Agreed. I don’t think they’re stupid about these decisions either. They obviously know the market and which models currently sell and where the demand is right.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone SE (2016) iPhone SE mostly discontinued, what alternatives are there?
- Thread starter the8thark
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Agreed. I don’t think they’re stupid about these decisions either. They obviously know the market and which models currently sell and where the demand is right.
The thing is, people’s anatomy doesn’t “move up”. As humans, our hands have a size, and that size doesn’t grow like smartphones are growing.
The SE sold relatively well and it was making a profit. Had very little R&D required. What is known is that it had a smaller profit margin, that's why its gone.
[doublepost=1536923633][/doublepost]
No they know that people will buy 'what is good enough' and what will make them more money through higher profit margins. People who would buy a 4 inch phone will make a compromise and buy a bigger phone.
Someone brought up a point that waiting till March next year would mean that lots of people buy the new models with high profit margins (especially across the holiday period) and then in March after its died down they release an update. I'm not sure how likely it is but It makes sense to me.
[doublepost=1536923711][/doublepost]
It is fairly well known that the popularity of the SE is thought to have brought down Apple's average margin per iPhone in 2016. The SE's margins were low because it was sold so cheaply.
It would have cost big bucks for Apple to engineer a new circuit board with up to date processor, memory, etc. Likely way more cost that what they thought they could recover.
Smaller profit margin than what? It had the same margin as the 7, for example. 59% vs. 64% for the 8, I think.
[doublepost=1536923860][/doublepost]
Then why don’t they only offer Plus or Max sizes now?
The more likely scenario is that they know SE users will just move onto 'good enough' larger iPhones that have a bigger profit margin.
It is just like the Mini, sooner or later Apple has to stop production of old and move on.
I remember when Apple first rumored a larger phone, you would have thought the world was ending for some and yet larger is now THE most demanded
Because it's a matter of gradually moving people to the higher margin phones.
The SE definitely had a lower profit margin than the 6S and 7.
[doublepost=1536924465][/doublepost]
What has the Mini got to do with anything? Besides another example of Apple not updating something to the point that it isn't popular because people don't want to buy 3 year old tech at premium prices. (Well the Mini 4 is more like 4 year old tech at this point).
Nobody is denying that there isn't demand for the large phones. But there is also demand for smaller phones, in that if Apple were actually to build a proper range, they would sell.
3.5 inches is the perfect screen size. No, wait, 4 inches is perfect. No, 5.7! Etc.
Yeah they know how to be lazy and instead of giving a choice to customers, they pull an early 2000s Microsoft and give 'whats good enough' and people buy it just because.
[doublepost=1536924579][/doublepost]
The perfect screen size is what works for particular people.
They both are now at EOL and no longer in production!
All the ranting and raving will not bring either back.
I am done with this.
The iPad Mini is still being produced?
So the profit margin on the SE never went down as the selling price went down?
If there was all this demand, why would they lower the price?
Because it moved down in Apple's lineup.
It went from being fairly new specced, to being a year behind to being two years behind.
Computer prices have dropped in the last 25 years. Does that mean there was no demand for computers?
And of course demand dropped off in the end. The internals were 3 years old and the external design was 6 years old. How is a phone that is half 3 years old and half 6 years old meant to stay in high demand?
Apple didn't update it and thus demand fell.
That’s not how pricing works.
It went down, because demand went down, because it was old (and probably) because it was small.
If there was enough demand to keep it in production, there’d be enough demand to keep it at the same price.
That makes no sense in the context of this discussion.
Every iPhone has dropped in price as it has aged. Did you not notice the 7 and 8 drop in price this week?
Every time a new iPhone comes out, the previous one is slotted into the next position. The SE is a little weird because it stated as the low end phone but with specs better than the mid range phone.
Demand dropped because it wasn't updated. People don't tend to buy old tech at inflated prices at the same rate they buy new tech at inflated prices.
Well, you can’t have it both ways. If you want to claim that the profit margin went down because the price went down, then it needs to be updated to keep the price up. And if the price is up, so is the profit margin, so the profit margin is similar to the 7 and 8. Which means it wasn’t discontinued because the profit margin was too low. It’s because the demand was too low.
I got excited that the Xs meant it was a small version but no, can't see the point in these oversized phones. At least they had an alternative before, hoping my SE lasts a few more years until this trend hopefully ends
The SE didn't get updated as a line and got discontinued because a new model wouldn't have had the profit margin the new ones do.
Why not? It had the same profit margin as the 8 and very similar to the 7 at the time they were all new.
If there were demand for the smaller screens, Apple would build them. The profit margins were there and there’s no reason to belief they still wouldn’t be... except the demand is gone.
And so am I.
I really don't believe the SE had the same margin as the 8 had. Everything I've read says otherwise.
There is no proof that the demand is gone. Apple can simply make more from the bigger screened premium phones than it could for the SE.
Tell me the time when Apple offered a proper range of smaller phones alongside large phones? Oh thats right! Never.
OK, one more. I posted links that are on the first page of this thread containing the cost and price and profit margins of the phones. If you want to argue with 9to5mac and Fortune, have at it.