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The new iPhone SE resembles the iPhone 8 in design, but has an A13 chip and aluminum edges.
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An image of the SE with the camera and that classic start button for Touch ID.
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These are the available colors.
The new iPhone SE is here, and it’s an attractive product: it combines a tried and true design, arguably the fastest mobile chip in the industry and a starting price of $ 400. It could be the most attractive phone in Apple’s line for wide range of users.
That said, it is quite a bit larger than its predecessor. Consumers hoping for the return of the 4-inch screen, or perhaps even a slightly larger screen but with the same grip size as the original SE, were likely disappointed by this week’s announcement. Apple isn’t alone in skipping the smaller phone deals; There aren’t many small Android phones left either.
There are reasons for this trend that make sense to both the tech company and the consumer, but there are also reasons why Apple shouldn’t turn its back on a minority of consumers who still want, or even need, smaller phones.
Why aren’t there many small phones anymore?
There are numerous reasons why not many very small smartphones are being manufactured right now. And there is some overlap between why Apple has emphasized larger phones and why Android OEMs have. But in any case, we will focus on Apple here as we are discussing iPhone SE.
Bigger phones mean more revenue
You’ve probably noticed that smartphone prices are going up; Part of that reflects the fact that some consumers are willing to pay more than they were previously because of how central smartphones have become so many aspects of our lives. But part of this is because companies like Apple need to please investors, and if they can’t do it by selling more phones, they can do it by selling fewer phones at a higher unit price.
As the market saturates, Apple and Android original equipment manufacturers are experiencing slower growth in smartphone sales, and people are also updating less frequently for various reasons. This makes the economics of selling low-cost smartphones more unfavorable than in the past. To offset the sale of fewer units overall, Apple and its competitors need to sell more expensive phones than before.
It makes sense that smaller phones sell for cheaper because they contain less expensive materials and components. And a company couldn’t just sell small phones by a large margin; a competitor could lower that price with a comparable phone.
Apple’s emphasis on content and services requires bigger screens
Investor pressure increased at Apple in recent years to offset slow growth in smartphone sales, and more expensive phones have not been the company’s only apparent strategy. Another has been pivoting to sell additional products and services to existing customers, from AirPods to Apple Watch and subscription services like Apple TV +, Apple Arcade and Apple Music.
Overall, that strategy requires that smartphones be treated as primary media-consuming devices, not just for short TikTok videos, but for long sessions of Arcade games or TV + shows. (Additionally, Apple receives a cut in subscriptions to other video services initiated through its payment system.) That means it makes sense to emphasize more powerful devices with bigger, more immersive displays.
Not much fun to watch For all humanity or play Sayonara Wild Hearts on a 4-inch screen. At 6.5 inches, though? That could be a different story for some, especially if that phone also has an OLED display with HDR support like the iPhone 11 Pro Max.
Samuel Axon
Modern features don’t fit in small packages
Those business-related reasons are part of the picture, but it’s not the most important reason, either. There are also technical and design reasons.
Over time, Apple and its competitors have added more features and components to smartphones, requiring more space inside phones to put those things. And it turns out that most of the top priorities of smartphone buyers run counter to the ideal of a small phone: battery life and cameras.
In February 2019, market research firm SurveyMonkey asked smartphone buyers what their top priorities were. The main concern was battery life, cited by 76 percent of iPhone users and 77 percent of Android users. Also near the top: best cameras, at 57 percent and 52 percent, respectively.
A similar survey of 575,000 US consumers. USA Conducted by the Global Web Index, it also put battery life as a concern for 77 percent of smartphone users. The image quality of the camera reached 62 percent, and the screen resolution was also high at 52 percent.
Below: Photos of the iPhone SE from our 2016 review.
Listing image by Andrew Cunningham
