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Other Rumored SE 4 priced below $500?! Something is not adding up.

staypuftforums

staypuftforums

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 27, 2021
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The iPhone 14 is now the lowest priced modern design iPhone at $599.

The SE 4 will likely have a newer and faster CPU, USB-C instead of lightning, same OLED screen, same RAM, same storage. AI?

I’m guessing the camera will be the only thing better in the iPhone 14.

Anyone else find that odd that the cheapo entry-level phone is arguably significantly better than higher priced phones Apple will continue to sell?

I had expected the SE 4 to be based on the iPhone 11 with an LCD instead of essentially an iPhone 15 with a worse camera.

What purpose does the SE serve? Why not keep the 13 around an extra year @ $499?
 
The SE has always been like this. The first gen came out in the middle of the 6s cycle, and was most of a 6s in the smaller 4” design for $250 less. When the 7 came out 6 months later, the 6s dropped in price and the SE did not, and then the pricing made more sense.

If you think of the lineup as going SE < 15 < 16 < 17 then it makes sense. They could always just kill the 14 early if it compares badly. It’ll be a great deal for the first 6 months, then the 17 will come out, the 16 and 15 will drop in price, and then it will look more ordinary.
 
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staypuftforums said:
The iPhone 14 is now the lowest priced modern design iPhone at $599.

The SE 4 will likely have a newer and faster CPU, USB-C instead of lightning, same OLED screen, same RAM, same storage. AI?

I’m guessing the camera will be the only thing better in the iPhone 14.

Anyone else find that odd that the cheapo entry-level phone is arguably significantly better than higher priced phones Apple will continue to sell?

I had expected the SE 4 to be based on the iPhone 11 with an LCD instead of essentially an iPhone 15 with a worse camera.

What purpose does the SE serve? Why not keep the 13 around an extra year @ $499?
Click to expand...
1. They can achieve the unit cost they want for their usual or more profitability when compared to iPhone 14 at $599 (We all know that 3rd Party Retailers sells iPhone 14 at a way lesser price than what Apple sells it for). iPhone SE (4th Gen) itself is a derivative of iPhone 14.

2. Apple designed in-house Sub-6 5G Modem. Apple do not need to pay Qualcomm for their premium, saving a good amount of cost for the baseband (For context, the increase in price in SE 3rd Gen from 2nd Gen was $30 due to a 5G Modem from Qualcomm)

3. Offering a device at that upper-midrange price bracket will bolster their sales number and make their quarterly report look attractive. They'll more likely to gather the buyers who are not willing to spend anything more than $500-600 for their next smartphone.

4. Apple is saving on the cost of UW Camera Module, OLED Display (BOE and LG at $20-25), mmWave and Satellite communication module.

5. $499 for iPhone SE (4th Gen) 128GB is nothing but a bait to get some clicks for the article. It'll see atleast a $100 price increase, I am predicting. (iPhone SE 3rd Gen 128GB starts at $479). The lowest the iPhone SE (4th Gen) can achieve is $549, and I am being super-optimistic when I say this.
 
BoredTechEnthusiast said:
1. They can achieve the unit cost they want for their usual or more profitability when compared to iPhone 14 at $599 (We all know that 3rd Party Retailers sells iPhone 14 at a way lesser price than what Apple sells it for). iPhone SE (4th Gen) itself is a derivative of iPhone 14.

2. Apple designed in-house Sub-6 5G Modem. Apple do not need to pay Qualcomm for their premium, saving a good amount of cost for the baseband (For context, the increase in price in SE 3rd Gen from 2nd Gen was $30 due to a 5G Modem from Qualcomm)

3. Offering a device at that upper-midrange price bracket will bolster their sales number and make their quarterly report look attractive. They'll more likely to gather the buyers who are not willing to spend anything more than $500-600 for their next smartphone.

4. Apple is saving on the cost of UW Camera Module, OLED Display (BOE and LG at $20-25), mmWave and Satellite communication module.

5. $499 for iPhone SE (4th Gen) 128GB is nothing but a bait to get some clicks for the article. It'll see atleast a $100 price increase, I am predicting. (iPhone SE 3rd Gen 128GB starts at $479). The lowest the iPhone SE (4th Gen) can achieve is $549, and I am being super-optimistic when I say this.
Click to expand...
What do you think 256gb models will be priced at, $650?
 
