Other So is the XS/X size the smallest phone Apple will make from now on?

[Apple_Robert]

Moving forward, I believe the iPhone XS form factor will be the smallest manufactured.

 

[JPack]

Most likely true, but I believe that iPhone sales are significantly down from 2017, and I don’t think Apple is happy about it. True, they can and will cut prices to spur sales, but it seems the smartphone market itself is stagnating as phones are reaching the peak of what they can do vs price to upgrade. It’s just not worth it to most people, even people who can easily afford it.

You think cell phones will continue to grow much more in size? Not me....I think we are at the outer range now as we approach 7” tablet size. Apple has to find new ways to get people to upgrade, whether it’s folding/roll up display phones, or perhaps creating a smaller premium phone for those who want it and can afford it. Yes, it would be a niche market for sure, but they need to generate new iPhone revenue streams somehow. I would gladly pay over $1000 for a premium iPhone that’s smaller than the 6/7/8/X, just as I would gladly pay $2k for a folding iPhone that was smaller than the 6/7/8/X when folded.

Apple doesn't need to rely on a small smartphone to increase revenue. It's certainly one possible method for increasing revenue, but it would be choosing a very difficult path. The market share for 4" is small and the data shows the SE wasn't well adopted by consumers in 2017/2018. What's questionable is the assumption that SE owners are completely unwilling to move to 5.8" or 6.1". These users are willing to endure a phone with 2016 features for the sake of form factor. How many of these inelastic and diehard "SE for life" users exist? There's no other such device available on the market, so Apple doesn't face the risk of losing them to Android. I really doubt this group is big enough for Apple to care about.

What's easier and much less risky is pulling the price lever. Extend the life cycle of the iPhone 7 and lower the price by $50. The XR can be sold for $649 while introducing the 11R at $749. Price won't motivate every single SE owner, but Apple isn't Samsung and doesn't need to satisfy every price and form factor.

 

[dcpmark]

Apple doesn't need to rely on a small smartphone to increase revenue. It's certainly one possible method for increasing revenue, but it would be choosing a very difficult path. The market share for 4" is small and the data shows the SE wasn't well adopted by consumers in 2017/2018. What's questionable is the assumption that SE owners are completely unwilling to move to 5.8" or 6.1". These users are willing to endure a phone with 2016 features for the sake of form factor. How many of these inelastic and diehard "SE for life" users exist? There's no other such device available on the market, so Apple doesn't face the risk of losing them to Android. I really doubt this group is big enough for Apple to care about.

What's easier and much less risky is pulling the price lever. Extend the life cycle of the iPhone 7 and lower the price by $50. The XR can be sold for $649 while introducing the 11R at $749. Price won't motivate every single SE owner, but Apple isn't Samsung and doesn't need to satisfy every price and form factor.

It’s not about devices with a 4” screen, so market share for 4” screens is irrelevant. It’s about the case size that matters, and it’s easy to put a 4.7” screen into a case about the size of the SE, which also skews the relevancy of SE adoption when 4.7” devices were available. What’s the market share of 4.7” devices? Much, much bigger, right? Yes, probably most of those 4.7” users would rather go up in screen size than lower in case size, but when you add up those that would keep a 4.7” and take a case reduction with those who are actually getting rid of their bigger phones in favor of smaller devices and the people that simply refuse to get anything as large as the current 6/7/8/X, you may have a large enough market worth sustaining.

Steve Jobs’ rationale for his opinion that people won’t buy large phones, as wrong as it proved to be, is based on an actual truism for some people that they are just not going to buy a phone they can’t wrap their hands around, or easily take out of our pockets. But yes, Apple doesn’t have to service these people if they don’t want to, and we can always switch to other manufacturers if they don’t bring out a folding/display phone that meets our needs:

https://interestingengineering.com/the-razr-returns-motorola-confirms-new-foldable-phone