Amidst a slew of leaks and heavy buzz, the Apple iPhone SE has been made official. The 4-inch iPhone is designed to cater the needs of a small-screen smartphone at a comparatively cheaper price tag (compared to an array of premium priced Apple products). The iPhone SE is a result of Apple's 2015 sales report that touts that the company sold 30 million 4-inch iPhone models in the year 2015. The "SE" refers to "Special Edition".
At the launch event, Apple declared that the starting price of the iPhone SE will be Rs. 39,000 for the Indian market. It will go on sale in the starting of April.
The Apple iPhone SE features a lot of stuff that was introduced in the iPhone 6s, however, in terms of design the device looks a lot like the iPhone 5s, which was Apple's last 4-incher. Apple claims that the latest iPhone SE comes with the same processing power as the iPhone 6s. It means that the iPhone SE is almost twice as powerful as the iPhone 5s that was unveiled in the year 2013.
It features stark resemblance with the iPhone 5s, but with more rounded corners like the iPhone 6s. The iPhone SE will be available in Space Gray, Gold, Silver, and Rose Gold color variants with 16GB/64GB storage options. The 16GB variant of the iPhone SE for the US markets has been priced at $399 while the 64GB variant will retail at $499. It will go on sale on March 31, and will be available in 100 more countries by the month of May.
As a heads up to our readers, we would like to mention that the iPhone SE does not feature a 3D Touch-sensitive display. It comes with 4-inch retina panel (640 x 1136 pixels). It runs iOS 9.3 OS out-of-the-box.
In terms of specifications, the iPhone SE comes powered by Apple A9 chipset along with M9 motion coprocessor. The device sports a 12-megapixel iSight (primary) camera with 4K video support, along with a 1.2-megapixel FaceTime (front-facing) camera. In terms of connectivity, the device supports Bluetooth 4.2, enhanced Wi-Fi and LTE, latest microphones. It will also support Apple Pay with a Touch ID fingerprint sensor.
Taking a cue from the iPhone 5s, Apple retained its TouchID feature. However, the company claimed that it has upgraded the network performance on the iPhone SE up to three times on Wi-Fi network and 50% on LTE speeds when compared to the iPhone 5s.
Moreover, Apple also unveiled new leather cases for the iPhone SE. These cases will retail at Rs. 2,900, and will be available in Black and Midnight Blue color options. The company also revealed that the ‘Lightning Dock’ will be priced at Rs. 3,700.
