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firewood

macrumors G3
Jul 29, 2003
8,109
1,346
Silicon Valley
Can't understand most of Macrumors readers' obsession with the SE? Who wants to read books, news, emails or consume media on that thing?

I don't. That's what my iPad Pro and MacBook are for when I'm home or at the office. However when I want to run out the door, I would like something a little easier on which to read short emails and maps than my Apple Watch, even if I'm wearing stuff with only small pockets. The SE fits the bill. The XS (in a rugged case to protect the glass back and camera bulge) is big enough that I often leave it behind.
 

tubular

macrumors 65816
Oct 19, 2011
1,293
3,111
Got an SE. Got another one in a box for when this one shuffles off. Got another one in a box for when *that* one shuffles off.

I don't play games on it, read books on it, but I do use it for phone things: checking weather, email, Twitter, and *phone*.
 

johnnygee

macrumors 6502
Nov 14, 2013
276
279
Earth
With all the "its too smawl and effeminate an' stuff" moronic comments posted to this website and others when Samsung came out with their first big phone, I have to wonder why anyone would want a 4" iPhone in this day and age. I'm guessing it's people who can't afford the larger phone or people who are purchasing a cheap baby iPhone for their kids.
 
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44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,491
I find it's like having an extra £750 in your gratefully capacious pocket...

...and a nicer iPhone than all models released since.

I have to admit, even though I use my AirPods quite frequently, I do miss the 3.5 mm Jack, that’s one of the reasons I would reconsider purchasing one from Apple’s clearance site for $250. For me, I always like to charge my iPhone _and_ use my wired earbuds simultaneously.
 

neoelectronaut

Cancelled
Dec 3, 2003
3,417
2,093
With all the "its too smawl and effeminate an' stuff" moronic comments posted to this website and others when Samsung came out with their first big phone, I have to wonder why anyone would want a 4" iPhone in this day and age. I'm guessing it's people who can't afford the larger phone or people who are purchasing a cheap baby iPhone for their kids.

It's like you're willfully refusing to read the thread.
 

Scepticalscribe

macrumors Haswell
Jul 29, 2008
64,085
46,536
In a coffee shop.
With all the "its too smawl and effeminate an' stuff" moronic comments posted to this website and others when Samsung came out with their first big phone, I have to wonder why anyone would want a 4" iPhone in this day and age. I'm guessing it's people who can't afford the larger phone or people who are purchasing a cheap baby iPhone for their kids.

No.

Affordability has little to do with it, and neither have kids.

Some of us - I am a middle aged woman - have small hands and far prefer the smaller (and more ergonomic) form factor.
[doublepost=1551396992][/doublepost]
It's like you're willfully refusing to read the thread.

Agreed. That thought also crossed my mind.
 

makinao

macrumors 6502
Dec 27, 2009
296
116
I got my 64gb SE in mid-2016. Last week my daughter got a XS Max, and asked me if I wanted her 128gb iP7. I told her I'd test drive it for a week. The touch ID was faster, the audio was better, the camera is much clearer. But I immediately missed pocketable size and one-hand operation. Battery life sucked despite disabling a bunch of background app refreshes. I asked my daughter about it and she said it had always been that way for her. The last straw was after a reboot last night when I found out the battery needs to be "serviced". I sincerely wanted to like the iP7, but I'm back to my SE this morning. My only concern going forward is how many more iOS versions it will accept.
 

Moonjumper

macrumors 68030
Jun 20, 2009
2,740
2,908
Lincoln, UK
Apple told us at great length why the 3.5" iPhone was the perfect size. The slightly taller 4" was still the almost perfect size. Apple haven't done a phone nearer a perfect size since. Looks like I might be stuck with my SE for a long time.

I do have a bigger iPhone, but only use it for app development, the smaller physical size of the SE is more important to me than the larger screen.

Apple currently sell 7 iPhone models, many with very similar screen sizes, there should be room for an 8th if it offers something different.
 

Sasparilla

macrumors 68000
Jul 6, 2012
1,962
3,378
>> At this point in time, it looks like the iPhone SE will continue to be the last 4-inch device available from Apple. <<

The horror....
 
