My daughter went to her local company-owned AT&T store and not only were they out of stock of the SE model she wanted (64GB, space gray), they said it would be a few more weeks before they will be able to ship directly to her. Don't know if she would have had better luck at an Apple Store or in another finish, but I was surprised to hear this after all the limited expectations for this model.
I use Virgin Mobile. Just went to their page to see if they got the SE. They do, and are selling the 16GB for $299. No contract, but 'Out of Stock'.
The iPhone is still tied to them though, and it's not unlocked.
Unless somebody is planning to be on a Virgin plan for quite a while, I'd rather spend the extra $100 and get a true unlocked iPhone, without any commitments to any carrier at all.
I've been with VM for 11 years. I really like the flexibility, no BS billing and low rates. Sprint lines generally suck out of town, but here in SF they work great. But, you know, there's always something.
It's going to be thinner and have a much larger screen, which makes it more difficult.
Large screen has more internal space for larger battery. This is why Samsun starts with large screen size phone because the inefficiency of Android OS forces the manufacturer using twice as big battery than the iPhone and still gets less battery life.
they should have went with a "6" design. Maybe the tech wasn't there yet but sales would have exploded.
Or at least they could have offered a new range of colors. Rose Gold will see the most sales. The rest just look old.
I too would have liked the SE to be closer to the 6s thickness, and had similar styling. But that doesn't make much sense for Apple to R&D a brand new 4" phone this late in the game, with the 6s only six months away from being last year's model. They can instead save that for after they introduce the 7, and charge a premium for the new design for a much longer period until they have to depreciate the new design.
im not sure adding new colors benefits anyone, as they compliment Apple's product line. I'll just get silver this time instead of space gray, and it will look fresh for me. It's too bad they didn't offer black & gold as a new option, but then again they aren't offering a 128GB storage options either, and it might upset some 6s customers who would really like that combo as well.
Not a bad update however to classify it as a 4.5 / 5 when it is only marginally better than a 5S is a bit of a misnomer. Is it worth an upgrade from a 5S on a 2 year or payment plan? Don't think so. I can see this as more of an entry level device. Still, they could have done better.
How do you figure it's only "marginally better" than a 5s? Do you think the 6 and 6s are only marginally better than the 5s?
This is phone is more 6s than anything, and in fact contains some new chips not even in the 6s. So factually, you are absolutely wrong. Now, if you don't own a 6 or 6s because your opinion is that the improvements are "marginal" for your needs, I can certainly respect that. But the reality is, squeezing the functional equivalent of a 6s and the majority of its improvements into a 5s case and selling it for $250 less than the sum of its larger cousin's parts, makes this a major improvement over the 5s.
Moreover, depending on a particular customers needs, I'd actually rate the SE, 5/5. It's not for every customer, but I'd argue it serves the needs of most.
I have the 5s but I'm gonna keep it cause 499 is too expensive for what your getting. It doesn't come with 128GB, the better 5 mega pixel camera up front, better screen resolution, the new newest Touch ID, and 3D Touch. Be nice if it came even in a nice blue color. I love my 5s it's a perfect size phone but if Apple is not gonna make a premium 4in smartphone, I'm just gonna wait until my 5s won't work anymore which will probably be when the 7s comes out.
2GB RAM and 16GB memory for $400 in 2016 is hardly better than any anyone deserves... These are borderline specs.
Yet, it beats to a pulp any other phone from others and there are no real 4 inch competition.
No doubt people who suck on specs like candy, like you, are annoyed... Well, go buy POS Android phones with 4G of memory and 8 core phones (slow as slugs and throttling) because hey, numbers are more important than performance.
Maybe most readers here don't have kids... But would have been nicer if the reviewer had asked some kids to try it out and included their opinions. Am thinking of buying two of these for my younger kids.
If you value their future eyesight, get something with a far larger screen.
"Better than we deserve?" Wow. There's fanboyism and then there's unbridled shilling. The SE is all but a mid-season cash grab, no matter how meticulously you try to reframe the narrative around it.
Mid-season cash grab? Wtf. This phone is better than the more expensive 5S it replaced. It's the cheapest entry point for an iPhone ever with many of the same specs as the flagship device. How the hell is that a cash grab? Because it doesn't have a new industrial design? That's BS.
I believe Apple would do well and be clever to offer iPhone 7 in 3 sizes: 4.2" (or 4), 4.7" and 5.5".