Single rear camera is a big pain point for many buyers. Whether or not they use UW or telephoto, they'll see SE4 an old phone.

$499 for 64GB and $649 for 256GB. Many buyers will opt for the high margin option.
 
To get the starting price under $500 in the U.S., perhaps Apple could play the "includes $30 connectivity discount" game with one or more carriers like they do with new 14, 15 and 16 non-Pro models.

iPhone SE 4
128GB - $499 (including $30 connectivity discount, $529 otherwise)
256GB - $599 (including $30 connectivity discount, $629 otherwise)
512GB - $799 (including $30 connectivity discount, $829 otherwise)
 
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If it’s priced above $500 then the iPhone 14 is a much better deal.

The primary market segments for the SE4 are:

1. Greenfield / dumb phone users moving up to a smartphone
2. Price conscious Android switchers
3. Price conscious iPhone users (typically upgrading from a previous SE model)

Note: there will be people saying “oh yeah I’m an iPhone 13 Pro and I want an SE4” yes yes but you’re not the typical use case. I’m just saying these are the 3 primary ones.

Of these 3 segments I hypothesize that no.3 is the largest. For this segment having a usb-c port is mostly a detriment. They already have dozens of lightning and usb-A bricks all over the house/car etc. The last thing your elderly parents/grandparents want to do is have to change all their charging cables just because it’s new and cool. If the SE4 is priced above $500 this segment is way better served with an iPhone 14
 
ls1dreams said:
What do you think 256gb models will be priced at, $650?
Click to expand...
Apple's Storage Upgrades are expensive. It'll be somewhere around $649, taking an educated guess. I'd not even remotely look towards 256GB Model, and I'd not suggest anyone looking at the price of 256GB if they are eyeing an iPhone SE. For Apple Devices, Base Variant has the most bang for the buck. Then you are basically exponentially paying for their Brand Premium.
I'd take backup of my photos from time to time to my External SSD.
I upload all my videos that needs to be moved to my YouTube channel as "Private".
Essential Docs are backed up to the Free Cloud Storage Service(s) (Extremely Pivotal)
128GB is more than enough for the OS, OTAs, Essential Apps and Games.
 
I agree. I believe it will start at $549. If there is a $499 model, I assume it would only include 64 GB of storage like the current SE.

I think the $499 speculation is coming from people who don't see Apple increasing the price so drastically. But they did exactly that with the iPad 10, jumping from $329 to $449 (+$120).
 
N69AP said:
I agree. I believe it will start at $549. If there is a $499 model, I assume it would only include 64 GB of storage like the current SE.

I think the $499 speculation is coming from people who don't see Apple increasing the price so drastically. But they did exactly that with the iPad 10, jumping from $329 to $449 (+$120).
Click to expand...

It’s not that people don’t see it, but a $549 SE4 would bump into the $599 iPhone 14 and eventually the $599 iPhone 15. Apple likes to separate their iPhone models by at least $100.

For iPad, the next model up was $599 Air, so Apple had the room to increase.
 
JPack said:
It’s not that people don’t see it, but a $549 SE4 would bump into the $599 iPhone 14 and eventually the $599 iPhone 15. Apple likes to separate their iPhone models by at least $100.

For iPad, the next model up was $599 Air, so Apple had the room to increase.
Click to expand...
The SE 4 is a direct replacement for the iPhone 14. It will not be sold after the SE is released, the same as how the 5s and 8 were both discontinued upon the release of the SE 1 and 2. The next jump up would be $699 for the 15.

However, you are correct that the situation gets less clear when the iPhone 15 decreases in price next September. But once again, you can look to the iPad 10 as a crystal ball—it got a price reduction following the discontinuation of the iPad 9 but is still priced slightly higher than its predecessor. Furthermore, the 15 will still have some benefits relative to the SE 4, like the ultrawide camera and Dynamic Island, so an overlap in pricing is less significant than usual.

I don't think $499 is completely out of the question. The new Mac mini shows that Apple isn't afraid to price things aggressively at times. But given the big jump in specs, I wouldn't be shocked to see it priced a bit higher either.
 
