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Apple Unveils Smaller iPhone SE, Starting At $399 (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Apple has officially unveiled a smaller, cheaper iPhone designed to make a splash in the budget-friendly smartphone market. The new device, called the iPhone SE, looks nearly identical to the iPhone 5S but with a new rose gold color configuration. It's the internal specifications that differ significantly. The new iPhone SE will feature a NFC chip for Apple Pay, A9 processor and M9 motion co-processor, 12-megapixel camera sensor with the ability to capture 4K video, and a Touch ID fingerprint sensor. Unfortunately, it does not feature Apple's new 3D touch functionality. The iPhone SE will come in two models, 16GB and 64GB, priced at $399 and $499 respectively. You can buy the new iPhone starting March 31, and it will make its way to 100 countries by May.
Replace "Are you sure?" with "Are you impressed?" in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
The answer stays: NO.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
32GB is the sweet spot for phones right now, and because they can, Apple refuses to produce a 32GB model to force you to pay an extra $100 to get a reasonable amount of internal storage. $499 for the 64GB model is certainly cheaper than the current top-of-the-line iPhones, but a cheap Android with 32GB of storage can be had for well under $399 for truly budget-conscious buyers. If you're locked into Apple's ecosystem and are truly budget-conscious...well, tough luck.
My real 'budget friendly' smartphone was $40 out the door, and that was replacing a 5 year old $30 flip phone I really hated to part with. Since it is used only for making phone calls, I guess I'm a member of the populace that just doesn't get it.
Apple, one free word of advice, worth exactly the cost. The bottom half of the market you don't want to have. When the rabble, the unwashed peasants, starts flaunting the bitten apple logo everywhere, the beautiful people will flee to other phones with a clearer status seal. And then, the all encompassing middle unbrained layer will lose the daze caused by all that glitter, and start comparing phones like they do cars. Then some day you will announce the iPhone 15, and nobody will come to the party, because you know... is "Apple".
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
You do realize that when people see you they think: guy with a flip phone = loser, right?
But can I buy it in rose gold?
iPhone Sucker's Edition: why get a 5S when you can get the same for twice the price?
Because it will do additional things the 5S won't, like WiFi calling and ApplePay.
You do realize that when people see you they think: guy with a flip phone = loser, right?
To paraphrase Obi Kenobi: "Who's the more loserish... the loser or the loser who judges him?"
When you sell tens of millions of something it cannot be a status symbol, or if it is it is a very poor one. Nobody gives a shit if you have an iPhone or thinks you are special for it. Nobody I've ever met has bought one with the expectation of gaining meaningful social status. It's just not that special. I have people working for me that make barely over minimum wage who have iPhones and they don't regard it as a status symbol. The meme that Apple users are self absorbed social climbers out of proportion to the general population is ridiculous nonsense.
I suggest submitting a story about it.
and this is the key of the wrong why of thinking! Who cares what they think about that, do not care what others think about you, they not inside of you!
No but there's "carbon-fiber" and gold plating options if you have more money than sense.
None of that fake, cheap, low-end "not real gold" from Apple. ;-)
Sorry I was thinking about the iPhone only. The Apple watch does come in gold too.
How the post Jobs world has changed with Apple chasing Google in the phone market.
* Carthago Delenda Est *
I thought SE stood for Scottish Edition, since it's for the cheap bastards. Disclaimer, I am of Scottish descent.
Better specs. Ive been holding onto my 5s for years, despite wanting to upgrade at various points. I just dont care for the massive phablet form factor thats so popular, so seeing apple release this is really awesome.
"You do realize that when people see you they think: guy with a flip phone" = Drug Dealer/Pimp
Fixed it for you.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Good for you, do I sense a tone of superiority in your statement?
I require a smartphone for monitoring software that notifies me on my phone when a server goes offline. This saves me SMS charges. Email is also a big advantage when I'm out of the office. I also have the sound turned off on my desktop most of the time, so when I'm away from my desk, it's handy to know when I have email.
In a pinch it's also useful for troubleshooting issues when I have no internet access where I'm at (and couldn't be bothered to carry my laptop).
