New iPhone SE 4 dummy models hint at design & color updates

If you are going to 

KT123 said:

If you are going to ditch the familiar Home button in favor of an edge-to-edge display with a notch, why not go all the way and make that notch a dynamic island instead. A notch is so 2017, don't you think?

I believe it’s a mixture of the dynamic island screens costing more to produce, and it would seem too identical to the current-gen phones, causing sales to drop from the base-gen iPhones.

At least here in the U.S., Apple hasn't raised iPhone prices in a very long time. In fact, when inflation is taken into account, prices have actually dropped significantly over time. Even the $100 jump in the base price of an iPhone Max was accompanied by an increase in base storage that made it the same price as the prior model with the same storage. So, not really a price increase on an apples to apples basis. For this reason, I find it hard to believe that Apple is going to slap a 17% percent price increase on its most price-sensitive model, the SE. The SE buyer isn't interested in and doesn't need bells and whistles--they want a great, basic phone at a great price. They get that with the SE at $429. It's a fantastic and relatively inexpensive (for Apple) gateway drug into the Apple ecosystem. Sure, bigger screen, Face ID, 48MP sensor, blah, blah, blah are all "nice to haves" but not "must haves" for the SE buyer if they necessitate a 17% higher price. I think the price will either stay the same or maybe jump to $449, but I'll be shocked if base price goes to $499. I guess we'll find out soon enough. 

charlesn said:

At least here in the U.S., Apple hasn't raised iPhone prices in a very long time. In fact, when inflation is taken into account, prices have actually dropped significantly over time. Even the $100 jump in the base price of an iPhone Max was accompanied by an increase in base storage that made it the same price as the prior model with the same storage. So, not really a price increase on an apples to apples basis. For this reason, I find it hard to believe that Apple is going to slap a 17% percent price increase on its most price-sensitive model, the SE. The SE buyer isn't interested in and doesn't need bells and whistles--they want a great, basic phone at a great price. They get that with the SE at $429. It's a fantastic and relatively inexpensive (for Apple) gateway drug into the Apple ecosystem. Sure, bigger screen, Face ID, 48MP sensor, blah, blah, blah are all "nice to haves" but not "must haves" for the SE buyer if they necessitate a 17% higher price. I think the price will either stay the same or maybe jump to $449, but I'll be shocked if base price goes to $499. I guess we'll find out soon enough. 

That’s a bit condescending.   I’m an SE buyer, currently using the $399 2nd Generation.  I’m looking forward to the 4th generation.  I don’t care about price.  I care about value.   $400 for four years is a good value, $500 for the next four years is fine too.   My Apple Watch SE (first generation) does what I need.  Just replaced my iPad mini 5 with iPad mini 7.   Sure, I can easily afford the new fancy stuff but don’t have any compelling reason to.  Did I mention I got 9 good years out of the most powerful 2013 MBP available at the time before upgrading to a current MacBook Air (M3).  I’ll likely get 7 or more years out of it.   Also, I’ve never paid interest on a credit card or car loan in my entire life which made it extremely simple to retire from work at age 54.  Instead of paying top dollar for high end products Ive invested my leftover savings into maxing out my retirement accounts.  (Not to mention that my tiny purchase of AAPL in the early 2000s is now worth 6 figures). So, please don’t tell me what an iPhone SE consumer is looking for.  You apparently have no idea.  

yyzguy said:

 So, please don’t tell me what an iPhone SE consumer is looking for.  You apparently have no idea.  

Wow... ummm, for starters, although I didn't quote you at length, "thanks," I guess, for the completely unnecessary financial story of your life. FWIW, I did give you an "Informative" click because, gosh, how could I not with all that revelation? You must've been waiting to tell that story a LOING time for it to just spill out on a message board about the price of the new iPhone SE. Which, to get back to what this discussion was about...

Actually, it's easy to have a great idea of what the SE customer wants simply by looking at the features and price point that Apple offers to its SE customers. After all, nobody knows better than Apple what its customers want. And what SE customers are currently buying is essentially an iPhone 8 from seven and a half years ago, but with a faster chip and 5G, priced at $429. Listen: you said you could afford to buy "the new fancy stuff" but choose not to because, presumably, the cheaper models you choose to buy have as much of a feature set as you need and are willing to pay for. Fair enough! Nothing wrong with that! So why assume that SE buyers want the new bells and whistles that are rumored to be coming in the new SE at a 17% price hike? More expensive, better featured phones from Apple have been there all along and they've chosen not to buy them. Apple has been very careful not to raise prices on even its priciest Pro models, and this despite Tim Cook's assertion that "people will always be willing to pay more for the best phone." And now it's going to raise prices 17% on its most price-sensitive model? I think not but, as I said, we'll know the answer in a couple of months.