Apple discontinues sales of iPhone X, 6S, 6S Plus and SE

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  • Reply 61 of 68
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    uktechie said:
    I love my iPhone X but several family members prefer the iPhone SE and I’ve fond memories of having a small light-weight iPhone that easily fitted in my pocket. 

    I’m hoping for a ‘one more thing’ iPhone SE-X launch in October just after they announce new Retine MacBook Airs and the edge-to-edge OLED iPad X...

    Is that likely? If they were doing a new SE you”d expect it to be included in today’s but who knows? Maybe they want to get the premium orders out the way first and didn’t want to confuse everyone with four new iPhones in one event?
    How about the XE?
    cgWerks
  • Reply 62 of 68
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    benji888 said:

    In addition, the former Apple.com page for the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus now redirects to the main Apple homepage, indicating that they have been discontinued as well, at least in the United States. The same is true of the iPhone SE.


    What you seem to have missed is that they are still listed, if you go to apple's iPhone section, click on the  "Compare" logo, you can then click on "Compare All Models", there you will see:

    iPhone 6s/6s+
    iPhone 6/6+
    iPhone SE

    If you go to the compare tab, you can put one of these up against the new iPhones, but, it says:

    "Available at authorized resellers"

    So, no, you cannot buy from Apple directly, however, these models are still available. (edit) This is a new move from Apple. I'm guessing they don't want to sell below a certain price point themselves, but, have lower price points from other resellers this way.

    QUESTION: Does this mean Apple is still making them, or do they just have an overabundance of stock they need to sell out?
    These are my thoughts on that question:

    Yes, Apple is still making the SE and 6/s/+ but not in the same volume. Last year it was reported that Apple would be making the SE in a plant in India, built specifically for that purpose. So it's unlikely that they would stop making the phone, particularly for some emerging international markets like India, where they continued to sell the 4S and 5c long after they were discontinued elsewhere. Those phones can likely be made cheaply enough now that they make for good carrier promotions, among other budget buys where Apple wants a piece of the low-end market, but they don't want to actually sell such an outdated-looking phone in their own flagship retail stores.

    In addition, my guess is that they are shutting down part of the plant in India making the SE, to retool for the next generation SE, since they can't justify opening a new plant for a budget model (especially with the number of phones they're currently making). They stopped selling it in their own stores, in part to drive up the demand for it when they relaunch at a higher price in March (which boosts 2nd & 3rd quarter income), but also to drive customers to their higher end phones in order to maximize revenue for the fiscal 1st quarter ending in December, which also helps subsidize and recoup development costs for the new phones more quickly. Apple is like Santa Claus in that they know what phones their customers own, and how long they keep them, and what they upgrade to. By removing the SE from the equation, they get a good sense of how many customers are willing to move to bigger phones, and what to plan for with the smaller SE which sold extremely well. 

    All that is to say, I expect a new mid-tier "XE", which is basically the XR in a smaller package, with a price to match. Then they can start depreciating that and keep it on the market as long as the 5-5s-SE were, selling it for less and less, until they finally retire the SE internationally, and the "XE" takes its place worldwide.
    edited September 2018
  • Reply 63 of 68
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    mac_128 said:
    uktechie said:
    I love my iPhone X but several family members prefer the iPhone SE and I’ve fond memories of having a small light-weight iPhone that easily fitted in my pocket. 

    I’m hoping for a ‘one more thing’ iPhone SE-X launch in October just after they announce new Retine MacBook Airs and the edge-to-edge OLED iPad X...

    Is that likely? If they were doing a new SE you”d expect it to be included in today’s but who knows? Maybe they want to get the premium orders out the way first and didn’t want to confuse everyone with four new iPhones in one event?
    How about the XE?
    How about the iPhone 10s, 10r, 10e? Apple's naming conventions are first-rate daft.

    mac_128 said:
    Apple is like Santa Claus in that they know what phones their customers own, and how long they keep them, and what they upgrade to. By removing the SE from the equation, they get a good sense of how many customers are willing to move to bigger phones, and what to plan for with the smaller SE which sold extremely well. 