No, I don't use it for Facebook, Instagram, Skype, Snapchat, Twitter, Whatsapp, Candy Crush or any other social media/game. It's extremely useful to me for productivity.
Lastly I do use it as a phone, which it works extremely well at too! It's like the Swiss army knife of personal devices.
Apple has officially unveiled a smaller, cheaper iPhone designed to make a splash in the budget-friendly smartphone market.
I keep seeing this. The iPhone SE being referred to as a "budget market" device. It's not budget-market at all, in price or features.
Besides the lack of Touch 3D support, it is pretty much the same as the current get "premium market" 6S.
Have people really been deluded by marketers to the point they measure the value of a device simply based on screen size?
$399 for a current-spec iPhone (without subsidy) is a very aggressive price point. Looks like the low-priced second and third tier Android phones are having an impact on Apple's unit sales.
"Pass-e-accent-aigu" for the Unicode depraved.
Because it's not the same phone. That's like saying my PC at home is the same because it has the same case, despite a new CPU, new SSD, new graphics and more RAM.
"rose gold" because Tim Cook is embarrassed to call it what it really is: frickin' PINK!!!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Apple releases an iPhone-sized iPhone ... and that is considered news?
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
Still no wireless charging support, and still not waterproof? WTF, Apple?!?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
They guy who quotes Obi-wan Kenobi.
I find your lack of faith disturbing.
I did, but everybody seems to prefer talking about slightly updated iToys instead.
How is this flamebait?
I have owned an iPhone 5 for three years. I love it as much as one can love an electronic device. It replaced a 3Gs. The 5 does all I want it to do and I am in no hurry to replace it. Until apps won't update or run at level that I am happy with. I was willing to not buy an iPhone next time because I don't want a big phone or pay $1000 for a phone. This might make me consider an iPhone in a year or two when this one has reached end of useful life.
I make a reasonable middle-class wage by going to work and not spamming blogs with scams.
Wireless charging is pointless
Waterproof would be cool.
Just saved me some money. I said I wasn't going to buy the new phone to replace the 5s if it didn't have all of the features of the 6s. They didn't need to leave out the 3D touch to differentiate it from the 6s models. The screen size was the differentiating feature. I don't want the larger phones because I can't easily work them one-handed but I'm not going to buy a smaller phone that's deliberately lacking in features.
When Apple brings out a proper 4" phone again then I'll buy it.
They're still pulling the 16GB minimum shit, but at least they made an effort to bring down the price this time around.
What a powerful moment of deja vu I just had... as if I was asked at a story posted at 8:44 this morning if I were excited that the iPhone SE were coming out, or something.....
You can have a top tier Android phone for much less than that if you aren't snobbish about Chinese manufacturers.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Terrible article. Completely misunderstands what wireless charging is about.
Good chargers self align. No need to muck about with cables, being careful not to damage your shiny. Waterproofing is easier too because the port can be plugged up.
Slow charging is good too. Fast charging wears the battery out faster. I keep a 500mA charger around for overnight charging when time isn't an issue.
IKEA started building wireless chargers into furniture. Chargers everywhere. No worries about having the right connector. Public charging without the mandatory USB condom.
The article you linked compares it to WiFi. That's how ridiculous it is.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
If you're on a CDMA carrier, the only top tier options are the size of the moon though.
Networking was wired. Wires are annoying. Now you can get networking to work really well without using wires.
Charging is wired. Wires are annoying. It's exactly the same thing. That networking is data and charging is power is irrelevant from the point of view of someone who wants to get rid of wires.
Which is everyone. No-one wants wires. My desk is covered with them. I can't stand the damn things. But at this point wireless charging isn't good enough for someone like Apple to burden their products with. They've done their research, and it's not ready yet.
What is wireless charging about, if in your opinion the article misses the point?
CDMA and still resisting the metric system? What a strange country y'all live in. :)
Wi-Fi calling works on the iPhone 5s. So an upgrade just for Apple Pay?
