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Comment by dlgeek | Hacker News Reader

Can someone provide context as to why this is newsworthy for those of us who don't follow Apple's every move?

(I failed trying to rephrase this to sound less sarcastic, but I'm genuinely looking for context here).

There is a contingent of people who prefer the small size and the headphone jack of the iPhone SE in a world that's moving towards larger and larger phones; recently released iPhones lack a headphone jack.

The entire screen can be reached with the thumb when the phone is held in one hand, which is a nice design feature.

My better half finds everything larger, even .25" or .5", beyond the pale for comfortable use. Which pretty much leaves her with no other choices left.

Selling points for me are the headphone socket and sharp edges that for me gives a much more positive grip than thinner or rounded. Oh, and I actively don't want bezels to go away. If asked, I'd add a lanyard post to an SE 2 design. :)

Also very easy (and cheap) to replace the screen and battery on the SE.

The iPhone SE is the smallest smartphone that gets security updates, of any platform. (And in 2010 or so it would have been bigger than any smartphone not being called a "phablet," so it's not so much that it's small as that it's the only reasonable-sized phone left in many people's opinions.)

If Apple's historical support practice keeps up, it'll remain in support until late 2020 or 2021.

Sent from my iPhone SE

5S doesn't get security updates any more?

Oh, it appears that it does, it's just worse hardware than the SE in the same form factor, and is actually discontinued.

I'm actually pretty surprised - that now means that the iPhone 5S has now gotten software updates for 5.5 years, which I think is a record.

I really hope Apple supports it beyond that, especially if they don’t launch a alternative in the interim.

It certainly has a lot of compute to support future iOS releases.

this is literally the ONLY modern smartphone at this size. miniaturization has become so costly that no major phone manufacturer is capable of doing it at scale.

>this is literally the ONLY modern smartphone at this size

androids?

none at 4".

Here’s the closest I could find, at 3.5” - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/K-touch-I9-Super-Mini-Mobile...

There’s a ton more and some at 2.5”!

Is this (or any of the other, off-brand alternatives) any good at all? Does the battery last more than a few hours?

I'm not sure how I'd answer these questions, if I was in the market for a small Android phone. And frankly, it's more likely to be crap than not.

If that thing were any good, it would be selling like hotcakes in the United States. Another terrible Chinese phone.

Xiaomi devices are amazing and yet they don’t sell in the States. Could be another great Chinese phone.

That thing has 3G. Terrible screen resolution. God knows about battery life.

That's interesting. But seeing Mediatek SoC my enthusiasm is limited. Personally I want only something that's supported at least by LineageOS.

However with that price it's not bad. But for now when my Nexus 5x will eventually bootloop to a higher plane of existence I'll plan to buy last Xperia Compact in used.

Edit: in reviews people mention that there is no global version. So there's no Play store. I'll pass.

Oh and I forgot. I keep my hopes for Sharp Aquos R2 Compact. So far it's only available in Japan and I now only that it will be released in the end of April in India.

its hard to tell if it's irony or not

I doubt it's capability, especially since smartphones used to be smaller in the past.

Average people just don't want smaller phones. So they are a nice product, and manufactures don't want to take a risk.

Average people just don't want smaller phones. So they are a nice product, and manufactures don't want to take a risk.

I don't believe this. It looks like supply and marketing pushing demand, like the SUV trend in the 00s.

This isn't true, though. I replied to someone else with MixPanel numbers, but basically just from the last two years (iphone 8 through the new XR,XS's), 60% of iPhone users are using smaller of the newer phones. If you go back further, I'm sure you'll see similar. So, while everyone keeps saying the market wants larger iPhones, the market keeps buying the smaller ones.

The iPhone SE is traditionally a fan favorite and turned over many heads when it first released (or rather, upon its first big price drop).

Some people, myself included, prefer this iPhone. Rumor is they shut down all their production of them, and these are the lasts ones.

Yes but https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology/1957264-ap... they have up for a month, at least. How is this news?

They went out of stock again soon after that post. Whether Apple is finding devices down the back of the sofa or what I don't know, but they keep coming in and out of stock. There's no "notify me" feature on their store, so people make posts like these.

In my opinion the SE is the best phone Apple has ever made. The form factor is perfect to hold when running, and it’s small enough to fit in your pocket and to type with one hand.

Haha and you fell for that? :D

Just had to think about the Futurama episode with the myPhone.

I just bought a 128Gb model for $320 with tax to upgrade the 16Gb model I’ve had. I’m promised an $80 trade in for my old one.

The SE is an old phone that was arguably outdated at launch. It struggles loading fancy websites. The camera is quite outdated[1].

So why buy it?

It’s a phone that fits in my hand with being google.

[1] what modern smartphones do with their cameras is nothing short of magic. I have a Fuji X series and I rarely use it - the SE is enough.

The SE has a slightly higher resolution camera than the XR.

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