The iPhone SE was the right phone at the right time. With consumers pulling back, a midlevel phone with the top performing mobile processor on the market hit the sweet spot in the market as the economy reshuffled spending across all categories. The new SE covers the features that the largest cross-sections of the market wanted/needed, and brought consumers back into the fold that didn't like/need what the newer phones offered. Things like the smaller size and Touch ID are not liabilities with a lot of consumers that still use an iPhone 5/6/7/8/SE as their daily driver.
This was a direct replacement for my iPhone 5s. I was hoping for a smaller phone. All of the iPhone 11 models were bigger than I wanted. But, the Lightning port on the 5s was becoming less reliable and the phone had already taken a couple of water baths over the years (one in salt water and the other in a chlorinated pool). So, I did need something sooner than later. Plus, I didn't know whether to believe the rumors that we'd have a smaller version of the iPhone 12 to choose from.
This has specific appeal to users who've held onto their iPhone 5/6/7/8/SE handsets, and those price sensitive market segments. For the users upgrading from those older iPhone models, they expect to keep their iPhones for years to come. The 5s received iOS upgrades for nearly 6 years, and received its latest security update (iOS 12.4.8) just two weeks ago. The 6s will support iOS 14, and have received almost 6 years of iOS updates by this time next year. With the A13 processor, the iPhone SE should expect at least 5 years of full OS support, which means that it will likely stay current with most major apps for about 7 years. That's a shelf life that no other $400 phone can touch.
The caveat here is that Apple will likely keep the current SE on the market at the current price for at least 2 years, maybe 3 years. If the prior SE model is any indicator, Apple will shift the memory capacity around but won't actually lower the base price. They won't update this phone on an annual basis, nor will they migrate it down to a lower price point. Maximum value means buying the phone now.
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Cook indicated iPhone 11 remains the top seller.
The iPhone SE missed out on a few weeks of sales during its introductory month in April. Expect that gap to close in the 3rd quarter, as iPhone SE sales ramp up and show a full quarter of sales data, and iPhone 11 sales drop in anticipation of the iPhone 12. Except for those consumers holding out for a more fully featured small phone, those looking at the iPhone SE are not as influenced by the usual fall introduction of the new iPhone models.
The 3rd quarter is usually a bad sales quarter for the current iPhone models, because consumers are waiting for either the new iPhones to become available or for the annual price point drop for the current iPhones.