    All that is to say, I expect a new mid-tier "XE", which is basically the XR in a smaller package, with a price to match. Then they can start depreciating that and keep it on the market as long as the 5-5s-SE were, selling it for less and less, until they finally retire the SE internationally, and the "XE" takes its place worldwide.
    I hope you're right there, if they don't change it too much (re: XE).
    But, I'm not sure a missing SE will tell them much about smaller size, as people who can't wait will just buy a 7, and Apple will conclude people like bigger phones. It's a self-fulfilling kind of metric. If Apple really cared to know if people want the SE form-factor, they'd produce that form-factor as a model in the regular lineup with as close to feature parity as possible. Then they'd have some real data. (My hunch is that some idiot at Apple has paired small and budget, or rather big and expensive in terms of screen size, instead of thinking about actual use-case.)
  • Reply 64 of 68
    People forget, Apple is doing the same thing that they did with the 5, 5c and 5s they killed the 5 and brought out the 5c when they released the 5s.  I think this Time we should consider the Xr and equivelant to the 5c and and we also have the Xs so there is no need for the X to stay around. 
  • Reply 65 of 68
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    tshapi said:
    People forget, Apple is doing the same thing that they did with the 5, 5c and 5s they killed the 5 and brought out the 5c when they released the 5s.  I think this Time we should consider the Xr and equivelant to the 5c and and we also have the Xs so there is no need for the X to stay around. 
    Yeah, there is absolutely no need for the X anymore. But, the SE is a whole other thing.
  • Reply 66 of 68
    mattinozmattinoz Posts: 2,299member
    SE was perfect size for many people.  Hopefully they introduce something similar in the spring with updated innards.  
    People who miss SE and looking for alternatives - There is a bad news for them. No OEM cares about you!!! This is the reality. Everyone knows the current available smallest sized phone is iPhone SE. What they don't realize is - second smallest sized phone(s) are ALL iPhones (7, 8, Xs) only. So there is NO choice for the people who want to continue to use SE sized phones once Apple completely exhausts all the remaining stock of SE. The iPhone 7, 8 and Xs would become the smallest sized phones which are worth buying (along with a bunch of similar sized Android phones which are not worth buying due to multiple reasons) once SE is completely not available. So instead of crying over something that is NOT going to be available (SE sized phones) in the future forever, better to get used to the "NEW" smallest sized phones (7/8/Xs) and move on.
    Or just keep old phone running and drop a new battery in it every couple of years for under a $100 instead of buying a new phone.
    Saddly for the 5s Os12 looks like the last update but the SE should get one maybe 2 more to keep it running well in to the future.
    The finish on these phones has worn really nicely and really wants to be an object kept as a classic. So it's going to be fun to see how far it can be pushed before it's stops playing well with others.

    Move on always has another option. Move off the merry-go-round.
    Why pay more to compromise?
    edited September 2018
  • Reply 67 of 68
    I like all this XE talk. Makes perfect sense to me. Let's hope it shows up sooner vs. later...later this year, or early next works for my upgrade path!
  • Reply 68 of 68
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    mattinoz said:
    Or just keep old phone running and drop a new battery in it every couple of years for under a $100 instead of buying a new phone. 
    Saddly for the 5s Os12 looks like the last update but the SE should get one maybe 2 more to keep it running well in to the future. 
    The problem is apps are increasingly tied to the OS, so at some point you'd just have to stop updating everything. That doesn't sound like a good solution either. But, yeah, I think the SE should have at least another couple years in it, unless it breaks (I worry a bit about the home button, besides the possibility of dropping it, etc.).

    ozzieboy said:
    I like all this XE talk. Makes perfect sense to me. Let's hope it shows up sooner vs. later...later this year, or early next works for my upgrade path!
    Apple would be really stupid not to.... but Apple has been fairly stupid (IMO) lately.
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