iPhone SE

A couple of idle thoughts on the future of Apple's cheapest phone.

The 2022 iPhone SE.

Marques Brownlee's newest video, on the 2022 iPhone SE, has me thinking about Apple's cheapest phone. This is something I don't do a lot—heck, since getting an iPhone 12 Mini around a year ago, I haven't thought much about iPhones at all. I was surprised to see that Marques made one at all, so underwhelming is this phone—but the video has received almost half a million views in like 4 hours so what do I know.

Makes me wonder how long Apple can continue to sell the SE in its current form. Like is the iPhone 8 design a conscious user-driven decision, or is it just the product of an optimised supply chain? Some seem to think that the target market is older or more tech-averse folks, in which case the Home button (& old design) is a huge draw; I've also read that the target audience is India & China, where the prestige of the notch & tiny bezels would probably go over pretty well.

If it's the latter, I think that the iPhone Mini would probably be a good candidate for a new SE. Ming-Chi Kuo also tweeted that the Mini's going away this fall, which I'm sorry to see (but holding out hope he's wrong). Replacing the current SE would be a great way to take advantage of the supply chain in place; and it would echo the erstwhile iPhone 5-shaped SE's position in the lineup, being a physically smaller phone than the flagships. It would also prolong the lifespan of what I consider to be best-sized iPhone (though here too I'm in the minority; people seem to enjoy double-hand wielding their phones).

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