N69AP said:
The SE 4 is a direct replacement for the iPhone 14. It will not be sold after the SE is released, the same as how the 5s and 8 were both discontinued upon the release of the SE 1 and 2. The next jump up would be $699 for the 15.

However, you are correct that the situation gets less clear when the iPhone 15 decreases in price next September. But once again, you can look to the iPad 10 as a crystal ball—it got a price reduction following the discontinuation of the iPad 9 but is still priced slightly higher than its predecessor. Furthermore, the 15 will still have some benefits relative to the SE 4, like the ultrawide camera and Dynamic Island, so an overlap in pricing is less significant than usual.

I don't think $499 is completely out of the question. The new Mac mini shows that Apple isn't afraid to price things aggressively at times. But given the big jump in specs, I wouldn't be shocked to see it priced a bit higher either.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind iPhone 8 was $449 immediately before the SE2 launched at $429. The gap is much larger with the current price of SE3 and iPhone 14 ($599) to justify eliminating the 14 series.

In September 2025, would Apple cut $50 from SE4 just 6 months after launch? Apple waited 18 months before giving iPad 10 a price cut.

I think SE4 at $499 allows Apple to better maintain the current structure for the next two years while iPhone 15 and 16 fall to the $599 slot.
 
JPack said:
Keep in mind iPhone 8 was $449 immediately before the SE2 launched at $429. The gap is much larger with the current price of SE3 and iPhone 14 ($599) to justify eliminating the 14 series.

In September 2025, would Apple cut $50 from SE4 just 6 months after launch? Apple waited 18 months before giving iPad 10 a price cut.

I think SE4 at $499 allows Apple to better maintain the current structure for the next two years while iPhone 15 and 16 fall to the $599 slot.
Click to expand...
The SE 2 was $399. The price increase came with the SE 3 in 2022.

Yes, I agree that the pricing structure would be simpler if it starts at $499. But considering this is the same company that increased the price by $30 for a 5G modem and a slightly larger battery, does it seem likely that they would only increase it by $70 while also adding storage, an OLED display, 48 MP and the latest A18 processor with 8 GB of RAM? I'm not so sure.

Like I said before, if it does start at $499 I suspect it will include 64 GB of storage to nudge people to a $549 model with 128 GB and better margins.
 
N69AP said:
The SE 2 was $399. The price increase came with the SE 3 in 2022.

Yes, I agree that the pricing structure would be simpler if it starts at $499. But considering this is the same company that increased the price by $30 for a 5G modem and a slightly larger battery, does it seem likely that they would only increase it by $70 while also adding storage, an OLED display, 48 MP and the latest A18 processor with 8 GB of RAM? I'm not so sure.

Like I said before, if it does start at $499 I suspect it will include 64 GB of storage to nudge people to a $549 model with 128 GB and better margins.
Click to expand...

At $499, it'll almost certainly have 64GB only. The A18/8GB is a result of Apple pursuing AI to stay competitive, just like 16GB on the Mac side. It's a cost Apple will have to bear.

I suspect only 64GB and 256GB will be offered, which compels many buyers to choose the high margin option. That will help make up for the low starting price.
 
if SE is as good as expected it could really hurt android's mid range game if they price it right.
 
minimo3 said:
If it’s priced above $500 then the iPhone 14 is a much better deal.

The primary market segments for the SE4 are:

1. Greenfield / dumb phone users moving up to a smartphone
2. Price conscious Android switchers
3. Price conscious iPhone users (typically upgrading from a previous SE model)

Note: there will be people saying “oh yeah I’m an iPhone 13 Pro and I want an SE4” yes yes but you’re not the typical use case. I’m just saying these are the 3 primary ones.

Of these 3 segments I hypothesize that no.3 is the largest. For this segment having a usb-c port is mostly a detriment. They already have dozens of lightning and usb-A bricks all over the house/car etc. The last thing your elderly parents/grandparents want to do is have to change all their charging cables just because it’s new and cool. If the SE4 is priced above $500 this segment is way better served with an iPhone 14
Click to expand...

4. Company phones. My current and previous employer only offers the SE.
 
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