Apple will call new 4-inch model ‘iPhone SE’

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Don't call it the '5se'.
Don't call it the '5se'.
Photo: Martin Hajek

The game of ‘what is Apple going to call it’s next cheap iPhone’ just took another turn today with a new rumor that claims the new 4-inch device won’t be called the iPhone 6c, or the iPhone 5se.

It shall be called the ‘iPhone SE’

“We are hearing that Apple appears to be going all in on the special edition factor,” reports 9to5Mac. Sources say that Apple has decided to drop the ‘5’ from the device’s name and simply call it the ‘iPhone SE.’” The site originally claimed the device would be called the iPhone 5se but says Apple has changed it so the numbering won’t confuse customers into thinking it’s an old model.

The iPhone SE would be Apple’s first device smartphone that doesn’t have a number in the name since the original iPhone was launched in 2007. However, it won’t be Apple’s first product with an ‘SE’ suffix.

That honor went to the Macintosh SE that launched in 1987. The SE on the Macintosh stood for ‘System Expansion’ while the iPhone SE will likely be an abbreviation for ‘special edition.’

The ‘iPhone SE’ — or whatever Apple decides to call it — will come in the same form factor as the iPhone 5 and 5s, with a curved glass screen and the internals of an iPhone 6. Apple is supposedly planning to unveil the new 4-inch iPhone on March 15th alongside a new 9.7-inch iPad and some Apple Watch hardware.

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