New 4" iPhone With 12MP Camera Said to Cost $400-$500, iPhone 5s to Receive 50% Price Cut

[nviz22]

Well, hopefully if you're 'investing' in Apple, you're actually paying attention to the products, user-experience, changes in how Apple is running the business, etc. and not just 'playing the markets.' And, if you've been paying attention for long, you'll recognize the difference. I guess we can debate about whether it's a change for the positive or not. I say not. BTW, I was never in (though I recommended buying AAPL back in the mid-90s, not so much anymore, though you're probably fine for a few years yet.)



Yes, but they run Android.** Water resistance might be nice, but isn't that already kind of in place (at least rumored for the 7). afaik, there are trade-offs with quick-charge. Wireless charging is irrelevant. Dual speakers, seriously? (You're not one of those annoying people who play music on the train through your phone, right?)

** My point being that I've nearly always been able to build up a PC with better specs than the Macs I've purchased. And, I have the skills to do so (did it for years for work). But, I run Macs because of OS X, not some specs. I should probably mess with Android again one of these days, but every time I have, it pretty much sucks.

The OS is fragmented. If I pick up say, an LG, I would have a horrendous experience. Same with an ASUS Zenfone. Pure Android has been great to me for years and I highly suggest it.

 

[I7guy]

Well, hopefully if you're 'investing' in Apple, you're actually paying attention to the products, user-experience, changes in how Apple is running the business, etc. and not just 'playing the markets.' And, if you've been paying attention for long, you'll recognize the difference. I guess we can debate about whether it's a change for the positive or not. I say not. BTW, I was never in (though I recommended buying AAPL back in the mid-90s, not so much anymore, though you're probably fine for a few years yet.)



Yes, but they run Android.** Water resistance might be nice, but isn't that already kind of in place (at least rumored for the 7). afaik, there are trade-offs with quick-charge. Wireless charging is irrelevant. Dual speakers, seriously? (You're not one of those annoying people who play music on the train through your phone, right?)

** My point being that I've nearly always been able to build up a PC with better specs than the Macs I've purchased. And, I have the skills to do so (did it for years for work). But, I run Macs because of OS X, not some specs. I should probably mess with Android again one of these days, but every time I have, it pretty much sucks.

I "love" the current crop of iphones and ipads and in spite of my resistance about to order my first macbook air. I haven't been in for thirty years only since 2010. However, what happens at apple is out of our hands, you only control your equity position.

 

[Col4bin]

there is no link just simple calculation form how many (estimated) people would like to go back from 6 versions of iPhone back to 5se (or se) and percentages of iPhone users who still use 3.5, and 4" phone (4, 5 and 5s) comes to way above 50%
[doublepost=1456606441][/doublepost]
this is from Apple itself showing us percentages of iPhone users using 3.5, and 4" (4, 5 and 5se) phones who did not upgrade to 4.7 or 5.5" phones resulting to way over 50% plus adding to (such as me) those who would like to 'downgrade' from 4.7 or 5.5 phone back to 4'' phone and could be more than 60-70%...

You're making inferences based on empiracle data that was not compiled by Apple to support your conclusions.

 

[trifid]

Last spec I really hope we'd get is 5MP front camera, I'd rather get that than 3D touch.

 

[SteveW928]

So what's wrong with running Android? It can run Tizen for all I care and my point remains the same, stagnant hardware is not good. Apple's odd upgrading cycle is why people are starting to say "Apple Tax" exists or "Apple lags in hardware." Dual speakers are great for me when I am blasting music in my car (when I didn't have an aux cable or bluetooth) or when I am in my room. Wait till Apple introduces wireless charging and people will sing a different tune. Same thing happened with the Galaxy Note first gen. Then Apple released the 6 Plus.

It's clunky, vulnerable, poor-UI, etc. Kind of like Windows vs Mac from years ago. So, in terms of user-experience, it matters little to me what the hardware is. It could be 10x Apple's and cook breakfast for all I care and I'm still on iOS (for now). I also haven't paid serious attention to an Android device for a couple of years now, so like I said, I should try one again soon (but, I think just given my reading, my opinion isn't too far off).

