price-sensitive consumers, generous trade-ins
mean the device can be picked up for as little
as $9.54 per month or from $229 upfront in the
United States, and that’s with 64GB of storage,
up from 16GB offered for the same price on the
original SE.
Coronavirus aside, the new iPhone SE has a
secondary purpose: to allow Apple to further
penetrate emerging markets such as China
and India and better compete against rivals
like Google, Samsung, and Xiaomi. Last
year, Google launched its Pixel 3a, a $399
smartphone offering similar specs as its older
brother the Pixel 3. The device was universally
praised for its “extraordinary camera”, all-
day battery life and built-in Google Assistant,
helping Google to increase its market share
in the smartphone market and rival Samsung
for the first time. Offering a lower cost device
helped Google double its smartphone sales
in the quarter following its release, and
leaks suggest that the Pixel 4a is around
the corner. By taking a leaf out of Google’s
book, Apple can better position itself in price-
sensitive countries and in key markets like the
United States and Europe, where consumers
are holding onto their older smartphones
for longer following “upgrade fatigue”.
Apple continues to diversify into new areas, like
entertainment and gaming, to spread risk and
deliver returns to investors, and now that it has
its sights on the budget smartphone market,
it seems like nothing can stop it. Some have
already said that Apple’s return to the SE means
that budget smartphones from Samsung
and Google will be “dead on arrival,” and a
successful SE could encourage the company to