The 16GB model cost AUD 679 (incl GST) which give a pre-tax price of USD 468 at today's exchange rate. That's a 17% markup because we are in Australia.
Let's please stop pretending that the cost should be limited to the cost of the parts, as if Apple should be obliged to sell it at wholesale, you spoiled little brats! While excessive profiteering and price-gouging is an evil, there is nothing wrong with allowing them to make SOME money.
Also, let's not forget that the hardware pays for the software development, which maybe you think should be free; that's fine, that's what that shitty, pain in the ass Android "operating" system is for. Cheapskates and commies who don't mind using volunteer-created software for a mission-critical application like a communication device, for which they really need their fucking heads examined.
If you don't think a cellphone is mission critical, wait until the first time you have to dial 911 and there's no landline handy.
The last Android piece of shit I owned before giving up, and giving in, and paying extra to buy an iPhone, was an HTC EVO, and it periodically would become unresponsive, especially while ringing in, and I couldn't answer it no matter how hard I swiped, it just displayed the screen where I could swipe to answer, but would not let me swipe. And no, it was not jail broken, or flashed or modded in any way, shape or form. It was just too busy being a piece of shit.
After missing about three calls from people I needed to hear from (from the US Federal Government) because of this goddamned piece of pain in the ass Android shit, I decided to shell out extra to buy a REAL goddamned smartphone.
I regretted in this only two things. One, that I had not done it earlier, and two, that I didn't shell out extra for more memory on that first phone, which would have largely helped me resist the temptation to buy my next one.
If you're too poor to pay for a good smartphone, and are buying Android junk instead, I feel sorry for you. You can sneer at me as I buy an iPhone SE, and I'll sneak at you for having to use a cobbled-together, piece of glitchy, kludge shit Android phone. And after all the sneering is done, I'll have an iPhone and you'll have a piece of dogshit Android phone, that is cheaper in part because they didn't have to pay for a lot of software development that's being done for them for FREE. By Linus Torvalds and his friends.
You maybe forget that under all that crappy, glitchy Android annoyance, there's a Linux Kernel that you haven't paid for, and neither did the phone's manufacturer.
Also, what is the return policy on your Android phone? Where do you go if you need support? Your neighbor's kid? Enjoy your Android shit. I have no great love of Apple as a corporation and their business practices do sometimes piss me off, and I'd leave, it's true, if not for the fact that at the end of the day, they simply make a better product.
I've tried Android, repeatedly between about 2 and 4, so I know what the fuck I'm talking about. With iOS, I don't have to keep wasting my time relearning how to use the goddamned thing. Anyway, I'm just typing this while I wait for iOS 9.3 to download.
Bitch all you like, I'm buying an iPhone.
Still no wireless charging support, and still not waterproof? WTF, Apple?!?
Less space than a nomad, too. Lame.
Why does small have to be budget? if only it had 3D touch - it'd be a modern phone - just smaller.
Maybe I need to spend more money on my clothes - do more expensive clothes come with bigger pockets?
I want it all. But as others are saying - our old iPhone5's are just fine. I'd like to upgrade just because the phone is getting slower and hangs more often.
For now the SE isn't compelling enough to upgrade. If I was looking for a new phone I'd consider it. I'll wait until October to see what the brand new phone is - I've heard rumor of water resistance. And that is a feature I really do want. If put into the "SE" size it would be a done deal (with 64GB+ of storage because --- I have music). [although I should do the math on Music match to see if more storage is cheaper than swapping on the fly]
Wi-Fi calling works on the iPhone 5s.
Not according to AT&T.
I am almost always infront of the computer, and after having iphone 3g, 3gs, 4, 5, am now having a lumia 730, which at 4.7" is big for me, and I find a bigger screen inconvenient than the amount of time I use the phone. There is a big market out there for people who purchased a phone with larger screen, and want to go back. There just aren't enough models available that are attractive. Plus people want newer models, not older crap. I'm not an apple fan due to its high price (I consider it immoral to sell at this price) and very high repair costs if done officially in India, but for a 4" screen, no good alternatives really.