Apple introduces the iPhone SE

Source: Apple. The iPhone SE.

Apple today introduced the iPhone SE, the most powerful phone with a 4" display, in a familiar compact aluminum design that has been updated with matte-chamfered edges, a colour-matched stainless steel Apple logo, and four metallic finishes, including rose gold.

“iPhone SE is an exciting new idea — we started with a beloved, iconic design and reinvented it from the inside out. The result is the most beautiful and powerful phone with a 4" display in the world,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Marketing. “Everyone who wants a smaller phone is going to love iPhone SE.”

The most powerful phone with a 4" display

iPhone SE runs with the same 64-bit A9 chip that is in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus for fast speeds, long battery life, fast wireless, a 12-megapixel iSight camera featuring Live Photos and 4K video, and Touch ID with Apple Pay. The 64-bit A9 chip, introduced in iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, offers iPhone SE customers two times faster CPU and three times faster GPU performance compared to iPhone 5s, all with gains in energy efficiency for improved battery life. M9, Apple’s next-generation motion coprocessor, is integrated into A9 allowing more features to run all the time at lower power, including “Hey Siri” without having to pick up your iPhone, and a range of fitness tracking capabilities like measuring your steps and distance.

iPhone SE users can browse, download and stream content with Wi-Fi up to three times and with LTE up to 50% faster than the iPhone 5s.* iPhone SE also includes more LTE bands for better worldwide roaming and supports Voice over LTE and Wi-Fi calling for high-quality wideband calls.

With an easy-to-use interface and security at its core, iOS 9 is the foundation of iPhone SE and brings built-in apps like Messages, FaceTime, Photos, Music and Maps to iPhone users. iOS 9 also brings more intelligence to iPhone SE with proactive assistance, powerful search, improved Siri features, and a new Night Shift feature that uses the iPhone SE’s clock and geolocation to automatically adjust the colours in the display to the warmer end of the spectrum after dark.

The world’s most popular camera

iPhone SE has an advanced 12-megapixel iSight camera featuring Focus Pixel technology for fast focusing, an Apple-designed image signal processor, advanced noise reduction, third-generation local tone mapping and better face detection, all resulting in sharper, more detailed photos. With Live Photos on iPhone SE, customers can go beyond snapshots to capture moments in motion and relive memories with sound. Live Photos are 12-megapixel photos that, with just a touch, reveal the moments immediately before and after the shot was taken. 

Additional camera features include:

• The ability to shoot HD video with support for 4K at a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160. After capturing 4K video, customers can edit on a Mac, PC or iPad, and with the latest version of iMovie on iPhone, can even edit two simultaneous streams of 4K on iPhone SE.
• Retina Flash, which momentarily makes the display three times brighter with True Tone lighting technology, for bright selfies in low light with the FaceTime HD camera.
• Features introduced with iPhone 6s, including up to 63-megapixel panorama photos, video capture up to 60fps for 1080p video and 240fps for slo-mo, time-lapse with video stabilisation and cinematic video stabilisation.

Interested?

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iPhone SE will be available in space gray, silver, gold and rose gold metallic finishes in 16GB and 64GB models starting at US$399** from Apple’s retail stores, Apple.com, Apple Authorized Resellers and select carriers. Apple-designed accessories including leather cases in black and midnight blue will be available for US$39** and Lightning Docks in colour-matched metallic finishes are currently available from Apple’s retail stores and Apple.com for US$49. 

Every customer who buys iPhone SE from Apple will be offered free Personal Setup, in-store or online, to help them customise their iPhone by setting up email, showing them new apps from the App Store and more. Anyone who wants to learn more about iPhone SE or iOS 9 can register for the free workshops offered at every Apple Store.

In Asia Pacific, customers in Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore, will be able to order iPhone SE beginning March 24, with availability beginning March 31. iPhone SE will further be available in early April in Bahrain, India, Kuwait, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Turkey and the UAE.

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* Data plan required. LTE is available in select markets and through select carriers. Speeds vary based on site conditions and carrier. For details on LTE support, contact your carrier and see www.apple.com/iphone/LTE.
** US pricing. Prices may vary in other countries.