After a month of test, the market and consumers also gave a meaningful answer to the iPhone 14 series: among the iPhone 14 series, iPhone 14 Pro accounts for the highest sales share, while iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are the two least popular models. Recently, even more surprising news has been heard in the supply chain - the iPhone 14 production line has been cut again and again, "may become the worst-selling model in history."
is actually not difficult to understand. A mobile phone with a similarity of more than 90% to iPhone 13 has a much higher price. There are really not many consumers who are willing to suffer this loss. This is not a good thing for Apple , a company that wants to comprehensively increase profits. They hope to use the "low-price entry" iPhone to attract users to buy it. After encountering the upset sales of iPhone SE series and iPhone 14, Apple finally got to know it.
Photo source external network
According to Ross Young, an analyst at Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), the fourth generation iPhone SE will use a 6.1-inch LCD display, and the bangs that have existed since iPhone X will continue to be retained on the top of the display, and will be released around 2024.
I personally think the credibility of this prediction is quite high. There have been reports that the iPhone 16 series (that is, 2024) will fully use the Lingdong Island design. At that time, the probability of the iPhone SE series using the eliminated notch screen design is still very high. However, I am not optimistic about the performance of this model in the future market.
iPhone SE 4? It's just a copy of iPhone XR
To be honest, when I saw this news, my inner thoughts were: "Isn't this just changing the iPhone XR to a processor and selling it?" After all, Apple has done a lot of this kind of thing. The first generation of iPhone SE evolved based on the iPhone 5s. iPhone SE 2 and iPhone SE 3 are the core-changing versions of iPhone 8. Although it is indeed a bit tempting in terms of price, to be honest, in this era when full screens have been popular for many years, who else would spend three or four thousand yuan to buy an old-fashioned iPhone?
Although the industry speculation is based on the module changes of iPhone XR, Apple is still the same Apple. The iPhone SE series still does not use the "noble" Face ID function. Many news reports show that iPhone SE 4 will use the side Touch ID button, just like iPad Air 5 and iPad mini 6. I won’t discuss the practicality of side fingerprints here, some likes them and some hate them.
Photo source Twitter
This has emerged a new problem. If iPhone SE 4 uses Touch ID, it means that its bangs must not have the function of Face ID. It still uses bangs design in the absence of a large number of components, which is somewhat like bangs for bangs. However, some bloggers said that the width of the iPhone SE 4's bangs should be reduced by a part compared to the iPhone XR, and it looks more like the small bangs design of the iPhone 13. I don't agree with this. Since it is to clean up inventory and save costs, Apple will definitely not spend money to customize certain parts.
It should be noted that since it is equipped with an LCD screen, the bezel control of iPhone SE 4 must be much worse than that of iPhone 13 and iPhone 14, which are equipped with OLED screens. The era of bezel stopping aircraft carriers is back.
As for configuration, based on the parameters of previous generations of iPhone SE, I boldly guessed as follows:
- processor: the same A16 processor as iPhone 14Pro series and iPhone 15;
- camera: the same 12-megapixel rear single camera as iPhone XR (aperture f/1.8, up to 5 times digital zoom), supports iPhone The 14 series has the same displacement optical anti-shake technology;
- screen: 60Hz, 1792*828 pixels, 326ppi, peak brightness 625nit, 6.1-inch LCD notch screen;
- running memory: 6G;
- charging interface: USB-C interface;
- price: 3999 yuan/4399 yuan/5599 yuan (128G/256G/512G).
If the iPhone SE 4 is as good as I predicted, then nothing unexpected happens. This will be a generation of magical machines. The highly-received high-quality LCD screen, the A16 processor with perfect power consumption and a price of around 4,000 yuan will inevitably be favored by many consumers. After all, compared with iPhone SE4, the main advantage of the standard iPhone is the improvement of photography. Those who like to take photos and have a sufficient budget can naturally choose the standard iPhone. But if you don’t have much requirements for taking photos, the iPhone SE4 may be a better choice for most people.
Compared to taking photos, iOS experience and ecology are the main moats of iPhones at present, which is also an advantage that is difficult for Android to copy. And these, the iPhone SE4, which is cheaper, can also be enjoyed.
But what makes me curious is that the release of iPhone SE 4 will really not affect the future sales performance of iPhone 15 or even iPhone 16?
With iPhone SE 4, who still buys iPhone 16?
Judging from the currently exposed configuration, although iPhone SE 4 is not as good as iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 in terms of configuration, based on the price, its cost-effectiveness is undoubtedly much higher than these two models. Wouldn't this shoot yourself in the foot?
After all, the mission of the iPhone SE series is to help Apple further clean up inventory and share R&D costs without impacting the current mainstream screen size. In other words, the SE series cannot have more advantages than the digital series, and cannot have the reason to let users give up the digital series and choose SE. Therefore, the previous generations of iPhone SEs appeared as 4.7-inch non-full screens. In the era of full screens, they were only beaten.
But as the saying goes, things are no more than three things. iPhone SE cannot use this old mold all its life. Nowadays, fewer and fewer people buy it, and soon they lose money and make a name for themselves. Apple has to make changes. In my opinion, Apple launches the "good and cheap" iPhone SE 4 for two reasons:
1. Even if the standard version of iPhone next year or even the following year has not made much upgrades, its development cost is definitely higher than that of iPhone SE 4 models. The higher the cost, the lower the profit. The strategy pursued by Apple has always been to maximize profits, artificially expanding the configuration differences between iPhone models, which is also the result of the implementation of this strategy. If users want complete and latest upgrades or features, they have to increase their money. Therefore, you can think that the future iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 is to set off the high-end Pro and the cost-effectiveness of the SE series, which can actually increase Apple's profits.
Picture source Apple official website
2. Apple has not been able to gain a place in the mid- and low-end mobile phone market. Whether it is the iPhone SE series, which was slightly lacking in sincerity, or the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 after the price reduction, it has not helped Apple build a lot of power in the mid- and low-end mobile phone market. Today, with the average selling price of the digital series becoming higher and higher, Apple needs some products to stabilize the basic market, and the iPhone SE series is Apple's best choice. After the operation of three generations of products, iPhone SE has accumulated a certain user base, and all it lacks is a full screen. The launch of iPhone SE 4 is to break this situation.
So Apple's "new vinegar in old bottles" method can not only lower the entry threshold for iPhone, but also effectively distinguish it from the existing high-end product line. is keeping the original basic plate and then cleaning up a wave of inventory parts. It can be said that it is a kill of three birds with one stone. The existence of the iPhone SE series successfully helped Apple occupy a more sinking market and fill the price gap of the original product line. As long as Apple masters the knife skills and appropriately reduces profit margins in subsequent products, it can still successfully break through the corresponding market segments, posing a considerable threat to Android manufacturers.
proves that even if Apple does not polish the product seriously and has no sincerity in the new product, it will still be abandoned by the target group. Perhaps the launch of iPhone SE 4 also indicates that Apple finally understands that the market and their target consumers are no longer as brainless as before. They also need to come up with some sincere products in order to continue to firmly sit in their position as their big brother.
