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Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

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Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#171

Post by frabbit »

barbs wrote: post #98
lostlogin wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only is this something I’d love, it’s also a comment that gets a lot of upvotes on Hackers News every time it’s made. Do HN readers have an unusual like for ‘small’ phones or is it just an unserved market?

I can't speak for all HNers but I recently bought a 128gb iPhone SE from someone on Gumtree after having used Android phones for 5 years (I'm an Android developer). I could not find any modern 4" phones. I really like being able to comfortably read the entire screen with one thumb, and the form of the phone just feels comfortable and functional. It's also one of the last modern iPhones with a headphone jack. I do sti…

https://www.amazon.com/Unihertz-Smallest-Smartphone-Android-...

I have had one of the above for about a year. Battery life is not too great, but for my needs (occasional phone call, text, google maps) it works fine. Fits in the front coin pocket of my jeans.

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#172

Post by _emacsomancer_ »

lostlogin wrote: post #77
stanmancan wrote: post #71

The only thing that could get me to upgrade from my iPhone 7 would be a premium version of the iPhone SE. I want a smaller phone, not a bigger one, but I want updated specs and possibly an OLED screen.

Not only is this something I’d love, it’s also a comment that gets a lot of upvotes on Hackers News every time it’s made. Do HN readers have an unusual like for ‘small’ phones or is it just an unserved market?

I think HN readers are likely to own a(t least one) proper desktop and laptop, whereas for some/many other people their mobile device is really their only/main device in which case it makes sense to want a device with a larger screen. But when you have other other computing devices with large screen, it makes sense to desire a mobile device that's easiest to carry and easier to operate (one-handed etc.).

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#173

Post by frabbit »

ceejayoz wrote: post #57
izacus wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes, the demand really is that low. People who want a smaller phone in 2019 are a very small yet very vocal minority. What are you basing that on?

Manufacturers not making/pushing them is a pretty good sign they're not super popular.

The Unihertz Jelly and Atom kickstarters were pretty succesful. I have only used the Jelly, but its fine for a low end small phone that can display webpages/maps when necessary.

If it had better battery life I would not want anything else. But I do not play games / read or browse on my phone. I just want GPS/maps text and calls.

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#174

Post by rhizome »

whitepoplar wrote: post #81
lostlogin wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only is this something I’d love, it’s also a comment that gets a lot of upvotes on Hackers News every time it’s made. Do HN readers have an unusual like for ‘small’ phones or is it just an unserved market?

I like small phones because I feel that they're a better tradeoff between form + functionality. I want a premium phone, and I'm willing to pay a lot for it, but I also want to spend as little time on my phone as possible. A smaller screen gives me all the benefit while being easy to carry and handle, and the small screen keeps me from using it too much. I also happen to think small screens feel more elegant. The prom…

If I wanna watch TV I'll watch my TV, but I think this is almost certainly an opinion that marks me as an old person.

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#175

Post by brassattax »

stanmancan wrote: post #71

The only thing that could get me to upgrade from my iPhone 7 would be a premium version of the iPhone SE. I want a smaller phone, not a bigger one, but I want updated specs and possibly an OLED screen.

I like smaller phones too, currently I have the smallest Android phone I know of (Sony Xperia X Compact). I wish they went even smaller though, I'd LOVE a modern smartphone the size of the Palm Prē

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#176

Post by barbs »

frabbit wrote: post #171
barbs wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak for all HNers but I recently bought a 128gb iPhone SE from someone on Gumtree after having used Android phones for 5 years (I'm an Android developer). I could not find any modern 4" phones. I really like being able to comfortably read the entire screen with one thumb, and the form of the phone just feels comfortable and functional. It's also one of the last modern iPhones with a headphone jack. I do sti…

https://www.amazon.com/Unihertz-Smallest-Smartphone-Android-... I have had one of the above for about a year. Battery life is not too great, but for my needs (occasional phone call, text, google maps) it works fine. Fits in the front coin pocket of my jeans.

Oh cool, thanks! How's the performance?

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#177

Post by seltzered_ »

stanmancan wrote: post #71

The only thing that could get me to upgrade from my iPhone 7 would be a premium version of the iPhone SE. I want a smaller phone, not a bigger one, but I want updated specs and possibly an OLED screen.

I’d love to buy an “upgrade service” of my iPhone SE that just replaced the mainboard and camera panel with whatever the latest and greatest is, and replaced the battery with a fresh one. Would love to understand supply chain / reverse logistics / ewaste trade offs to understand if this is practical. (And yes, I’m aware of projects like fairphone, ara, etc. I’m not saying user serviceability is a requirement)

I’ve speculated this is perhaps more practical on newer laptops (e.g. 2016- MacBooks) where ports have consolidated to just all usb-c and presumably stay that way for longer than a typical 3-year physical design cycle.

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#178

Post by delhanty »

hocuspocus wrote: post #166
delhanty wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>People who want a smaller phone in 2019 are a very small yet very vocal minority. Really? Here in Japan, there are a lot of ladies with small hands, not particularly vocal on HN, and they seem to find small phones more comfortable to hold.

Go to Korea or China and you'll see there's no particular correlation between hand and phone sizes. It's mostly cultural. North-America, Europe and Japan are over-saturated. Markets that are still growing drive the demand for bigger phones, it's really as simple as that.

Korea and China - not spent long in either, but can quite believe that larger phones would play better culturally in those countries than in Japan.

Japan - small does generally play very well here - think back to how small some of the Toshiba Libretto notebooks were.

A high-quality, small phone; easy to hold; easy to store in a small designer bag - once the novelty factor of a bigger phone has worn off - it's hard to understand why that's such a niche play.

Only Apple, Google, Samsung etc. have authoritative data. But from Apple's point of view, cancelling the iPhone SE would have simplified their supply chain, which would have been an easy sell to Tim Cook as he's an operations guy.

That doesn't mean that we'll never see another small phone from Apple again.

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#179

Post by ummonk »

brohoolio wrote: post #154
stanmancan wrote: post #71

The only thing that could get me to upgrade from my iPhone 7 would be a premium version of the iPhone SE. I want a smaller phone, not a bigger one, but I want updated specs and possibly an OLED screen.

My dream phone is a “military grade” SE. Slightly larger battery, rugged phone. I know it would be thicker, I’d be good with that.

You can’t get the larger battery but there are thick cases out there that make your phone way more rugged.

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#180

Post by jsgo »

paulie_a wrote: post #130
jsgo wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought the iPhone X because it was almost iPhone 8 Plus at iPhone 8 size. But if there were a iPhone SE2 that followed the “all screen design” and was almost an iPhone 8 in an iPhone 5s body? Sign me up. I don’t think Xperia matters much here is it is sacrificing iOS and also to a lesser degree, an Android manufacturer that isn’t known for great software on that end.

I hate all screen design I also want a thicker phone. I want to be able to actually hold the damn thing. I get a case because those are now design flaws.

that's fair. I'm not saying get rid of other designs, just saying there is interest in smaller devices. I personally don't have an issue holding mine with or without a case, though I had a Samsung Galaxy Edge so I became accustomed to not resting too much on the front. I could see where someone who isn't accustomed to it or, fair enough, has no interest in becoming accustomed to that disliking it and that's fine. I respect that.
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