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iPhone SE2 Delayed
March 29, 2020
Reports of the iPhone 9, also known as the iPhone SE 2, have percolated to a boil. Apple was expected to announce the follow up to the iPhone SE at an event in March, which didn't take place because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Instead, on March 18 the company announced updates to the iPad Pro, MacBook Air and Mac Mini.) This led to uncertainty about the future of the iPhone 9. In 2016, the original iPhone SE (based on the body of the iPhone 5/5S) was a huge success due in part to its $399 starting price. It was largely considered Apple's first "budget" iPhone. Small phone lovers flocked to it because of its petite size and then mourned when Apple stopped selling it in 2018. By today's phone standards, the SE is absolutely tiny. Rumors indicate that the iPhone 9 will likely have a body around the size of the iPhone 8, which is smaller than the iPhone 11 Pro (the smallest phone in Apple's current generation). But when compared to the iPhone SE, the 8 is large.
Figure 1: iPhone SE and the iPhone 8.
March 29, 2020
Reports of the iPhone 9, also known as the iPhone SE 2, have percolated to a boil. Apple was expected to announce the follow up to the iPhone SE at an event in March, which didn't take place because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Instead, on March 18 the company announced updates to the iPad Pro, MacBook Air and Mac Mini.) This led to uncertainty about the future of the iPhone 9. In 2016, the original iPhone SE (based on the body of the iPhone 5/5S) was a huge success due in part to its $399 starting price. It was largely considered Apple's first "budget" iPhone. Small phone lovers flocked to it because of its petite size and then mourned when Apple stopped selling it in 2018. By today's phone standards, the SE is absolutely tiny. Rumors indicate that the iPhone 9 will likely have a body around the size of the iPhone 8, which is smaller than the iPhone 11 Pro (the smallest phone in Apple's current generation). But when compared to the iPhone SE, the 8 is large.
Figure 1: iPhone SE and the iPhone 8.
Source: Patrick Holland/CNET
People wanting a small iPhone have commented:
The iPhone SE has the same body as the iPhone 5 and 5S and those phones were built to be used one-handed. With their 4-inch displays, your thumb could reach pretty much every part of the screen easily, and that's what I want in the iPhone 9.
When it launched the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in 2014, Apple employed a new feature called Reachability as a workaround for reaching the top of the new larger screens. To use Reachability, you double-tapped the home button which lowered the top part of what was on the screen to the middle. It made it easy to reach things one-handed. But the downside was you had to toggle the mode on and off, which added extra steps to anything you want to do on your phone one-handed. Initially using Reachability on an iPhone X was an exercise in frustration. From: Jason Cipriani/CNET
- The iPhone 9 needs to fit into a woman's pants pocket, Vanessa Hand Orellana, CNET is a fan of small phones and says that one of the areas modern smartphones leave behind is portability, specifically the issue of fitting into a woman's pants pockets. She says that the iPhone SE was the optimal size to fit into a woman's pocket and when a pocket wasn't available, like during workouts, it fitted comfortably into a sports bra. "I'm certainly not going to do that with a Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra," says Hand Orellana. The iPhone SE was also easy to hold. Current models of the iPhone are often seen with a PopSocket attached to the back to make gripping the beautiful glass behemoths easier. In fact, there are times when a PopSocket prevented me from dropping my old iPhone 6S Plus while I was performing an acrobat-like software maneuver one-handed. I have large hands, but I appreciate a smaller phone like the SE because I was confident, I wasn't going to drop it. I never needed a PopSocket on the SE.
- When the Motorola Razr foldable phone is closed it is smaller than an iPhone SE said James Martin/CNET. Foldable phones like the Motorola Razr and Galaxy Z Flip attempt to be more pocketable by letting a phone the size of the Galaxy S20 Ultra fold into a size that's actually smaller than the iPhone SE. But when I use a Motorola Razr or Galaxy Z Flip in their open position one-handed, I'm still unable to tap buttons or swipe through menus that are at the top of the phone.
The iPhone SE has the same body as the iPhone 5 and 5S and those phones were built to be used one-handed. With their 4-inch displays, your thumb could reach pretty much every part of the screen easily, and that's what I want in the iPhone 9.
When it launched the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in 2014, Apple employed a new feature called Reachability as a workaround for reaching the top of the new larger screens. To use Reachability, you double-tapped the home button which lowered the top part of what was on the screen to the middle. It made it easy to reach things one-handed. But the downside was you had to toggle the mode on and off, which added extra steps to anything you want to do on your phone one-handed. Initially using Reachability on an iPhone X was an exercise in frustration. From: Jason Cipriani/CNET