Other Where is the small petite sized phone?

[arkitect]

Phew – got a brand new SE in leftover stock at the Apple store. My current one is only a year old, too, so I should be ok for 6-8 years.

Did they sell it to you at retail price?

How much did you pay? If you don't mind my asking?

Here in the UK you can pick them up for £199 brand spanking new.

 

[solo118]

I did not know of such a huge demand for the SE. It is a pretty awesome phone!

For me, there is no looking back from the X, but my daughter has been doing OK with my older 6S. Nearly perfect size, especially when she is watching Youtube after homework

 

[inkahauts]

I am going from an X to an XS but wish there was a smaller phone they would offer as my second "work" phone. I do love the fact that the smaller size now has all the bells and whistles of the max. It made my decision so easy!

You should take advantage of the dual sim ability and have just one of the new physical phones...

 

[wallysb01]

The market for a phone size isn't only determined by the number of people who want that size. It's also determined by the frequency with which those customers purchase new products. You'll notice that most people who want a small phone hold onto their phones for years and don't tend to have multiple phones. (They also tend to be older like me. Not the target market for tech. ) And these users also aren't motivated by technological advances to buy new phones (or new computers I'd wager). In contrast, the buyers of the new models purchase new products frequently. I see many posts here from iPhone X users who claim own multiple iPhones. Tech. advances motivate these users to buy new products.

So in realty the market for the small form factor is small and dying at a fast rate. No large company like apple has a future satisfying these buyers. The market is portably only big enough to sustain a small niche company.

I agree with Scepticalscribe that this is a fair point. I might quibble regarding the what the market is large enough to sustain as this doesn't have to be a huge fraction of total sales to justify its existence in a larger company, even one the size of Apple. And, as shown above, the SE was maybe 15% or so of new sales for a time.

I'd also point out that its hard to guess at the upgrade frequency of small-phone-users given that small phones haven't been updated frequently by Apple since the move to bigger sizes with the iPhone 6. So even Apple doesn't really have these numbers to work with. They might have more information then we do (ok they do, not might), but they still just have projections. Not actual data.

Another point that relates to this is that there is likely an ever increasing pent up demand for smaller phones. The iPhone SE is 2.5 years old. At its time of introduction, the iPhone 5s was also 2.5 years old. Many of those infrequent buyers of small phones probably didn't upgrade to the SE because their 5s, or even 5 generation phone, wasn't that old yet. According to the link a posted above, around 25% of iPhone users are on SE/5s/5/5c/4s/4 (as of last summer anyway). While a fair number of those users are likely not in the market for new phones, they will eventually need an upgrade path. And maybe Apple has done some research on what fraction of those users would move over to a new phone if one were offered in various sizes/prices, my suspicion would be that number increases by the day.

 

[jackoatmon]

Did they sell it to you at retail price?

Yes ! I would have paid $3000 for it honestly. Price is no object. This is the final good Apple phone design. We may never see a beautiful functionalist durable single-handed smartphone ever again. Steve Jobs is dead.

 

[arkitect]

I agree with Scepticalscribe that this is a fair point. I might quibble regarding the what the market is large enough to sustain as this doesn't have to be a huge fraction of total sales to justify its existence in a larger company, even one the size of Apple. And, as shown above, the SE was maybe 15% or so of new sales for a time.

I'd also point out that its hard to guess at the upgrade frequency of small-phone-users given that small phones haven't been updated frequently by Apple since the move to bigger sizes with the iPhone 6. So even Apple doesn't really have these numbers to work with. They might have more information then we do (ok they do, not might), but they still just have projections. Not actual data.

Another point that relates to this is that there is likely an ever increasing pent up demand for smaller phones. The iPhone SE is 2.5 years old. At its time of introduction, the iPhone 5s was also 2.5 years old. Many of those infrequent buyers of small phones probably didn't upgrade to the SE because their 5s, or even 5 generation phone, wasn't that old yet. According to the link a posted above, around 25% of iPhone users are on SE/5s/5/5c/4s/4 (as of last summer anyway). While a fair number of those users are likely not in the market for new phones, they will eventually need an upgrade path. And maybe Apple has done some research on what fraction of those users would move over to a new phone if one were offered in various sizes/prices, my suspicion would be that number increases by the day.

Correct.
This is a similar situation to the Mac Mini.
We're not buying them because they are goodness knows how many years behind spec wise… and then people use that to point out lack of a market.
The demand is there, except, well, we're mostly not foolish enough to throw full price money after old tech.

To paraphrase badly, "If you build it we will buy it!"

