Like so many people, the iPhone SE peaked a number of years in the past.
The excessive level got here in 2020, when its second-gen mannequin secured the uncommon distinction, right here and right here, of being given gushing 4.5-star opinions by two separate Macworld editors. It was a easy and compelling deal: compromise on an older design, and in return, you get very good efficiency at a discount worth. With its mildly retro appears to be like the 2020 SE wasn’t for everybody, however for these on a funds, it was effectively value a suggestion. “Not Apple’s finest iPhone,” wrote my colleague Jason Cross, “however its finest worth by a mile.”
As is commonly the case with later entries in common sequence, the issue is that the maker forgot what made it common. Prospects preferred the mix of up-to-date elements with a low worth and had been joyful to just accept a two-year-old design because the payoff. Final yr’s uneven and disappointing Third-gen SE, in contrast, examined patrons’ endurance by providing up a 4-year-old design with the identical single digicam that also doesn’t have night time mode, and added insult to damage by mountain climbing the value by $30. Apple additionally didn’t do sufficient to handle the earlier mannequin’s greatest failing, its mediocre battery life. The iPhone SE had dropped the ball and missed the mark.
Nonetheless, there’s at all times subsequent time, proper? Yeah, about that.
The iPhone SE 4 would possibly put proper what as soon as went unsuitable, however the omens recommend Apple will as an alternative go too far in the other way. Intriguingly, sources recommend the following SE could possibly be based mostly on the present iPhone 14, which is able to nonetheless be pretty new. Except Apple overhauls its iPhone technique, the iPhone 14 will promote for $699 and the iPhone 13 will value $599 subsequent yr. And if Apple retains the iPhone 13 mini round, it’ll slide in at $499.
That doesn’t depart a lot house for the iPhone SE, which is able to virtually actually incur a giant worth hike. OLED screens don’t come low-cost, and Apple costs are trending upward anyway, notably exterior the U.S. The aged design might be gone, however so will any remaining worth. Possibly Apple can hold the brand new mannequin below $500, but it surely feels extra like a $549 telephone a minimum of. And just like the Tenth-gen iPad, that’s the unsuitable worth level for a telephone that’s certain to have compromises.
Nothing particular
It’s tempting at this level to surprise why Apple would trouble to maintain making the iPhone SE when there doesn’t appear to be an apparent means of bringing collectively worth and energy in the way in which it achieved in 2020. A mix of energy with the then-top-of-the-line A13 processor, retro attraction, and worth made a unbelievable telephone that actually felt like a particular version.
However that was through the small window when the iPhone SE made sense—after Apple had switched to all-screen telephone designs, however earlier than the earlier design grew to become insultingly old style. For some time, the corporate may re-use its pre-iPhone X chassis to attraction to these with a small funds and a hankering for a Residence button, however that point has handed. The transition was cemented way back, and curiosity in residence buttons has dwindled simply as demand for all-screen designs has exploded.
Foundry
After all, the situations for the SE to thrive might come up once more sooner or later. If we ultimately get a folding iPhone, as an example, it’s potential {that a} non-folding design will come to be marketed and offered as an iPhone SE 7, say. (I’m pessimistic in regards to the timescale.) Then once more, that case feels muddier. Non-folding telephones received’t be merely a distinct segment providing for eccentric Luddites, however will co-exist alongside folding gadgets till we’re all certain they’re not going to snap in half. A big market will nonetheless wish to purchase a flagship iPhone within the conventional fashion and be prepared to pay prime greenback for the privilege.
Possibly a less complicated instance could be the Dynamic Island, the shortage of which can be used to distinguish the following SE mannequin (though my very own experiences with the iPhone 14 Professional recommend the Dynamic Island has some solution to go earlier than it turns into anyplace close to as vital an improve because the swap from the Residence button to the Residence indicator in 2017). Or the iPhone mini type issue, which may simply be resurrected in 2024 as an iPhone SE. The iPhone 13 mini, for instance, has the identical A13 chip as the present SE, a bigger display screen, twice the storage, a twin digicam, an OLED show, and Face ID for $599. Apple may drop it by $100 subsequent yr and slap SE branding on it, and it could in all probability be simply nearly as good, if not higher than the SE 4 Apple is allegedly engaged on.
For now, the SE merely doesn’t make sense. If somebody is searching for a lower-priced iPhone, the best choice is almost at all times to purchase a mannequin from a few years in the past, moderately than a quasi-new Frankenstein telephone with a 2020 processor, 2018 digicam, and 2015 design. Apple silicon has an excellent shelf life, and your day-to-day expertise is much extra more likely to be marred by an previous digicam or a small display screen than by an older processor.
In any case, one doesn’t get the sense that Apple is very within the funds marketplace for which the SE was initially designed. Don’t drive it, Apple. Quit the SE, and concentrate on the flagship telephones you actually consider in.