That said, Apple has been making some hardware blunders lately, which I agree aren't acceptable. The low base model storage is bad marketing strategy (though easily solved with a bit of cash). The RAM, however, is a big problem. It's solved with brand-new models, finally, but has been an issue for anything not current since iOS 8 (and even a problem on some current models). That just wasn't the case prior to iOS 8, where Apple's devices performed as well or better with less RAM than the competition.

re: speakers - Yea, I just don't really use mine much, I guess. I've done audio work in the past, and have played in bands and such... I can't handle that poor of audio quality for more than a few minutes anyway. (Dual 'speaker' or not!)

Wireless charging is kind of like 3D TVs, a marketing gimmick. I charge my device once per day while I sleep. Plugging it in isn't hard at all. Unless this were some kind of Tesla-like charge it from *many* feet away kind of stuff, it's silly. And, if it were, I'd *NOT* want that in my house anyway!

 

[Zagor13]

To Col4bin:
Even if its 20 or 30% and not 'eventual' 50 or so % it still a must for Apple to continue producing smaller phones or those using it at that size and potential (current 6 size users or new iOS users) new iOS users OR they may switch to other manufacturers that produce smaller phones; it crossed my mind that I may have to switch one day if want a smaller phone but now I'm more relaxed as Apple will continue making more normal sized phones; i simply do not want a brick anymore.

 

[kdarling]

I don't believe it. I don't believe they will ever sell any iPhone at $225 (full retail). That's playing in the low end of the market, which they've never done in any product category.

Electronic devices always get less expensive over time. In many parts of the world, $200-$250 can now buy a very decent smartphone.

Subsidies artificially propped up phone maker revenues for years, and were absolutely crucial to Apple's high profit margins and sales, as the iPhone has traditionally only sold well where upfront costs were low.

The switch to outright loans in many parts of the world now makes the monthly cost more visible to buyers. With so much of Apple's revenue coming from iPhones, this makes Apple vulnerable. Thus the hopeful predictions of Apple coming out with a more affordable line up.

 

[Jeff R]

You should realize that using 7s as the plural of 7 is going to cause misunderstandings. The "s" isn't capitalized in the "s" series phones, so 7S isn't the correct way to differentiate.

You are correct. Let me update my signature lol.

 

[I7guy]

Last spec I really hope we'd get is 5MP front camera, I'd rather get that than 3D touch.

Didn't the 6s get both?

 

[Zagor13]

Currently about 18% or so of iPhone users still use iPhone 4!!! Thats about 24-30 million users in the USA(8 million 4s users)
5s about 22-25%
5 and 5c: 10-15%

Those are all potential upgraders to SE model and add to that potential 6 size phone users who would like to switch to smaller size phone AND potential users of other systems who would like to switch to iOS because many other comp produce huge bricks and no small phones and you have a pretty decent potential market for this SE phone.

 

[trifid]

Wireless charging is kind of like 3D TVs, a marketing gimmick. I charge my device once per day while I sleep. Plugging it in isn't hard at all. Unless this were some kind of Tesla-like charge it from *many* feet away kind of stuff, it's silly. And, if it were, I'd *NOT* want that in my house anyway!

Is it really gimmick? Because Apple watch is also charged once a day, and yet Apple does offer an inductive/wireless pad for it.

But more importantly and practically, am I the only one that has a car mount like this? http://www.amazon.com/iOttie-Holder...ie=UTF8&qid=1456618853&sr=1-1&keywords=iottie

Because I get on/off car several times a day, and a car mount with wireless pad that works with iPhone would be AWESOME.

