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Are we expecting Touch ID to be gone? It's the reason I used an SE2 and now an SE3 as my daily driver. Guess I'll be replacing the battery in the SE3 until it's no longer supported with security updates....
The average, mainstream consumer wants Face ID over Touch ID. So Face ID would be a huge selling point if it made its way into a $429-$499 iPhone.

And if both mid-range and Pro iPhones move to Dynamic Island then plain Face ID is “outdated” enough to fit the SE bill.

Reusing old parts and designs is what gets us that sub $799 pricing for SEs.
 
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a) Not true. This has been discussed and debunked before, including in the most recent SE thread here prior to this one. The regulation applies only to new products released on or after the date it takes effect.

b) The current SE might very well exit the market before the next one arrives anyway. That’s what happened between the first and second generations. Just as one possibility, we could see the iPhone 12 or iPhone 13 Mini get another year on the market at a new $499 price point, temporarily taking over the entry level spot from the SE.
Apple has consistently (!) never offered more than three generations of iPhones in a lineup. It would be a new strategy if this changes post iPhones 15 launch:

iPhone 12 launched in 2020, and its third year in a lineup was 2022. This means iPhone 12 leaves the lineup when 15 launches next month.

iPhone 13 mini will get cut this year just as 12 mini was cut last year while regular 12 got to stay for the 2022 lineup.

iPhones 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max + 14, 14 Plus, 13 and SE 2022 make up the 2023 lineup.
 
That’s a gradual difference. Blind people can use an iPhone, so PWM-sensitive people should technically be able to use an iPhone as well. It’s a matter of how much drawbacks you’re willing to live with. For me the drawbacks of having to use a larger phone are serious enough that I might switch to Android if they offer smaller/folding phones when Apple stops offering those.
So people like you who potentially have to use a slightly larger phone than you would like are in the same category, inconvenience-wise, as someone who may experience migraine headaches in short order after using a PWM phone. I think you are being absurd.
 
I miss the classic design of iPhone SE Model.

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The average, mainstream consumer wants Face ID over Touch ID. So Face ID would be a huge selling point if it made its way into a $429-$499 iPhone.

And if both mid-range and Pro iPhones move to Dynamic Island then plain Face ID is “outdated” enough to fit the SE bill.

Reusing old parts and designs is what gets us that sub $799 pricing for SEs.

I paid $149 for the latest SE. 2 months of $15 service on a prepaid carrier (60 days) and it became automatically unlocked. An unlocked iPhone SE for $179. Best deal in wireless…
 
iPhone 12 launched in 2020, and its third year in a lineup was 2022. This means iPhone 12 leaves the lineup when 15 launches next month.

iPhone 13 mini will get cut this year just as 12 mini was cut last year while regular 12 got to stay for the 2022 lineup.

iPhones 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max + 14, 14 Plus, 13 and SE 2022 make up the 2023 lineup.

If Apple's significant delays in getting SEv4 out the door cause the SEv3 to get dropped before the SEv4 comes out, there is a decent chance they can keep the 13 mini around.

1. The 12 mini was a 'first cut' at going that form factor. It is a little too thin and the battery life was a common review complaint. The 13 mini did better. Battery life wasn't stellar , but it was good.

Apple could cut down on the BTO configurations ( get rid of half the colors , and go to 1-2 storage configurations ).

The 'mini' variant sells in relatively low enough volume really don't want to have more than one variant of them. iPhone 14 and 15 don't really bring in another 'mini' to compete with the 13 era model.


2. A cut to the 12 Mini price before iPhone SEv3 update could fully sell through its first year service life wouldn't have helped. Again if there is zero SE update coming through all of 2024 .... a lower priced 13 Mini really isn't going to 'cut into' any iPhone SE refresh sales ... because there is no refresh.

If Apple put the 13 mini at $529 and iPhone SE pragmatically under $400 (for many retailers) there would still be a between them. [ Even easier if the 'plain' 13 only drops down to $629 so a gap above also. ]

Part of the 13 mini's unit sales problems is the current price. It is kind of high for its age. ( SEv3 is going to be in a very similar boat all during 2024 also. ) . If the 13 mini goes away and the SEv3 selling price goes down then there is decent chance Apple will have lowered their aggregate selling price. ( Apple can play games cranking up the newest iPhone Pro prices even higher to try to blunt that offset , but that likely will be limited in effectiveness.)

3. If Apple is out hunting for cheaper displays from secondary OLED vendors then if keep the chassis active they could do a iPhone SE ( based on mini ) and iPhone SE Plus ( based on 12-13 frame). Three pairs of plux/max across a wide price range.

Apple constructs this 'norm' that folks should pay more for bigger screen. But then at the lowest end of the line up they want to abandon that.

I think technology to "do better" with the limited sized battery in the "mini" format probably will work better in 2025 than it did in 2020 . It was just 'early' and the tech to compensate pushed the price up too high to hit the bulk of the folks in that market.



If Apple is highly focused on just selling fewer iPhones at higher prices , then they'll go with hallowed out line up at the bottom end. I won't be surprised if Apple kills off the 13 mini. But iPhone sales are flattening. The market it getting more mature. Herding folks into more expensive phones over time is only going to get harder to do. ( the buying cycles are already getting longer).
 
I guess this means that the SE2022 will be my last Iphone unless I go the frankenphone route and get an lcd panel put in a 12/13/14. I'm not leaving the walled garden, Apple is shoving me out of it.
 
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Not if upgrade cycles become longer. There's more incentive for a buyer to get more expensive models if they hold on to them longer.

I think you have the so-called causality backwards. Folks are squatting on phones longer because they paid more than they wanted to ( either other things to also buy (higher cost of complements ) or just real limits on their budgets). Not the other way around.

typically people start looking for a substitute when new items are priced out of their budget. Apple does have 'lock-in' ( folks want their 'blue bubble' , they stuffed all the data into iCloud , etc. )

Apple's lifecycle support window is really not getting longer. The upgrade cycle getting longer is just more likely to run into the wall that Apple won't support the phone.

Gimmicks like more heavily pointing people at payment-over-time plans so that misdirect them into a 'monthly' payment as opposed to lifecycle aggregate costs also wear thin over time as lean on them too much.

100,000's or millions of folks shifting from a 2-3 year renewal rate to a 3-4 year rate means a drop in yearly run rate on replacement sales. For example if had 600K folks split evenly over 3 years renewing at a 3 year rate.
200K -- coming off year n+1
200K -- coming off year n+2
200K -- coming off year n+3

If that same pool goes to 4 years on average , when things normalize.
150K -- coming off year n+1
150K -- coming off year n+2
150K -- coming off year n+3
150K -- coming off year n+4

crank prices higher ( in attempt to keep revenue generated constant ) so that folks spread themselves out over 5 years and it will shrink again.

This is not a 'value add' process for the customers. There is pragmatically less value-add going on here because there is a delay in the 'buy'.
 
Apple has consistently (!) never offered more than three generations of iPhones in a lineup. It would be a new strategy if this changes post iPhones 15 launch

Yep, no argument there. I’m just saying that there are options if they are ready to bring back a $499 legacy phone to the lineup (which hasn’t been there since the iPhone 11 was discontinued). The iPhone 13 Mini would be compelling since it keeps a small phone around and it’s tech is no more outdated than the standard 13 which will still be available.
 
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