Apple’s affordable 4-inch iPhone SE is causing a major headache for Chinese makers of low-cost Android phones.
Supply chain manufacturers in Taiwan and China are reportedly becoming more conservative about building up inventories of smartphone components from companies including Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo as the iPhone SE squeezes the competition.
If you’re setting up your new iPhone for the first time, one of your must-do steps will be setting up Touch ID. Apple’s biometric security system lets you map your own fingerprint to the Home button so nobody can unlock your device but you (or the bad person who has gained control of your thumb somehow, but that’s a bit grim).
When I set up my Touch ID the first time, I mapped the thumbs of both hands separately, and that was a good idea because I frankly have no idea which side my phone is going to be on when I want to get into it. And that’s served me well, but we’ve found an even more efficient way to do that same thing thanks to some sharp internet investigators.
The iPhone SE may not be Apple’s biggest hit in the U.S., but it’s selling like gangbusters in China!
Drexel Hamilton analyst Brian White recently visited Apple’s flagship retail store in Shenzhen, where he noted that fresh shipments of the iPhone SE (particularly in the gold color option) arrive each morning, and sell out within just one hour of going on sale.
The new iPhone SE is small but powerful and the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro is as satisfying a tablet as ever.
These two great new Apple products get their moment in the spotlight as we bring you iPhone SE and iPad Pro reviews in this week’s digital magazine.
Plus, we’ve got a ton of how-tos like finding hidden Facebook messages and freeing up precious iPhone space, more hardware reviews, and a bunch of news about our favorite company.
Head on down to see this week’s top stories, and be sure to check out your own copy of Cult of Mac Magazine this week.
The iPhone SE is finally starting to sell out after making its official debut last week, greeted by glowing reviews from fans and critics. It’s the best 4-inch phone money can buy, but is it enough to win over the millions of consumers buying affordable Androids?
It certainly has the looks, and with the same internals as the iPhone 6s, the iPhone SE has plenty of power, too. But while its $399 price tag ($499 if you want a decent amount of storage) makes it much cheaper than Apple’s high-end devices, it’s still not cheap.
Will the iPhone SE really worry Android makers, then, or is it another iPhone 5c — a slightly cheaper version of its larger siblings that will be only moderately successful?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight between Cult of Android and Cult of Mac as we attempt to answer those questions.
For the last year and a half I’ve been using the massive iPhone 6 Plus. I love its 5.5-inch screen for watching videos, checking my social media pages, and browsing the web.
But after spending the last week with the diminutive, 4-inch iPhone SE, my thoughts on whether I need such a big phone have changed.
Check out my reasons below.
We’ve recently seen the first deals on both unlocked and subsidized iPhone SEs, plus the lowest price we’ve ever seen for the iPad Pro 13-inch 128GB Wi-Fi. These deals and more are in this roundup of the best Apple deals you’ll find online this week.
The design of the iPhone SE is a bit stale for some Apple fans, but if you’re dying for a 4-inch iPhone that comes with the sleek curves of the iPhone 6 and 6s some determined modders from Germany have found the perfect solution.
Unhappy with the iPhone SE body, Computer Bild managed to take extract its guts and shove them into one of those fake 4-inch iPhone 6 housings from China we spotted last month. After more than two hours of careful modding, the end result is the iPhone SE Apple should have built. Better yet, it actually works.
You can watch the madness unfold below, but this is one mod you might not want to try at home.
Apple’s new iPhone SE might be able to take sales from Android in some emerging markets, but it certainly won’t be able to stem the bleeding in many countries, where Google’s platform continues to rob iOS of its market share.
According to the latest figures, Android is up in China, Europe, and even the U.S. as the iPhone’s share falls.
The 4-inch iPhone SE may be billed as Apple’s most affordable iPhone yet, but it won’t be nearly so reasonably-priced when it launches in India — one of Apple’s biggest potential markets — this Friday.
Compared with the $399 price tag it carries in the U.S. (which translates to around $430 after taxes in most states), the iPhone SE will set customers in India back 39,000 rupees ($586). For those keeping track at home, that’s a 36 percent premium compared with the U.S. price.
When it comes to building iPhones, it really pays to use old parts.
The iPhone SE only costs Apple about $160 to build and assemble, based on the latest findings from an IHS teardown that discovered one the display, Apple cut costs down to less than half by using the same four-inch screen found on the iPhone 5s.
The iPhone SE may have the brains of the iPhone 6s, but not the brawn.
It took only 160 pounds of force to bend the iPhone SE’s frame in a new durability test pitting Apple’s tiny new iPhone against the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. The new 4-inch iPhone stands up well fairly well against the iPhone 6s Plus, but it gets wrecked in SquareTrade’s tests, while the iPhone 6s takes a beating and still looks great.