 

[jackoatmon]

The market for a phone size isn't only determined by the number of people who want that size. It's also determined by the frequency with which those customers purchase new products. You'll notice that most people who want a small phone hold onto their phones for years and don't tend to have multiple phones. (They also tend to be older like me. Not the target market for tech. ) And these users also aren't motivated by technological advances to buy new phones (or new computers I'd wager). In contrast, the buyers of the new models purchase new products frequently. I see many posts here from iPhone X users who claim own multiple iPhones. Tech. advances motivate these users to buy new products.

So in realty the market for the small form factor is small and dying at a fast rate. No large company like apple has a future satisfying these buyers. The market is portably only big enough to sustain a small niche company.

This is bang-on. I'm just thrilled that we happened to have lived through a time when you could get these things. It was honestly such a crazy shock when they announced the SE. I felt this wave of relief that day hahaha. Anyways, I now have 3 iPhone SEs so I'm just going to ride out these good years and hopefully by the time i burn all the batteries there will be another alternative. Or at that point I'll just cave and get a phlablet like everyone else.

 

[meme1255]

The market for a phone size isn't only determined by the number of people who want that size. It's also determined by the frequency with which those customers purchase new products. You'll notice that most people who want a small phone hold onto their phones for years and don't tend to have multiple phones. (They also tend to be older like me. Not the target market for tech. ) And these users also aren't motivated by technological advances to buy new phones (or new computers I'd wager). In contrast, the buyers of the new models purchase new products frequently. I see many posts here from iPhone X users who claim own multiple iPhones. Tech. advances motivate these users to buy new products.

So in realty the market for the small form factor is small and dying at a fast rate. No large company like apple has a future satisfying these buyers. The market is portably only big enough to sustain a small niche company.

I don't agree. I'm young (20s) and a lot people of my age (myself included) would buy small phone such as SE2, at least where I live. We have no options, though. I would like to replace the 5S, SE would do it for 2 years. And then what? I would even consider buying the 8, however, it has the SAME amount of RAM as the SE. So SE is better investment. However, I am not convinced it is worth 475 USD / 410 EUR ( (SE 128G) to me. My 5S battery starts to die again (~75 % capacity and keeps decreasing rapidly). I really don't know what I should do.

 

[arkitect]

This is bang-on. I'm just thrilled that we happened to have lived through a time when you could get these things. It was honestly such a crazy shock when they announced the SE. I felt this wave of relief that day hahaha. Anyways, I now have 3 iPhone SEs so I'm just going to ride out these good years and hopefully by the time i burn all the batteries there will be another alternative. Or at that point I'll just cave and get a phlablet like everyone else.

Much as I love my SE, I have wondered if it was such a good idea for me to buy one.

SHould I not just have bit the bullet and bought the 6S or whatever it was back then.
By now I'd be resignedly using my massive slab of glass and metal…

*sigh*

 

[jackoatmon]

I don't agree. I'm young (20s) and a lot people of my age (myself included) would buy small phone such as SE2, at least where I live. We have no options, though. I would like to replace the 5S, SE would do it for 2 years. And then what? I would even consider buying the 8, however, it has the SAME amount of RAM as the SE. So SE is better investment. However, I am not convinced it is worth 475 USD / 410 EUR ( (SE 128G) to me. My 5S battery starts to die again (~75 % capacity and keeps decreasing rapidly). I really don't know what I should do.

Just buy an SE! That phone is so sick. And an SE2 wouldn't be any good anyway because they would remove the mechanical button, the headphone jack and probably add a pukenotch. Phone technology (and computer hardware in general) has been plateaued for 6 years. There's no longer any need for spec improvements. The lowest-power machines still work instantly-fast and shoot 4k video. The era of "get the latest thing" is totally gone.

 

[arkitect]

I don't agree. I'm young (20s) and a lot people of my age (myself included) would buy small phone such as SE2, at least where I live. We have no options, though. I would like to replace the 5S, SE would do it for 2 years. And then what? I would even consider buying the 8, however, it has the SAME amount of RAM as the SE. So SE is better investment. However, I am not convinced it is worth 475 USD / 410 EUR ( (SE 128G) to me. My 5S battery starts to die again (~75 % capacity and keeps decreasing rapidly). I really don't know what I should do.

Buy an SE.
They are cheap as chips now.
I bought myself a backup this week, just in case my current one seizes up.

 

[meme1255]

Buy an SE.
They are cheap as chips now.

It costs 400 EUR here. That is … cheap? Do you really think so?

 

[TantalizedMind]

Women have small hands. Big phones don’t fit in bras very well.

1. That is a stereotypical comment.

2. How do you know how well phones fit in bras? Maybe you need to go up a cup size?

 

[arkitect]

It costs 400 EUR here. That is … cheap? Do you really think so?

