The product name Phone SE is now history, because since March 2025 Apple has no longer used the suffix “SE”, but rather “16e” or now “17e”. Ten years ago, Apple presented the first generation of this series and thus supplemented the iPhone range with a cheaper version. In the USA the starting price was 399 dollars, in this country it was 489 euros. Strictly speaking, it was the second attempt of this kind: The iPhone 5c, introduced in 2013, was intended to appeal to more price-sensitive customers, but was pretty much spurned. The price differences were too small compared to the 5s at the time, and the look seemed too cheap to many. However, the first iPhone SE took a different approach. Cheap, lots of performance – but simply too small for many people
Anyone who chose an iPhone SE (2016) received a slightly older case in the design of the 5/5s, but at the same time the current A9 chip from the iPhone 6s. There was certainly no lack of computing power, although it quickly became clear that a 4″ display was probably too small for the majority of users. After initial enthusiasm, sales figures quickly fell significantly and a study published in 2018 certified that the SE had the lowest distribution among all iPhone models.
2020: Another attempt – which was successful this time
For a long time it looked as if Apple was permanently burying the SE line. In 2020, however, the company tried again – and this time it was a bestseller. From then on, the SE of the second generation relied on the housing of the iPhone 8, a 4.7″ screen and the A13 chip presented a few months earlier. Two years later, the iPhone SE 3 followed with an A15 chip, but unchanged optics. This remained in the range in this country until the end of 2024, but then had to be taken out of sale because it still used Lightning instead of USB-C (see message). This meant that both the last Lightning and the last with the classic fingerprint sensor disappeared Home button-equipped iPhone. The new e-series appears to be becoming a permanent member of the iPhone family, receiving updates every year.
