I was hoping they would update it eventually, I still use my 5S heavily but it's beginning to groan under the strain now. I almost bought an SE but held out for just this eventuality.. The form factor does everything (I need) and is more convenient to carry everywhere than it's more bulky successors.
Remember the 'budget' iPhone SE? Apple plans an update – reports
Apple hasn't forgotten its miraculous budget iPhone, the iPhone SE, after all. The ornate miniature looks set for an update next year, according to reports. Apple introduced the 4-inch iPhone SE in March 2016 last year but today's models still use the same components. Taiwanese channel site CENS suggests that the SE2 will be …
COMMENTS
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Thursday 23rd November 2017 13:08 GMT John Robson
Absolutely - the 5/5S/SE form factor is a reasonable compromise between battery, screen, portability...
It does the main things it needs to do (calls, sms/iMessage) and allows you to do quick research etc online. I might not want to read a lot on it, but then I have paper, a Kindle (just broke the screen :() and an iPad mini for that...
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Thursday 23rd November 2017 13:49 GMT Dave 126
The SE is the width of a playing card. The larger iPhones, and many Android phones, are the width of a postcard. Both playing cards and postcards are 'mature technologies', with the former being designed to be easily held and manipulated in one hand whilst showing some limited information clearly, whilst postcards are designed to display more information, a photograph, in more detail.
The original iPhone replaced phones that were largely used for calls, SMS and other text-based messaging services. Since then though, people use their phones for a wider range of tasks, many of them photo and video based.
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Thursday 23rd November 2017 16:52 GMT John Robson
"The original iPhone replaced phones that were largely used for calls, SMS and other text-based messaging services. Since then though, people use their phones for a wider range of tasks, many of them photo and video based."
Postcards are primarily designed to be written on aren't they?
My phone does a fair amount of photo/video capture, but it's not a device I'd choose to use for video playback where I care about the 'experience' rather than verifying the content.
But then I don't think the 6/7/8 or plus sized versions are large enough for 'experience' video either. Mu iPad mini is good enough for sports, but I still want an actual screen when possible (for photo/video).
Personally (and I am clearly not alone, but also clearly don't speak for everyone) I think that the 'playing cards' format is a good compromise.
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Thursday 23rd November 2017 19:20 GMT Dave 126
@John
I think you may have missed the point. No matter.
Not all video content requires or benefits from a big screen like Lawrence of Arabia does. People's use-cases for phones have evolved since the original iPhone, in line with cellular data speeds and cheapness, processing power and screen resolution.
I actually like the SE form factor (my last phone was at the time the only full power compact Android phone, an Xperia Z3C)
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Friday 24th November 2017 16:03 GMT John Robson
"I think you may have missed the point. No matter."
I may have done...
But I see two main classes of visual content. Stuff like Blue Planet, where the visuals are an important component of the story being told, and stuff like most YT content, where actually it doesn't often matter than I can't see each pore on the face of the person who is talking, because it's the talking that is more interesting.
I'm sure there are other classes - but I choose the device I use based on the content type I am watching. It does also mean that I don't try to watch Blue Planet when I'm driving....
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Friday 24th November 2017 10:51 GMT Halfmad
I moved to Apple for the SE, long time Android user but the android alternatives back at the time were very limited in number due to the trend of phones getting bigger.
I'm intending to return to Android in a year or so but the iPhone SE has been superb for me personally, just a shame it runs IOS.
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Thursday 23rd November 2017 11:57 GMT Anonymous Coward
UK street price (for a refurbished....
Ah, the meaningless term "refurbished", which usually means "we polished the greasy fingerprints off, and put it in a new box".
If the phone is an open box return, or something with a bare few hours of use, with a decent discount it can be a bargain. If its fourteen months old, has had 300+ charging cycles, and a hamfisted user abusing the charging socket, it may be less desirable. Or if it was returned for a fault that didn't get found by the fingerprint polisher's casual inspection. Even with the warranty, you'd have to be that strange combination of an Apple devotee seeking a tiny phone, who is price conscious.
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Thursday 23rd November 2017 12:14 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: UK street price (for a refurbished....
I work for a company involved in phone repair (although I'm not directly involved in that side of the business myself).
I don't know how true your accusation about "polishing the greasy fingerprints off" is here. (#) However, from what I've heard, a lot of officially "refurbished" iPhones are faulty ones returned by customers- either under warranty or as an exchange- and while they look new on the outside, they're often surprisingly shoddily repaired on the inside (which my colleagues have confirmed from personal experience). This increases the chance of failure in the future.
Apple gets faulty phone, customer pays significant percentage of the cost of a new phone for a refurbished exchange (as described above), Apple gets customer's old phone that can be refurbished and sold on as another exchange for approaching pure profit.
(#) I know that this *is* true in other cases; "refurbished" video recorders (this was some time back) being sold ridiculously cheaply were essentially Argos returns that weren't even checked. The wholesale price reflected this; the problem was that if a customer had to return even (say) one out of four, the postage would eat up our profits. (We had them drop-shipped, we wouldn't have bothered with this nonsense ourselves).
