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iPhone SE: Cheap, small Apple handset might be dead after it disappears from store again

Success of the phone initially surprised Apple

Andrew Griffin
Monday 21 January 2019 15:34 GMT
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Apple's iPhone SE might be over.

The beloved, small phone proved to be a runaway success when it was released in March 2016. But since then there has been little mention of it, and it has never been updated.

Hopes were revived this week when the iPhone SE appeared again on the Apple website, after it disappeared following the September launch of new iPhones. But it was being sold at a lower price and in Apple's clearance section, suggesting that it might just have been a way of getting rid of some leftover phones.

Now even those clearance phones have disappeared again, leaving no mention of the iPhone SE at all once more.

The iPhone SE arrived in 2016 to immediate excitement. It included what was then the newest processor and other internal features, but packed into a smaller body that first arrived with the iPhone 5.

Demand for the beloved phone seemed even to surprise Apple, and the phone was difficult to buy for some time after it was unveiled. But it went without any more updates until September 2018, and then disappeared from Apple's website when the new phones were added to it.

Apple hasn't mentioned the iPhone SE since, and it is not clear where its future now lies. The company never announced the death of the phone, but hasn't give any indication that it is still alive either.

Rumours have continued to swirl about a possible iPhone SE 2, almost as long as the original has been available. In May of last year, there were suggestions that the summer could see the launch of an update – but various Apple events, including the release of the new iPhone XS and XR, came and went without a mention of the SE.

The iPhone XR seems to fulfill some of the same purpose as the SE, packing in all of the newest technology into a cheaper handset. But it is actually larger than most of Apple's phones, sitting somewhere between the iPhone XS and XS Max.

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