{"id":22775,"date":"2018-09-14T15:22:23","date_gmt":"2018-09-14T19:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=22775"},"modified":"2019-11-01T19:31:08","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T23:31:08","slug":"goodbye-iphone-se","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/14\/goodbye-iphone-se\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye, iPhone SE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thomas Brand<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Harry has his own explanations for why Apple might want to standardize on the high-end iPhone X platform, but I think the message from Apple’s September 12th event is clear. If you are looking for a phone with a smaller screen, a phone with a headphone jack, or or a phone that costs under $400, Apple no longer makes an iPhone for you.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Rui Carmo<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

The apparent death of the SE form factor is particularly annoying to me given that I prefer small devices with just enough screen real estate for messaging, but the overarching trend to do everything on a phone has clearly driven Apple towards bigger form factors, something that I’m not keen on at all.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Nick Heer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

For a lot of people, it was a perfectly-sized device — the last one that many people could comfortably reach with their thumbs across the entire display without doing a little shimmy with their hand, and the last one with flattened sides that made it easier to hold for photos. The SE was a really good product, and it’s unfortunate that Apple has chosen to stop making it instead of releasing a successor. It’s one of the few bum notes from yesterday’s event, but it is perhaps the loudest.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Eric Schwarz<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

With discounts and sale prices, the SE was going for $49 on some carriers without any sort of commitment just a few weeks ago, making it a tremendous value that still runs things quite nicely.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

The interface really tends to breathe more on the larger displays and developers seem to be working on the 4.7″ models first, then scaling up or down. Because of that, nudging potential SE buyers to a 7 makes some sense, and I suspect we’ll eventually see discounts on prepaid or refurbished 7 units from time to time. I’m not denying that the extra size is a bit of an adjustment, but the market has shifted to larger phones—there aren’t many Android models, let alone good ones, that are SE-sized.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

I really wish my iPhone SE<\/a> had a better camera, but other than that I’m not eager to give it up. I will decide what to do after trying the iPhone XR in person. I’d also like to see whether we hear any more rumors of a potential iPhone SE 2 for 2019. Around WWDC time, it seemed like it was actually happening. But given that it didn’t ship by then, it’s not surprising that we didn’t see it in September.<\/p>\n\n

A few days ago, my iPhone SE, less than 17 months old, spontaneously shut down. Prior to the shutdown, it was shown as about 95% charged, but afterwards it was down to under 10%. The Battery Health<\/a> screen still shows it at 100% of Maximum Capacity.<\/p>\n\n

Previously: September 2018 Apple Event<\/a>, iPhone SE Tops Customer Satisfaction Survey<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Update (2018-09-20): Colin Cornaby<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Apple seems more and more like it’s becoming a volume sales company, and the death of the iPhone SE seems like another casualty. Very likely that the SE was both profitable and their worst seller. But for years, Apple was a company who’s whole business was niche products.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Devin Coldewey<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

I only wanted one thing out of 2018’s iPhone event: a new iPhone SE. In failing to provide it Apple seems to have quietly put the model out to pasture — and for this I curse them eternally. Because it was the best phone the company ever made.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Clark Goble<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

ATP gave theory Apple was caught unaware by SE’s success and that a small form factor will return. WSJ suggested margins are much higher on big phones and that’s the incentive. If I had my pre-middle age eyes I’d be all over small form factor.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Walt Mossberg<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

I agree. I know several people, including my wife, who adore the SE size. I suspect the move to all big iPhones is dictated by Chinese and other overseas tastes. But I’m with you guys. The SE should have been retained and upgraded.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Update (2018-09-24): Jeff Grossman<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

I don’t know if Apple is ever planning on making a modern replacement for iPhone SE (i.e., a smaller iPhone with a notch and no home button), but if they are going to make such a phone, I think I can do a good job predicting what it will look like because Apple is often a pretty predictable company.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Update (2019-01-28): Nick Statt<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Earlier this week, Apple began a clearance sale on the iPhone SE, its nearly three-year-old, 4-inch smartphone modeled after the iPhone 5S, at a $100 discount. It was the second round of recent sales after an initial batch sold out the previous weekend.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Well, the SE is first and foremost going to be my second phone. It will be an object with a tightly controlled experience centered on a singular notion of unplugging, as best as someone can unplug in 2019. It won’t have my work email, it won’t have Fortnite or Holedown, and it most certainly will not have Twitter.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Jeff Benjamin<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

In my opinion, the iPhone 5-era design, with squared-off, instead of rounded sides, and refined chamfered edges, represents the pinnacle of Apple design for its phones.<\/p>\n

The iPhone SE also lacks a camera bump, which became an iPhone design staple beginning with the iPhone 6. The lack of a camera bump allows for a completely smooth and cohesive back cover, lending to the device’s overall beauty.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Update (2019-04-03): David Heinemeier Hansson<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

The iPhone SE arrived and the first impression is how impressive it is that Apple fit so much usable power in such a small device. If this had actually come out after the big slabs of glass, we'd be cheering their miniaturization prowess!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thomas Brand: Harry has his own explanations for why Apple might want to standardize on the high-end iPhone X platform, but I think the message from Apple’s September 12th event is clear. If you are looking for a phone with a smaller screen, a phone with a headphone jack, or or a phone that costs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2018-09-14T19:22:25Z","apple_news_api_id":"e0886b41-bea0-448f-9eb9-1e0ecee62603","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2019-11-01T23:31:16Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A4IhrQb6gRI-euR4OzuYmAw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[28,1472,85,1338,1737],"class_list":["post-22775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-batterylife","tag-ios-11","tag-iphone","tag-iphone-se","tag-screen-time"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22775"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24856,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22775\/revisions\/24856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}