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Thursday 23rd November 2017 12:32 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: £300 refurbished? You've been ripped off.
The 128Gb version can be had for £400 brand new
Even if you want a tiny screen, four hundred notes for it, and two year old technology as well?
Year after year, I still find the mobile phone market is truly breathtaking in terms of the willingness of some customers to pay huge amounts for so very little in return. Fair enough if you're part of the billionaire gliteratti, then you really don't know what to do with your money. But for everybody else, even the well to do, is there really nothing better you can find to buy?
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Thursday 23rd November 2017 13:53 GMT Dave 126
Re: £300 refurbished? You've been ripped off.
A two year old Apple A9 SoC is still a very capable chip, aided by very fast NAND storage, too. See the Anandtech benchmarks. Looking at the silicone alone doesn't give you the whole picture though - how a device performs is a function of software and hardware.
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Tuesday 28th November 2017 18:25 GMT pks2973steel
Re: £300 refurbished? You've been ripped off.
I agree with you. The late Steve Job's rule was "5x". What ever was you manufacturing cost was, take that amount and 'times' it' by FIVE. So that $1,000.00 'X' IPhone costs Apple just abit under $200.00USD. Ummm... a 800.00 mark-up, what a profit.
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Tuesday 28th November 2017 09:28 GMT the future is back!
Re: £300 refurbished...
Late September 128GB New $499 USD fantastic phone for the realistic very sturdy, great battery life, capabilities meet my PHONE needs. My third SE 1st 32GB needed more memory, 2nd 64GB stolen so remotely bricked. In a pinch decent video and photo apps but iPad mini is plan A for that, or huge desktop Mac.
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Thursday 23rd November 2017 14:30 GMT davidp231
Re: SE2?
Well it was more modern (for the time) components in the same chassis as the original, so why not?
Original SE: 4MB RAM max, Motorola 68000 @ 8MHz, 512x342 9" display, DD floppy* + HDD, or twin DD floppy
SE/30: 128MB RAM max, Motorola 68030 @ 16 (I think), maybe 20/25 without looking, HD floppy, HDD
*HD floppy was an optional upgrade for the SE, giving it the name SE FDHD, everything else stayed the same
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Thursday 23rd November 2017 13:33 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: A cynic might suggest...
Let's be fair, you accepted that for years from Microsoft with nary a complaint, for much shorter refresh cycles, only Intel benefitted more from this than MS other that the latter could continue to get away with shoddy, inefficient code that would be rejected by any coder with self respect.
Apple's refresh cycle seems to be in line with battery degradation, so 2..4 years :)
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Thursday 23rd November 2017 13:58 GMT rh587
Re: A cynic might suggest...
that the reason for this "upgrade" is to force obsolescence on existing users (e.g. Iphone4/5S) so they have to buy new ones, or they wont get the latest IOS which means their apps no longer work........
Um, manufacturers upgrade their hardware. The SE is a couple of years old. Why wouldn't they increment the guts of it?
And the 4/5s are obsolete (in that they haven't made them for years). The 5S is five year old tech.
Being a tight git who runs long on technology, I'm still loving mine, but I'm apparently the only person I know who can go more than 2-3 years without either losing their phone or smashing it beyond the point of repair, so quite how many 2013 5S handsets are still in circulation I don't know.
For me, the form factor is "peak mobile". It's ideal, but I've also been acutely aware that if my 5S dies today that replacing it with an SE would involve paying good money for a two year old phone. I'll be glad to have the option to get current-gen hardware that'll last me another 4-6 years.
I just hope that the SE2 retains TouchID instead of FaceID, and has a proper headphone port.
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Thursday 23rd November 2017 16:16 GMT 0laf
I got an SE. I'm no fanboi. I wanted a smaller screen so it would fit in my pocket in a case. And the smaller screen would mean the battery lasted longer. I was changing from a Nokia 920.
I do struggle a bit with the smaller keyboard, but fuck paying £800+ for a bigger one. But the phone works with everything I need, a decent camera, and storage for the limited apps I want (I've a 64 from the days when it was either the too small 16 or the too big 64).
I still prefer Winpho8 to use, but the SE does everything I need without selling my soul to Google.
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Monday 27th November 2017 18:46 GMT aspaceodyssey
Re: Very encouraging
If your lightning port is failing... have you tried cleaning it out ...? I had a similar problem with the port being temperamental but a bit of twidding with a toothpick got my iPhone 6 back up to charging properly... (though sadly didn’t cure the fact that the battery life has deteriorated)
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Friday 24th November 2017 09:51 GMT NeilPost
Price is £299 everywhere but Apple
"In fact, the SE is as much iPhone as any one needs – or needs to pay for. With a UK street price (for a refurbished, under warranty model) of a shade under £300, it's also the most affordable, offering an entry into the Apple ecosystem that makes the larger models look starkly gaudy."
The going rate for a brand new SIM Free 32Gb iPhone SE is £299, pretty much everywhere but Apple. That includes John Lewis with a 2 year warranty.