Even if it means the 4" model must be slighter thicker than is brethren and priced up there with the regular model. Oh, and naming it iPhone 7 mini is a no-brainer. I also wish Apple would give all iPhone 7's camera parody with no features exclusive to the plus model. Let the difference between these phones be price, display size and possibly battery life to some extent as guided by physics. Perhaps making them thicker as they go smaller would be a clever way to offer battery-life parody.
iPhone 7 mini (4.2" x 8.1 mm), iPhone 7 (4.7" x 7.1 mm), iPhone 7 plus (5.5" x 6.1 mm)
Not crazy about the mini name - it makes the device sound less serious.
Apple should leave iphone SE as is and in future upgrade with trickle down tech from it's bigger siblings and keep price lower relative to it's bigger siblings. If market wants larger iphone than 5.5" than add another one around 6" size. Bottom line, iphone SE should always be poor man's Mercedes C-class or BMW 3 series.
I have the 5s but I'm gonna keep it cause 499 is too expensive for what your getting. It doesn't come with 128GB, the better 5 mega pixel camera up front, better screen resolution, the new newest Touch ID, and 3D Touch. Be nice if it came even in a nice blue color. I love my 5s it's a perfect size phone but if Apple is not gonna make a premium 4in smartphone, I'm just gonna wait until my 5s won't work anymore which will probably be when the 7s comes out.
So you don't place a premium on a 4" screen then. Fine. The SE isn't for you.
A 128GB SE would cost $599. Either way, you're saying a slightly better FaceTime camera, slightly better screen resolution, a slightly faster Touch ID, and 3D Touch are worth an additional $250!? It's amazing then that Apple only valued those things at $100 more between the 6 and 6s.
You're also saying a 12mp camera, Pay, better video and photos, state of the art processor, and 2GB RAM aren't worth anything, since the SE costs $50-250 less than any 5s ever did.
Mid-season cash grab? Wtf. This phone is better than the more expensive 5S it replaced. It's the cheapest entry point for an iPhone ever with many of the same specs as the flagship device. How the hell is that a cash grab? Because it doesn't have a new industrial design? That's BS.
Of course a 2016 release would be better and pricier than a 3-yr old device, brainiac. And for $399 we sure DESERVE a kickass phone. But cramming pieces of last year's tech into a 2013 shell has complacency written all over it -all the more for a company synonymous with "thinking different" in terms of industrial design.
Steve Jobs had said "Apple is focused on the future, not the past." Obviously that's not the case anymore.
Of course not. It has strategic planning written all over it. Apple has the premium market, they have most of the middle class market, what they don't have is the low end, and as Apple pushes the boundary of how they are expanding iPhone sales, the low end is the last frontier for Apple. Repackaging an established device with the latest upgrades allows them to do that without sacrificing quality, something Jobs always said he wouldn't compromise on. You seem to be expecting a groundbreaking new device from Apple, when what they've done is release a spec bump in an existing model, mid-cycle no less ... A practice Steve jobs presided over with the Mac line for over a decade. A practice that has made Apple an industry leader.
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It's going to be thinner and have a much larger screen, which makes it more difficult.
This by no means feels like an entry-level product to me.
im not sure adding new colors benefits anyone, as they compliment Apple's product line. I'll just get silver this time instead of space gray, and it will look fresh for me. It's too bad they didn't offer black & gold as a new option, but then again they aren't offering a 128GB storage options either, and it might upset some 6s customers who would really like that combo as well.
How do you figure it's only "marginally better" than a 5s? Do you think the 6 and 6s are only marginally better than the 5s?
This is phone is more 6s than anything, and in fact contains some new chips not even in the 6s. So factually, you are absolutely wrong. Now, if you don't own a 6 or 6s because your opinion is that the improvements are "marginal" for your needs, I can certainly respect that. But the reality is, squeezing the functional equivalent of a 6s and the majority of its improvements into a 5s case and selling it for $250 less than the sum of its larger cousin's parts, makes this a major improvement over the 5s.
Moreover, depending on a particular customers needs, I'd actually rate the SE, 5/5. It's not for every customer, but I'd argue it serves the needs of most.
No doubt people who suck on specs like candy, like you, are annoyed...
Well, go buy POS Android phones with 4G of memory and 8 core phones (slow as slugs and throttling) because hey, numbers are more important than performance.
I was looking forward to this one.
A 128GB SE would cost $599. Either way, you're saying a slightly better FaceTime camera, slightly better screen resolution, a slightly faster Touch ID, and 3D Touch are worth an additional $250!? It's amazing then that Apple only valued those things at $100 more between the 6 and 6s.
You're also saying a 12mp camera, Pay, better video and photos, state of the art processor, and 2GB RAM aren't worth anything, since the SE costs $50-250 less than any 5s ever did.