The recent launch of the $599 MacBook Neo (which just helped break Mac sales records, according to Tim Cook) has shaken the assumption that Apple focuses only on premium products. However, that idea was never really true.
Steve Jobs often argued that Apple's desire was to make premium products available to more people and, in many cases, its devices were priced lower than rival offerings with similar specifications.
But before the MacBook Neo proved that Apple knew how to combine high-quality touches with affordable prices, there was another affordable Apple product on everyone's lips: the iPhone SE.
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The original iPhone SE was introduced to the world on March 21, 2016, making it ten years old today. With Apple returning to its low-cost ambitions a decade later (for both Mac and iPhone), now is a good time to look back at the impact of the iPhone SE and what the future might hold for lower-priced iPhones now that the MacBook Neo has made such a splash.
Enter the iPhone SE
Look
Today, the standard iPhone 17 will set you back a minimum of $799 / £799 / AU$1,399, and entry-level iPhones have hovered around this mark for many years. When that's the case, it's easy to forget that the iPhone used to be much more affordable, and you can get a sense of that era by watching the iPhone SE launch segment above.
While the original iPhone was priced at $499 for 4GB of storage in the US, Apple quickly lowered the price of the 8GB model to $399 and discontinued the 4GB option. After that, the iPhone 3G became available for $199 along with a two-year cellular plan. That $199 price quickly became the norm for Apple's most affordable iPhones, and lasted until the iPhone 7 bumped the price up to $649 / £599 / AU$1,079 in September 2016 (although it also dropped the two-year plan requirement).
It was into this world that the $399 / £379 / AU$679 iPhone SE arrived. Because while its pricing seems strange when the iPhone 6s – a seemingly better device launched six months earlier – cost $199 upfront, it also came with a potentially onerous two-year cellular plan, which could drive up costs.
The iPhone SE also offered something very different: a return to smaller phones. The iPhone had been growing in size since its debut. Not only were standard iPhones getting bigger, but Apple was offering the iPhone Plus range as an option with even more screen space. If you wanted things to go down in the other direction, you had little choice. Until the SE…
“Some people just love smaller phones”
Apple was very clear when it launched the iPhone SE that the goal was simplicity on a small scale. As Greg Joswiak (then VP of iOS) said at the launch of the iPhone SE: “While the vast majority of our customers prefer iPhones with larger screens, we're here today to talk about a smaller iPhone.”
“So why do people buy 4-inch iPhones? Well, there are two reasons. First, some people just love smaller phones. They want the more compact iPhone design. Second, we found that for many of these customers, it's their first iPhone,” he added.
Cue those MacBook Neo comparisons. Tim Cook said this week that “Mac just had its best launch week ever for new Mac customers,” and without explicitly saying why, it was a clear nod to the success of its new, affordable laptop. For Apple, the Neo is a gateway drug for macOS, just as the iPhone SE was for iOS.
Describing the SE as “the most powerful phone with a four-inch screen,” the company was careful to emphasize its “beloved compact aluminum design” as a key selling point.
The same, but different
Still, compared to the MacBook Neo, the iPhone SE achieved its low price in a very different way. While the MacBook Neo scales back features but maintains roughly the same dimensions as the MacBook Air M5, the iPhone SE kept the power and packed it into a smaller frame.
For example, the iPhone SE launched with the same A9 chip as the current iPhone 6s. You get as much power as Apple's flagship iPhone, just in a more compact package. you also have more extensive battery life than the iPhone 6s (up to 13 hours of video playback compared to 11 hours for the iPhone 6s, for example) even though the iPhone SE uses the same chip and a smaller chassis with less internal space for the batteries.
The MacBook Neo, on the other hand, is powered by an A18 Pro chip designed for mobile, not a desktop M-series chip. You lose the backlit keyboard, Force Touch trackpad, ample memory and storage options, a few hours of battery life, and more. It's clearly a slim device, although one whose $599 / £599 / AU$899 price tag is hard to resist.
So how did Apple manage to keep the price of the iPhone SE down? Well, he had to make some sacrifices.
The front camera was smaller than the iPhone 6s, offering 1.2MP photos compared to the iPhone 6s' 5MP snapshots. The iPhone 6s was also slightly thinner, despite being taller and wider. And by basing its chassis on one first used by the iPhone 5, Apple could save on the design and manufacturing costs that a new look would have entailed.
But other than that, there really wasn't much separating the two products, reinforcing the idea that the iPhone SE focused on reducing its cost primarily through physical means, not by cutting features.
A complicated legacy
As Apple returns to the world of low-cost Macs, what does that tell us about the future of affordable iPhones?
Well, the successor to the iPhone SE is apparently in poor health. Apple has just launched the iPhone 17e, which has replaced the SE line. The iPhone 17e was launched a year after the iPhone 16e, which rebooted the company's affordable iPhone range. The fact that Apple is apparently planning annual releases for this device suggests that there is enough demand to justify frequent updates.
However, like the MacBook Neo, the iPhone 17e is not the same beast as the iPhone SE. While the iPhone SE was an explicitly palm-sized device (its 4-inch frame was noticeably smaller than the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s), the iPhone 17e is just a touch more compact than the iPhone 17.
If you want a true heir to the iPhone SE, that is, a stripped-down iPhone that maintains the power and performance of its peers, then you no longer have that option. Apple has apparently given up on its “mini” iPhone range, with 2021's iPhone 13 mini being the latest in a brief dynasty of compact iPhones.
All of that means that the legacy of the original iPhone SE, released ten years ago today, is a bit complicated. Because while affordable Apple devices are alive and well like the iPhone 17e and MacBook Neo, they take a slightly different approach than the one set by the iPhone SE.
But what's not in doubt is the fact that now is potentially the best time in decades (possibly ever) to be an Apple fan on a budget. Thanks to the iPhone 17e and MacBook Neo, you can now get a low-cost Apple phone and laptop for $1,200 / £1,200 / AU$1,900 combined – something that would have seemed impossible just a year ago.
And with Apple's recently rediscovered commitment to affordable pricing, we have the iPhone SE to thank for getting us to where we are today.
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