 

[furi0usbee]

But But But, some people on Macrumours won't be able to sleep if Apple's profit margins are slightly down

LOL. Yes, I never understand how "consumers" here actually prefer Apple jack up all their prices. Unless everyone who comments on my posts are big shareholders, it's really dumb to *want* to pay more for less. 16 GB of storage in 2016 is perfectly reasonable and 1GB RAM is all you'll ever need. They'll tell me to stream my stuff and not store anything on the phone. They tell me to get a better job and buy the more expensive model. LOLz.

 

[SteveW928]

The OS is fragmented. If I pick up say, an LG, I would have a horrendous experience. Same with an ASUS Zenfone. Pure Android has been great to me for years and I highly suggest it.

Similar to Windows. I used to work for a company that actually sold Intel brand computers and servers, and aside from Windows internal UI issues, they always worked pretty solidly (at least you didn't have to deal with all the other wacky problems odd hardware introduced). But, because it was Windows, it was still never close to the Mac experience (so, productivity always suffered).

If Apple keeps going as they are, I'll eventually have to look elsewhere for my desktop, at which point not being fully in the Apple eco-system might push me to look at something else for mobile too. So, I hope Android keeps improving so I might have something to jump to.

I "love" the current crop of iphones and ipads and in spite of my resistance about to order my first macbook air. I haven't been in for thirty years only since 2010. However, what happens at apple is out of our hands, you only control your equity position.

I think you'll be pretty happy with it. IMO, my MacBook Air is the best Mac I've ever owned, overall. And, OS X is still far better in user-experience than Windows or Unix. But, what I'm talking about is that Apple is slipping quite a bit from where they once were (around the time you started), especially on OS X. And, it's quite clear user-experience is no longer their top priority (it once sure seemed to be). That's going to effect them long-term, and not in a good way.

You can call that opinion, but it's kind of modern business 101.

 

[EightyTwenty]

Who's selling 2012 MacBooks for $1400?

Apple is. You can get yourself some 2012 technology at 2019 prices! After tax, it goes for $1,524.37.

 

[I7guy]

Similar to Windows. I used to work for a company that actually sold Intel brand computers and servers, and aside from Windows internal UI issues, they always worked pretty solidly (at least you didn't have to deal with all the other wacky problems odd hardware introduced). But, because it was Windows, it was still never close to the Mac experience (so, productivity always suffered).

If Apple keeps going as they are, I'll eventually have to look elsewhere for my desktop, at which point not being fully in the Apple eco-system might push me to look at something else for mobile too. So, I hope Android keeps improving so I might have something to jump to.



I think you'll be pretty happy with it. IMO, my MacBook Air is the best Mac I've ever owned, overall. And, OS X is still far better in user-experience than Windows or Unix. But, what I'm talking about is that Apple is slipping quite a bit from where they once were (around the time you started), especially on OS X. And, it's quite clear user-experience is no longer their top priority (it once sure seemed to be). That's going to effect them long-term, and not in a good way.

You can call that opinion, but it's kind of modern business 101.

I can't comment on osx as I've only used it fleetingly. But we will see.

 

[Q-Dog]

It always amazes me when people say 'but some people don't use 16GB'.

Some people don't even use 8GB. Does that mean Apple should be producing an 8GB base model on their iPhone, and charge $100 to upgrade to 16GB? No way.

Back in 2010, do you want to guess what the capacity was on the base model iPad? It was 16GB. Want to guess what it is today? 16GB.

The rest of the industry moved to a 32GB base model a long time ago. Apple has been stuck on 16GB for FIVE YEARS. Is there a technical reason for this? Has NAND flash technology somehow frozen? No. NAND flash prices have nosedived over the past few years, dramatically. NAND flash is so cheap now that it would cost Apple PENNIES (literally, pennies) to upgrade from 16GB to 32GB.

The 16GB iPhone model is a complete joke. If your phone has a 4K camera, 16GB of storage is simply laughable. There is absolutely no freaking excuse for Apple to be producing a 16GB phone in the year 2016, NONE. It's absolutely infuriating to see what was once such an amazing company turn into a typical Wall Street corporation led by mindless MBA school drones, pinching pennies in every way and screwing everyone over. Apple will pay for this. With declining iPhone growth, a 16GB iPhone will simply cause them to slow down even more.

