apple, no. Just no. You can't force the nostalgic old iPhone 6 design on us all over again with the iPhone SE 3. It's wrong, it's ridiculous, and I challenge you to defend the decision.
We still don't know for sure if the iPhone SE 3 (the third generation of this budget iPhone) will arrive tomorrow during the Apple Event on March 8 (in the early hours of March 9 if you live Down Under). It may not be, but all signs point to it.
Rumored to be a 5G phone with the latest silicon: Apple's A15 Bionic, maybe 128GB of storage starting, and then the picture gets a bit blurry. It may come in pink. The question is, will Apple paint the aluminum chassis of a classic iPhone 8 body or a new iPhone 13-style hybrid?
Let's hope for the latter, as we need to escape the relic that was the look of the iPhone SE Gen 1 and Gen 2.
old look
How old is this design? When I reviewed the iPhone 6 in 2014, I realized that it was based on the design of the then-nice fifth-generation iPod touch from two years ago. It was so thin, smooth, curved. The flat back was almost perfect, except for the camera bump.
I called the iPhone 6 "exceptional." It was a big change from the iPhone 4 to 5S designs. They, with their smooth, flat body-hugging bands, felt constrained, restricted, and out of sync with our notions of the phone all but disappearing in our hands as we focused on ever-larger screens.
However, the iPhone 6 was so slim that it fit perfectly in a back pocket. So light you forgot it was there until you sat down on the phone and folded it up. In fact, for a while, everyone seemed to be folding their phones. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 had stiffer bodies.
With the iPhone X, Apple began to focus on edge-to-edge displays and got rid of legacy technologies like the home button and Touch ID.
It was a shock to the system, but we got used to it and eventually switched to bigger phones. Even the redesign of the iPhone 12, which combined the best of the X's cutting-edge display and biometric technology with the classic band of the iPhone 5S, felt somehow more modern than what came before.
the mini problem
For a forward-thinking company, Apple isn't all that keen to put the past behind it, continuing to drag out a classic-style phone to make up for the iPhone's budget shortfall. Virtually every legacy device at the end of the iPhone lineup has featured the iPhone 6 design (there are subtle differences in the iPhone 8).
Here we are, however, a decade from the germination of this look, and I for one am ready to put it behind me.
Unfortunately, I'm afraid Apple still isn't.
When Apple released the iPhone 13 last September, it included the iPhone 13 mini, a version with a 5,4-inch screen that some thought it might ditch. Size and price aside, the $13 / $699 / AU$679 iPhone 1,199 mini (128GB) is the same as the 13-inch iPhone 6.1 ($799 / $779 / AU$1,349 for 128GB). .
Apple's current iPhone SE (2nd generation) starts at $399 / £419 / AU$749 for a 64GB model. I hate that it's still only 64GB, but the deal is undeniable. An A13 Bionic smartphone with a solid 12 MP camera that, thanks to a very clever algorithm, can still handle portrait mode photography.
The new iPhone SE 3 will retain at least the single 12MP camera. It could bump up the base storage to 128GB, cellular capabilities to 5G, and the processor to the same A15 Bionic you'll find in the iPhone 13.
You can probably see the problem.
Do it
If Apple updates the design of the iPhone SE 3, the screen will grow to 5,4 inches (with notch, naturally). It will be thick enough to run the 13 mini on battery life and powerful enough to handle the same tasks as the full-size iPhone 13.
If Apple keeps the iPhone SE 3 to a single rear camera and maybe uses an older TrueDepth module (highly unlikely), that might justify the extra $300 to buy an iPhone 13 mini, but that's not going to be a strong argument. .
Apple could split the difference. Creative Strategies president and analyst Tim Bajarin, who has followed Apple for decades, told me over email that he expected "a much more up-to-date design with a significant difference between this and the iPhone 13." However, he added that he wasn't sure if they would include a notch on the screen.
Assuming Apple does anything significant, a redesigned iPhone SE 3 would completely undermine the market potential of the iPhone 13 mini, and I don't care.
To move forward, Apple needs to outgrow a decade-old design. It's time, and whatever it does to the iPhone 13 mini, Apple should eat it and treat the iPhone SE 3 as some kind of force multiplier.
Sure, it'll capture some of that iPhone 13 mini market, but it'll also boost Apple's iPhone market share (likely attracting more budget-conscious Android buyers) with a really affordable and exciting new smartphone that finally ditches the past. and it manages to offer just enough current Apple goodness without breaking anyone's bank.