With smartphone sales tumbling during the coronavirus pandemic, Apple is making a move to appeal to more budget-conscious shoppers.
After a four-year wait, Apple on Wednesday announced an updated version of its smaller and lower priced iPhone SE model. The second-generation device has a larger screen than its 2016 predecessor, at 4.7 inches, but the same $400 starting price tag. Preorders start on April 17 on Apple’s website, with the SE going on sale on April 24.
The long-rumored device also has a single camera on the back, versus two or more on Apple’s higher-end models, and comes in black, white, and red. The iPhone SE’s design, with a home button and built in fingerprint scanner, is based on the older design of the iPhones 6, 7, and 8. Still, the new SE has the same processor chip, called the A13 Bionic, that Apple uses in its flagship iPhone 11 line up.
The low price, 43% less than the cost of Apple’s entry level iPhone 11, comes at a time when the world economy is slumping due to the coronavirus pandemic, and as phone sales overall have dropped sharply. With unemployment skyrocketing and consumers cutting back, industrywide smartphone sales declined 14% in February from the same month in 2019 and are expected to contract further, according to Counterpoint Research. Most Apple stores remain closed indefinitely.
The pandemic may also have affected Apple’s announcement plans. As it has done with all its product releases since the coronavirus pandemic, Apple debuted the new iPhone SE by a press release, without inviting reporters to an event.
Apple premiered the $400 iPhone SE in 2016 with a four-inch screen. In 2017, it increased the amount of storage capacity in the phone without upgrading other components.
At the same time Apple introduced the new SE on Wednesday, it stopped selling the similar iPhone 8 and 8 Plus phones, which it had priced at $450 to $600.
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