Glenn Marston:
When Apple’s website reappeared after shutdown for the company’s Sept. 12 product event, it displayed a list of the new X-Series iPhones.
Eliminated from Apple availability were the regular- and large-size iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s, which had been introduced in September 2014 and September 2015.
Also missing was a unique small phone, the iPhone SE. Based on the body of 2012’s iPhone 5, it had been the only remnant of the compact early iPhones.
And:
One should not assume that Apple has sworn off small phones. They are favorites of smaller folks, plus a segment of women that eschews the grand purse and those of both genders who prefer to travel light with clothes trailered tight.
Apple might have intended no inference other than limiting new iPhones to those in the minimal-bezel, Face ID form of the X series.
With that in mind, Apple should produce an iPhone XR Mini as a follow-on to the iPhone SE.
I’ve been thinking about the loss of iPhone SE form factor. Is Apple undervaluing people with small hands, and small wrists? The Apple Watch is getting larger (thinner, but longer/wider), even though there are plenty of people who wish for a smaller case size.
And, as Glenn points out, Apple has eliminated the last vestige of the smaller iPhone form factor, the iPhone SE. Is this the end of the line for the SE? Or is this, possibly, a supply chain issue?
Apple has unified their iPhone line in a number of ways. All the new phones (XS, XS Max, XR) use Face ID and have the corresponding notch and lack of a home button. And all the new phones are based on Apple’s 7nm A12 Bionic chip.
The XS and XS Max went on sale in Apple Stores this morning (8a, your local time). But, likely due to supply chain constraints, the iPhone XR will not be available for pre-order until early morning October 19th (12:01 am PT).
No complaints there, this is smart product rollout. But could those limitations have informed Apple’s decision not to release an iPhone X with the smaller iPhone SE form factor?
Could this also be an engineering issue? The notch is a relatively fixed size. Could fitting the Face ID hardware, etc. (the notch assembly) in the smaller iPhone SE footprint be problematic? Could that be the reason Apple has not announced an iPhone X updated SE, or, as Glenn put it, an iPhone XR Mini?
Seems to me, Apple is proceeding logically here. The first steps were to unify the product line and ramp up production of the 7nm A12 Bionic chip, to ensure that the iPhones XS, XS Max, and XR are all available to customers who want them.
Once those needs are met, and if they can solve the engineering problems (problems being speculation on my part) of fitting the notch contents in a much smaller package, might we see an iPhone X version of the SE? I really hope so. I’ve got a whole family of iPhone users who prefer that smaller footprint.
I’ll be watching these developments (or, looking for them, hoping they come about in some form), but I would imagine the engineering tradeoffs are tough. I’m not an engineer, but it occurs to me that:
–The LCD needs the backlighting, and as I understand it that was the major challenge with the Xr, is that right? Perhaps there is a problem miniaturizing that further, perhaps that’s why the Xr is already so huge.
–The notch as noted, is there enough space for it across the top? I would imagine that Apple wouldn’t consider just putting a slim forehead up there, they’re going to be consistent.
–Is the SE screen too small for the new gestural interface? I have no idea, but aren’t there swipes that have to happen in specific parts of the screen, and on an SE-sized screen those targets shrink, maybe?
The SE also represented an opportunity for Apple to get rid of parts for the 5S. Did they have a significant amount they still had (or were contracted to purchase) and they needed a way to use them up? Perhaps that had something to do with the existence of the SE at all, and is no longer an issue.
Sorry for the cynicism, but I’m not confident. I suppose that increases the chance that I’m pleasantly surprised!
Count me among those that has, I believe, normal-sized hands but I just prefer the smaller form factor. I’m not happy with the tradeoffs, even to just go up to the 6-sized phones.
As the Apple Watch gets larger and more capable, it may be that when my SE runs out of gas I ditch the phone entirely and just get the Watch. That supposes that the Watch is able to (by that time) replace the critical functions that I use the phone for.
I’m willing to sacrifice any of the recent features to keep a similar form factor to the SE. All I want is to be able to replace it if I break mine, and keep up with iOS updates. Anything else (gestures, faceID, updated sensors) would be a bonus.
They made the phones sightly thicker because they’ve pretty much hit a limit on battery life capable of driving all the new hardware. If they reduced the phone size and kept the same internals, battery life could have suffered (even with the smaller screen). My guess is they’ve run into the wall trying to make a full-capability small phone which can provide runtimes competitive with the large ones. When they make strides in low-power consumption or higher power storage, small might become an option again, because no one will give up the latest and greatest features.
As I understand it, the SE appears to be a design whose components have become insufficiently updatable. I hope Apple is considering a replacement for it in the product line.
Speculating about whether Apple is undervaluing people with small hands is an interesting question when mostly discussed by people who do not have small hands, and are prone to citing anecdotal examples as representative of a large market.
My question is how many of those small-handed people have largely given up on a modern iPhone that fits their size preference, and are merely buying the larger models without outward complaint.
I think the SE is gone for good. The 7 is the new low-end. Next year it will be the 8.
It is unclear that the SE sold well or (more importantly) was very profitable. Also, there is a technical cost to maintaining the smaller screen size.
I believe my hands are normal-sized as well. And I’ve commented before that, had my vision allowed, I’d have seriously considered the 5S a few years ago instead of the 6 I ended up getting. But seeing those two screens display the same app side by side made my decision clear (pun intended).
A smaller phone would simply have been easier for me to carry and handle. I felt similarly about the SE.