The new generation takes heed of the old, with the new phone reverting back to the 4-inch size and shape of an iPhone 5. The reason for the regression in size? “For some people, they simply love smaller phones,” says Apple VP Greg Joswiak.
However despite its smaller shell, Apple maintains the technology is progressive, a hybrid of iPhone 6 and 6s parts and functions, with CEO Tim Cook calling it “the most powerful 4-inch phone ever”. The new phone boasts an A9 processor, faster LTE and Wi-Fi speeds, 4K video, support for Apple Pay with NFC and what will render a collective ‘yippee’, better battery life.
On the camera front, the technology seems stagnant; with the 12-megapixel camera almost identical to last year’s iPhone 6s, however compacted into its smaller frame.
In what is an unforeseen new move however, the media goliath has ditched the traditional numerical system, which identifies each iPhone, opting for an alphabetical designation. Enter the iPhone SE.
As part of its new offering, a new and improved version of the iPad Pro is also available. As with any Apple launch, an all too familiar offensive has taken shape, with some finding the new phone simply not palatable. As usual, the anti-Apple rhetoric debunks its new features as simply not evolutionary and well, not new.
Despite the critics, perhaps its most outstanding (and surprising) feature is the price. Apple has kept true to its word (a rare feat for conglomerates these day), with the iPhone SE sitting at the lower-end of its Catalogue, with a 16GB costing US $399 and the 64GB, US $499. Australians, don’t jump for joy just yet. As with all that enters our tech space, the device is subject to heavy tax, with the iPhone SE priced at a comparatively whopping $679 down under. Even with conversions against the weak dollar, there is an approximate $100 price difference. Such is the dialogue so common in the consumer tech world; it has hatched its own nickname, “The Australia Tax”, and the iPhone SE is no exception to this.
Whilst the iPhone SE’s success is yet unknown, no doubt hordes of people will spill and snake from shopping centres come March 31; testament to the brand’s ongoing popularity and might in the market.
