen, 2200 mah, Fast Charging, 21mp camera, and etc ... is $399 for 16gb and at only $50 more for 32gb for $449.

And is 3x the size...

 

[doelcm82]

According to that chart, people with the small iPhone is about 1/3 of the total. I bet MANY of them are not the type who run to the Apple Store the first minute a new model comes out. I think Apple did right with this model. Time will tell.

This. If you were the kind of iPhone user who upgrades every year or every other year to get the latest, then you either upgraded last September or you are waiting until this September.

In the first world, the SE will often be a "starter phone" for teenagers, or a company-issued phone. Those sales don't happen on release day. The other people who will be buying are those that just prefer the smaller size, and don't buy a new phone until their old one wears out, so their purchases don't happen on release day either.

I think Apple realized there is still a market for this size, and definitely a market for a lower price of entry.

Also, they wanted to get Apple Pay on all their devices, and they have eventual plans for iOS that won't be supported by A7 processors.

 

[aarontsuru]

Wasn't there a bunch of pre-orders in China? Like 4+ million or something?
or was that a guesstimate blog-report thing?

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

And is 3x the size...

So I gotta pay more for an exclusive smaller size without a 32gb option? No thank you.

 

[teslo]

So when the SE sells 3.4 million phones in one weekend, in just one territory, it's a failure, but when the Watch sells only 3.5 million units worldwide in one quarter, it's an unrivaled success? OK

hey, don't just wrangle me into an argument i was not part of and didn't allude to in any way..

 

[Porco]

The place I want to buy mine from doesn't have any stock yet... so that might help.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

I'm really not sure why the writers here keep comparing the iPhone SE to the Tesla preorder. It's like comparing Apples and loose meat sandwiches. Apple will sell tens of millions of iPhone SE before the year is out and Tesla won't even ship a single Model 3 until a year later. I get that some of you are excited about your Model 3 and it really is great news and I'm happy for you, but it really has no bearing on anything to do with the iPhone, and is only of passing interest in general as Apple is many years away from competing in that space.

Here's the thing about the iPhone SE that people need to realize: Apple is going to sell a lot of these things, but it's going to be a grind over time. The type of people who buy a phone like this aren't the ones who first rush out to upgrade. Sure, there will be some, especially among those clamoring for a new iPhone in a small form factor. But at that price with a few reduced features, you're not going to get huge day one sales. You're going to get solid, sustained growth over time. Especially in emerging markets. My wife is in the market for this iPhone. I asked her if I should preorder it, and she said "No, I'll upgrade to it at some point, just don't worry about it for now." And she's still using an iPhone 5. So whatever, up to her. She was glad that they made it and she's going to buy it, she just doesn't have this need to get it right away? That's something that people around here need to understand. Normal people just don't care as much. And why should they? It's just a phone.

It was really hard for me to type those last two sentences, lol. But it's true for most people.

Yeah, and the lines for the Tesla wouldn't have been reported upon at all if it hadn't been for the Apple/iPhone reporters dispatched to watch the lines at the nearby Apple Stores. How much you want to bet that every person who stood in line at Tesla later went to visit the neighboring Apple Store, and vice versa?

 

[jefe2000]

I was one of those iPhone 5S advocates. I'd had mine since Fall 2013 when they were first released. But, I reserved a new iPhone SE at the local Apple Store and picked it up the day after it was released to the stores.

This iPhone SE is one spectacular phone. It's everything I loved about my iPhone 5S plus a whole lot of great tech from the iPhone 6s without the too-big size. Color me very pleased!

I'm simply amazed that, 2 ½ years go, I payed just under $1,000 for my iPhone 5S. Yet I just replaced it with a much better device for just about half that.

 

[Jsameds]

So I gotta pay more for an exclusive smaller size without a 32gb option? No thank you.

If you want a small iPhone with great specs that will last you the next five years, then yeah.

 

[mattopotamus]

How could it not have sold good when it was sold out after the first day in most locations? In fact, I still cannot pick one up in my area (Atlanta)

 

[bpeeps]

Right here. I'm one of those people who wants a new 4-inch iPhone. And until one is released, I'll continue to use my iPhone 5s.

You're going to be holding onto that 5S for a while.

 

[masteroflondon]

size is a preference, but people still want their phones to be cutting edge. the se doesn't have the same features as the flagship phone and to many i'm sure was obsolete from the start. this in part is why people are bothered by the rumors of the dual camera lens being only available in the larger model

So should the bigger one lack features it had room for so as not to make the smaller one look bad? A smaller phone must lack content found in the bigger version, unless the bigger one is less than it could have been. It seems so straightforward to me, differ

I understand the urge to criticize any new Apple products sales as Apple is perceived to be this company whose every new product is somehow revolutionary...

But the SE is not one of those products.

It's sole purpose is to fill a niche; people who support Apple products but who found the larger sizes of the iPhone 6/6+ untenable or their costs unaffordable. It's not unlike the iPhone 5C... which was also criticized for (comparably) low sales.

I'm not sure what analyst would have predicted massive sales of such a niche product... those of us who have accepted the larger sized phones as functional certainly aren't going to downgrade. So this product is really to entice two types of consumers... those who have older iPhones who avoided upgrading due to larger sizes, and those who don't have an iPhone but are interested in one but at the smaller sizes.

Not exactly a deep market...

I agree completely. Some are completely obsessed with everything Apple does blowing everything else they ever did right out of the water. Dumb, simplistic and immature. They seem to see everything like a firework, it has to go shrieking onwards and upwards until it explodes, and dies, in a last burst of glory.

They offered a choice for the significant (no more, no less) number that wanted it. And I am grateful. I changed my 6 for the SE (a little nervously because of the reduced storage of 64GB, but that's been fine) and I absolutely love the SE. Feels so much more natural and comfortable.