I forgot how good it feels to hold 4 inches of magic in my hands.
Spending the past year and a half with the luxurious 5.5-inch screen of the iPhone 6 Plus and 6s nearly convinced me that bigger really is better. But after using the iPhone SE, I’m starting to rethink everything I love about iPhone.
The moment I clasped the iPhone SE it was like reconnecting with an ex-lover. Everything is familiar and yet it has somehow improved in nearly every single way. I’ve been re-captivated by its beauty, brains, and brawn all over again, even though on the outside, it looks like such a boring device.
How can an iPhone that looks so old feel so right?
Getting to a point where absolutely no one can hack into your iPhone will be practically impossible, according to Apple engineers who admit no company writes perfect code.
Apple has been criticized by national security officials for making it harder for law enforcement to access much needed information on locked iPhones to solve cases. Now that the FBI has figured out a way to hack the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone the debate has cooled down, but Apple engineers say they want the FBI to divulge their method, for the sake of security.
Apple is 40 years old today. In that time, the Cupertino company has delivered some incredible products and services, and revolutionized smartphones, tablets, and music players. But is it boring now?
Some say Apple’s innovation has stalled in recent years, and it has become too predictable. The surprises we used to see during its big keynotes no longer show up, and despite its secrecy, you can almost predict its product roadmap for the next year.
Are those claims harsh? Is Apple really past its best, or will it deliver groundbreaking new products again that can shake up the consumer technology industry?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight between Cult of Android and Cult of Mac as we fight over Apple at 40.
A teardown of the new iPhone SE reveals that it has the same waterproof seals as its big brothers the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus — despite looking almost identical to the older iPhone 5s.
The iPhone SE isn’t drawing as big of lines today as the wait to reserve a Tesla Model 3, but Tim Cook still decided to check-in on at least one Apple Store to gauge interest in the tiny new device.
Apple’s CEO was spotted at the Palo Alto Apple Store this morning talking to customers and employees. Cook has visited the store during previous product launches, however the crowds and lines for selfies weren’t quite as long today as usual.
Watch Cook glad-hand iPhone SE customers below:
The iPhone SE finally arrived on my doorstep this morning, and I couldn’t wait to get Apple’s new 4-inch iPhone out of the box.
Get our first impressions of the tiny dynamo in Cult of Mac‘s iPhone SE unboxing video below.
After being made available for pre-order last week, the 4-inch iPhone SE and 9.7-inch iPad Pro are available to buy in Apple Stores today — although unlike many Apple launches, this one doesn’t seem to have been met with massive queues.
Tim Cook admitted back in January that Apple’s growth wasn’t going to be at usual stratospheric levels during the first three months of 2016. And, based on a new report, things aren’t likely to pick up too much in the April-June quarter, either.
Citing “industry sources,” chip orders placed by Apple to its suppliers are allegedly slower in the year’s second quarter than in the same three month period in previous years.
Upgrading to an iPhone with 64GB of storage will cost you an extra $100, but Apple actually only spends about a tenth of that to pay for the bigger memory chips.
With the iPhone 6s and new iPhone SE both starting with a paltry 16GB, shelling out the extra cash for more space is practically a no-brainer, and that plays right into Apple’s plan to milk the margins on its higher end models.
The iPhone SE may look tiny, but it’s already become a big hit in China.
Apple’s new iPhone doesn’t hit stores until March 31st, however, pre-orders for the iPhone SE have already topped 3.4 million in China according to early estimates that show the iPhone SE will be much better received than the iPhone 5c.
Once again, Apple has refreshed its iPhone and iPad line with some better (albeit smaller) iOS devices, the iPhone SE and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.
If you’re looking for all the details on these two new gadgets, or just want to know which is the right iPad or iPhone for you, be sure to grab this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine, which also includes all the cool things you can do with iOS 9.3, a look at Cupertino’s new Apple Watch pivot, and a deeper dive on the keynote itself.
Here are this week’s top stories.
iOS 9.3 has caused headaches for some iPad owners, who updated to the new operating system only to find their devices bricked. But Apple already has a fix out to help bring those older devices back to life.
Apple temporarily pulled the iOS 9.3 update from some devices yesterday. The company has since released a new build of the update specifically for iPad 2 users whose devices failed to install the update.
Apple’s new iPhone might be tiny, but its battery packs a mighty punch.
Early stress tests on the iPhone SE have revealed that battery life on the Apple’s new 4-inch device is actually better than the iPhone 6s as well as Samsung’s Galaxy S7.