Yet the Apple Faithful will continue to flock in droves to get their new iDevice, even if it is the absolute worst possible ripoff phone on the market. It's pretty sad, actually. I've owned iPhones since the very first one back in 2007, and I've never seen something so ridiculous and pathetic coming from Apple. I'm betting that not only will iPhone growth continue to slow this year, it will actually shrink if they produce another ripoff 16GB model.

Some people don't want leather seats in their car, or the biggest engine, or the fancy wheels. Those that do want the upgrades have to pay extra for those things.

I have 128GB ipad, and I have filled it up, but I have never run out of space on my phone. Why should anyone pay extra for space they don't need? If you need more space, buy more space.

 

[trifid]

Didn't the 6s get both?

I mean, I hope the SE gets a 5MP camera. The hope is Apple doesn't cheapen out, and puts the equivalent of 6s where possible on the 4" phone.

 

[Max(IT)]

I simply can't let this one go - lots of old-ish Android phones stacked against new iPhone - come on. My Z3 will last at least two plus days with average use. The Xperia phones are renowned for battery life but the old Z1 is quoted, do me a favour?????

The review is one and half years old (it's the iPhone 6 review) and my point is still valid: there are quite a lot of popular android phones in that graph, and the iPhone battery life is comparable.

Your Z3 lasting "two days" doesn't count unless you don't make a controlled comparison.

Question is wether 16GB is really cheaper than 32GB in production ?

And wether a 32GB base would cut into sales for 64GB (128GB) phones.

I think in production is only marginally cheaper, but a 32 Gb base would surely cut into 64 Gb model sales (I would probably opt for the 32 Gb , for instance).

Yeah, I think I'll stick with my new Microsoft Lumia 640 5" smart phone I paid only $48 for plus $99 for a 200GB SD expansion card (i.e. $147 for a 208GB smart phone with a 1MP front camera, 8MP back camera and enough space to store a dozen movies, entire seasons of tv shows, thousands of songs and photos and still have 96GB of space free for 1080p video and photo capture). It works with Tracfone over AT&T lines, so I can pay $17 a month a for a full smart phone and use the savings to buy a new Macbook Pro every other year instead. Apps? I had no trouble finding the stuff I used to actually use on Apple (e.g. Bejeweled, Angry Birds, Dictionary/Thesaurus/Encyclopedia, Kodi Remote, VLC, GPS mapping/turn-by-turn, etc. and the battery is fully easily removable and has 2500mah, almost twice the current iPhones (I only have to recharge every 2-4 days on average). I honestly don't know why Windows Phones aren't more popular. They are the OS X mobile security equivalent with such a small market share, no one bothers with malware (whereas iOS is attracting a lot of attention these days in that area). Apps are shut down with a down swipe instead of an up-swipe. Big deal. Live tiles keep me updated on news and other info 12+ apps at a time. It syncs perfectly to my Subaru Bluetooth stereo, uses WiFi at home automatically and easily lets me turn on Cellular Data at a swipe plus button quick link. Honestly, I can't imagine why anyone would want to pay 8-12x as much for an iPhone that will be outdated and possibly unsupported (or slow as hell) in a few short years at most. I don't even have to worry about dropping this phone. It's easily replaced for another $48 (and yet it has Gorilla Glass 3 so it's unlikely to break even if I do drop it). There's also a dual-sim version for a bit more ($80 online already unlocked) that can be used in multiple countries without swapping sims. Yeah, it's not A9 fast, but so what? It's $48 and has a quad-core snap-dragon. It's unreal what you get for almost no money outright.

