‘Made in India’ iPhone 6e not SE variant but a next-gen entry point for consumers
Published on Feb 20, 2025
By IANS
- NEW DELHI — In a further push to the local manufacturing, the entire iPhone 16
lineup, including the newly-launched iPhone 16e, is now being assembled in
India for domestic market as well as for exports, as industry experts on
Thursday cleared the air around the new device being compared to now-retired
iPhone SE.
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- The new Apple device, with A18 chip, breakthrough battery
life, Apple Intelligence, and a 48MP 2-in-1 camera system, is being
manufactured/assembled for local consumption as well as for export to select
countries.
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- According to experts, iPhone 16e is not iPhone SE4 and
the whole “comparison is futile”.
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- When iPhone SE was launched, it was another masterstroke
at that time. However, times have changed since then.
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- “Essentially, Apple retired the SE lineup and extended
the iPhone 16 lineup with a new entry point. iPhone SE was no longer adding any
value to consumers, developers or Apple,” said Neil Shah, Partner and
Co-Founder at Counterpoint Research.
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- The iPhone SE which was positioned as a "Special
Edition," which brought nostalgia of older and smaller design, was priced
around $400.
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- However, the iPhone SE lost its value and popularity,
which used to be once 16 per cent of the total iPhone sales volumes, dropped to
1 per cent last year.
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- According to Shah, consumers now prefer better cameras,
bigger displays and faster processors.
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- “With all this background, what Apple did was to extend
the 16 series with a newer ‘base version’ of iPhone 16 and now retired SE,”
Shah explained.
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- According to industry experts, the company has done well
with streamlining the series, reducing fragmentation in design and experience
and able to charge $599 (US)/Rs 59,999 (India) with the newest entry point for
the best Apple experiences.