iPhone SE Inventory 'Quickly' Dwindling at Apple Stores Ahead of New Model With These Upgrades

I was planning on waiting for just before the SE 4 is released but it looks like I need to order an SE 3 now if I want one.

Yeah, if you want an SE 3, order it now. The last iPhone with Touch ID, a great device for those that still love LCD displays in a compact form factor. Even today, its A15 chip with 4GB of RAM is very capable of almost anything.

If it has a 6.1 inch screen, won’t it be too similar to the iPhone 16 models? The SE is cheap and small and all these changes will do the opposite.

Don't forget the new SE is not only positioned against the 16, but rather also against the upcoming iPhone 17. They're setting up their new holiday line-up, starting with the SE 4 (or whatever they'll call it). The SE 4 won't be updated for years, so at some point it will also be up against the 18 and likely the 19.

It's going to be the iPhone for those that want things to just work, but don't need fancy features:

- No action button
- Just a single good camera, not 2 or 3 cameras
- No camera control
- No ProMotion (which the 17 will likely get)
- Lower screen brightness
- Maybe no camera features like Audio Mix, Wind Noise Reduction, etc.
- Maybe no new UW chip, no thread, etc.
- 'Old' notch design

In other words: it's an iPhone and you'll get the iPhone experience as it will have a very good camera, very nice display, very good chip, etc... but you're still going to miss out on features. For many people, the notch will feel dated already and they'll automatically rule out an SE 4. Apple has a very good upselling strategy. Just look at their iPads: for 90% of the people, the base iPad is actually all they need... but for just a little bit more, you get the Air with some nicer features... and then, when you're mentally in that territory, the Pro isn't farstretched either.

Apple will do the same here: you'll get a very decent SE... but just for a few hundred more, you get the iPhone 17 with modern notch design, ProMotion, extra cameras, action button, camera control, etc. + whatever new the add to the 17 this fall. (I bet something like ProMotion 90 or even 120).

And then for another $100 or $200, you can actually get the 'very cool looking and ultra slim iPhone 17 Air'.

Oh, and now you're only $100 away from a 17 Pro model.

Edit:

iPhone 14 is going to be $599 starting next month.

The new SE is bound to be cheaper to produce, because according to rumors it will share the same ‘base’ manufacturing lines along with other iPhones.

They’re also going to skimp on some features, like the removal of cameras.

It’s safe to say that the new SE will retail min. $499, max $599.

I was guessing $499 earlier in this thread. It's become $599. Fits perfectly in the 'replace iPhone 14' strategy.

The main camera on my 12 has failed, so I will be in the market for the SE or a 16. Curious to see how the two are differentiated.

Still looks like far too big a phone for many of us!

How will its actual physical dimensions compare to those of the iPhone SE 2022 — or, of more importance, at least to many of us, to those of the iPhone SE 2016?

I have big hands, but the modern slab iPhones are simply too big and uncomfortable to hold. The iPhone SE 2016 remains the perfect size. Give me a physical home button every day of the week!

high demand for touchID ,home button, and phone size that can be operated by one hand. They shouldn't take this model away.

...and almost no one will pay that. It'll be free with a phone contract, or deeply discounted with pre-paid plans...so the listed price is nearly irrelevant.

The only ones paying almost full price will be corporate customers. The only phone my company offers is the SE.

Not true at all for Europe and possibly other areas outside the US.