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Comment by masklinn | Hacker News Reader

> Unsurprisingly, the primary reason identified for the iPhone 16e 's weaker debut is its higher launch price.

Adjusting for inflation, the SE (€479 in 2020) was €588 and the SE2 (€519 in 2022) was €567. The 16e is 699, a 25% increase.

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Small phones (to an extent) are less expensive than larger phones to manufacture.

The thought that "Small phones are only more popular because they're less expensive" seems to willfully ignore that the phones are less expensive because their inputs are less expensive, because they're smaller.

I wonder about the idea that they're less expensive. True in terms of materials, but possibly not true if the smaller production run means you can't offset the capital costs of manufacturing the parts.

That's fair. I suspect that as phones get more "premium" the margin from a small phone shrinks faster than a larger phone.

HTC has been making cheap (very cheap) and small phones for the discount market. Foldables exist in the premium space, but the price tags appear to bake in a higher margin for a device that won't sell the same volume.

And in Germany, the iPhone 16e 128GB in white currently sells for €537 at "Netto Marken-Discount", a supermarket chain famous for its low price. "Marken-Discount" = "brand name rebates"

That is utterly worthless without knowing what the SE and SE2 were sold for in the same context. The 16e's MSRP in germany is 699.

IMO the e series is/could be used as an anchor to ratchet other phones higher in price.

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