£199 here in the UK.
That is very cheap for what you get.

 

[dcpmark]

At the risk of jinxing my luck, but my SE has been caseless since day 1 and it is still in A-grade condition. They are tough little buggers.
The size is just right for my hand and the surface is not too slippery. The curves of the latest phones (gorgeous as they look in Apple's promo stuff) are just too slippery.
Like a bar of soap.

I found the perfect case early on...the Seidio Surface case. The original one they made had no cutout or kickstand, and it is specactular. Add almost no mass, made of nonslip material, and makes the edges even flatter. The pic below is the one with the cutout on the back...I bought several when they were still around without the cutout:

https://www.seidioonline.com/product/apple-iphone-se-surface/

Here’s the link to the thread with a better pic of the side:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/what-case-are-you-using-for-the-new-se.1966560/

 

[meme1255]

£199 here in the UK.
That is very cheap for what you get.

I would buy it for 200 GBP in a heartbeat.

 

[drlunanerd]

£199 here in the UK.
That is very cheap for what you get.

Where? Cheapest new SE is £239 last I looked.

 

[arkitect]

Where? Cheapest new SE is £239 last I looked.

GiffGaff.
Their prices are very good.

 

[dcpmark]

GiffGaff.
Their prices are very good.

View attachment 781732

Nice! I’d order another one but I’m in the US, and I’d hate having to hold a cell phone up to the left side of my face instead of the right side.

 

[arkitect]

Nice! I’d order another one but I’m in the US, and I’d hate having to hold a cell phone up to the left side of my face instead of the right side.

Haha! Well played.

 

[bluecoast]

Interesting, but they could have done that now if they wanted.

Also, this "iPhone" that you speak of is basically a stripped down iPhone8, rather than a Franken-7. I would imagine if such a phone happened, they would like for it to have wireless charging.

But back to your lineup, which I do like very much. I would guess that they would not have a plus version.

$500 for the iPhone (8 chassis, therefore TouchID) (maybe need to strip it even further to get to $450)
$750 for the Xr
$1000 for the Xs
$1100 for the Xs Max
[doublepost=1536936113][/doublepost]While Apple doesn't disclose sales numbers by model, most analysts had pegged the 8plus outselling the 8 by a wide margin (pun not intended).

It's not surprising that the entire line is moving up in size. That's what the market wants.

Hi, thanks!

Two things:

1) They won’t do the 7/8 frankenphome just yet as they want anyone who is considering getting a new phone to consider getting an XR or XS series phone.

Stubborn holdouts then can get my mythical new phone next year ‘it’s like an 8 but it’s even cheaper than the 7!’

Also the cheap price will really help for countries like India.

2) I suspect that wireless charging would put the price of this device up too high, so if Apple do do something like this, I’d really expect for it not to be a feature.

And...

This phone would likely be on sale for 18-24 months and after that time, you’d expect that the XR (or a reversioned smaller version of this) would then become cheap enough to sell.

So just like the XR is basically the same size as the plus but with a bigger screen, I expect that Apple will build a phone the same size as the 6-8 series but with a bigger screen & Face ID etc.

 

[solarmon]

Phew – got a brand new SE in leftover stock at the Apple store. My current one is only a year old, too, so I should be ok for 6-8 years.

Wish I’d done that.

 

[jackoatmon]

Wish I’d done that.

I honestly might go down to Virgin and get a contract to get another one for ""free""*†‡. I wanna stack as many of these badboys as possible. It's the last thing Steve Jobs worked on before he died, and it is billions of times higher quality build than any phone Apple has farted out since. This is the true end of an era. Apple is a company of compromises and market trends now. Their grand vision is just a cool memory. We're lucky to have gotten to use technology designed by the ol' sociopath.

 

[JPack]

Less talking. More buying.

Let's see photos of SE hoarding please.

 

[0970373]

With all due respect, you're going off personal opinion by saying there is a market for it. I am trusting Apple here, as I am sure they have done plenty of research and understand better than anyone. If there was a market, they would make a phone that size.

Well, there's a huge market for 128GB capacity iPhones but Apple doesn't make them and I wonder why that is.

Anyway, the SE sold really well for Apple and still does. It's not that there isn't a market, it's that Apple wants you to spend more $. That's the gist of it all. It isn't that there isn't a market, it's that Apple doesn't want to waste their time on a phone that will sell for what..$399? $499? They can eliminate that price range and it will "force" probably 75% of those people into buying the Xr or Xs. Some people will wind a different make for that size and Apple deems that acceptable loss compared to the profit margin from the "forced" sales.