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tha_man

macrumors regular
Apr 4, 2016
117
155
I had Samsung Note (1st gen) before SE and I actually like the smaller screen better for typing - keyboard on Note was too large to type fast. And the 5.4" inch (16:10) screen on Note was still too small to be any more useful than 4" on SE. Ok, 4" is a bit small for playing games, because you cover too much screen with fingers, but for everything else is fine. SE with edge-to-edge OLED display and same case dimensions would be IMO perfect. Preferably without a notch - I would rather have under the screen touch id and a camera cutout like the new S10. But I know, this will most likely never happen.

Anyway, I think SE might become a bit of a cult classic iPhone, a real "think different" device in this days of "me too" huge phones. And for everyday use it's still as fast as latest offerings, respect to Apple software engineers for that.
 

LauraJean

macrumors regular
Jan 7, 2015
129
122
Denver, CO
Can't understand most of Macrumors readers' obsession with the SE? Who wants to read books, news, emails or consume media on that thing? If you want a small phone to just text and answer calls, I get it. Anything else, larger displays is the way to go.

Anything else includes music and audiobooks and my new clearance SE works just fine for those.
 

nitramluap

Cancelled
Apr 26, 2015
440
994
It's frustrating developing for it as it's by definition the same 'compact x regular' size class as all the other iPhones, despite the fact the screen is significantly smaller. Makes designing good UIs difficult.
 

Porco

macrumors 68040
Mar 28, 2005
3,316
6,917
If you don't care about camera quality

I think that's a bit harsh to be honest, when it was released it was pretty great and it hasn't got worse, there are just better camera in the newer phones, as one would expect. It takes decent photos, just not as great as the newer iPhones.

My first iPhone SE replaced my iPhone 6, so camera quality went up. My second iPhone SE, with 128GB, replaced my iPhone SE with only 64GB, so now I can take more photos and video on it, so that was a win too.

Also in the intervening time I bought a compact camera with a 30x optical zoom and nice DSLR with various lenses... all for roughly the price Apple charges for the top-end iPhones now... I am very happy with my choice.
 

Plutonius

macrumors G3
Feb 22, 2003
9,045
8,416
New Hampshire, USA
>> At this point in time, it looks like the iPhone SE will continue to be the last 4-inch device available from Apple. <<

I doubt it.

Apple marketing likes to delay product refreshes to get people to spend money on expensive newer products.

After enough time has passed where people are used to the newer product, Apple will release a refresh of the original product to get sales from the people who refused to switch.
 

redneckitengineer

macrumors 6502
Oct 27, 2017
420
937
I got mine a month or so ago when they started appearing again. I love it, its on ios 12.2b3 developer, and it's glassy smooth. There's a few times it locks up when opening some apps but it's otherwise a great still pocket friendly phone. It's my backup phone to my XS Max, and I use it for hiking/biking/kayaking days when I just need to be connected, but not THAT connected. Strava, AllTrails, and my Guthook apps are all I need to still work great on it.
 
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Chester Stone

macrumors member
May 28, 2016
63
191
At this point in time, it looks like the iPhone SE will continue to be the last 4-inch device available from Apple.

That's not correct!

iPod Touch is a device of the same screen size and remains a great media consumption device, test device for us developers, and even messaging/talk app, since you can use Skype, LINE, Slack, Messages, and other non-Phone apps. The touch is also thinner and lighter than the SE, and this very site has rumored its continued refresh.
 
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err404

macrumors 68030
Mar 4, 2007
2,525
623
Not surprising considering that iOS 12 still runs well on my A8x iPad Air 2 which is even older.
 

minimo3

macrumors 6502a
Oct 18, 2010
808
975
“If you don't care about camera quality”......A little harsh methinks. Toward the camera itself and those who use it for some excellent photography.

If anything camera quality is better in some areas - it doesn’t suffer from the watercolor effect of the newer models in low light
 
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nathansz

macrumors 65816
Jul 24, 2017
1,256
1,445
Can't understand most of Macrumors readers' obsession with the SE? Who wants to read books, news, emails or consume media on that thing? If you want a small phone to just text and answer calls, I get it. Anything else, larger displays is the way to go.

i read news and email on my se all the time.

(i prefer to read books on paper)

it is the perfect size to hold one hand and read

tried out my wife’s iphone 8 and found it uncomfortabley large
 
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