For once, I have to say Microsoft is getting shafted by ignorant consumers that think phones are fashion instead of utility. This phone blows away the iPhone in everything except total apps available (most of which are junk anyway) and other than the lack of a good OS X syncing App (I just backup to the cloud and FTP or use an SD card reader to transfer files), I see no downside. Go ahead and pay $400-750 for an unexpandable iPhone with a crap battery. I just don't see the point (and I don't like Windows Desktop much, but this is a phone). Of course, the newer high-end Windows phone can also be used as a desktop computer. HP just released a high-end monster phone that can even run Windows 32 apps through HP space ahead of Microsoft's own port.

Enjoy your DOA operative system then....
I was a big Windows Phone supporter. Now I know I just wasted a lot of money : Microsoft can't design a mobile OS...

 

[EightyTwenty]

Some people don't want leather seats in their car, or the biggest engine, or the fancy wheels. Those that do want the upgrades have to pay extra for those things.

I have 128GB ipad, and I have filled it up, but I have never run out of space on my phone. Why should anyone pay extra for space they don't need? If you need more space, buy more space.

Why not start at 4 GB then?

 

[Max(IT)]

When I said better, I was referring to pricing. $270 Nexus 5X > iPhone 5SE in terms of value.

Better ... in your opinion.
I wouldn't use a Nexus 5X even for free, since it runs android and not iOS.

Because I don't think Sony sends test phones to AnandTech? Also that chart is from 1 1/2 years ago. He should have used a more up to date chart I agree

The discussion was about iPhone 5S battery life, so a chart from one year ago is reasonable. Btw that chart contain smartphones still quite popular like the M8, S5 or G3....

 

[Michael Goff]

Why not start at 4 GB then?

Except 16gb is usable and 4gb isn't.

 

[SteveW928]

Is it really gimmick? Because Apple watch is also charged once a day, and yet Apple does offer an inductive/wireless pad for it.

I think so. I think they did that more because a watch is a hard thing to elegantly build a port into. I don't think an iPhone will ever have zero ports (or at least I hope not). Yes, I suppose there are some specialized vertical applications (like your car example... but even then, would it be hard to plug in a cable?).

I can't comment on osx as I've only used it fleetingly. But we will see.

If you're coming from Windows without a point of reference, I'm sure you'll be quite happy with it for now. But, when you've come from where it once was, you'll start to see how it's slipping.

Some people don't want leather seats in their car, or the biggest engine, or the fancy wheels. Those that do want the upgrades have to pay extra for those things.

I have 128GB ipad, and I have filled it up, but I have never run out of space on my phone. Why should anyone pay extra for space they don't need? If you need more space, buy more space.

Why would you have to pay extra? As someone said before, the difference between 16GB and 32GB is cents for Apple. Just bump up the price by $5 if they have to keep the margins, and done.

The problem is that the *average* buyer *does* need more than 16GB. A better car analogy might be offering a model with hard plastic seats, an engine only capable of getting the car to 45 MPH, and doughnut-spare tires, and then charging $10k for the next model with cloth seats, an engine that can do 80 MPH, and real tires. And, if this were already seen as a luxury car, such an entry model would seem even more ridiculous.

The point isn't whether some can 'get by' or what the profit margin is, etc. The point is, what does the average buyer of a premium product need for a good user-experience?

 

[AppleScruff1]

Enjoy your DOA operative system then....
I was a big Windows Phone supporter. Now I know I just wasted a lot of money : Microsoft can't design a mobile OS...

I think Microsoft did design a good mobile operating system but they were too late to the party and didn't get any developer support. IMO, it was a nice alternative to iOS and Android.

 

[EightyTwenty]

Except 16gb is usable and 4gb isn't.

According to who? Leather seats and all that jazz. As long as there's enough space for the operating system, everything is fine.

You want apps? You want to take pictures or videos? Pay extra. Simple.

 

[Michael Goff]

According to who? Leathers seats and all that jazz.

If you want more than 4 GB, then pay for it.

4GB wouldn't even allow rhe OS once you take into account a 4gb drive is really less than that and a 16gb phone doesn't even have 12gb at start.

16gb is usable according to me. I'm using the 6S Plus with q6gb of space.