The new toys are official. The iPhone SE very nearly amounts to an iPhone 6 in an iPhone 5 casing, and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro is effectively a smaller version of the 12.9-inch model.
While the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were Apple’s response to a large part of its customer base who were waiting impatiently for larger-screened phones, there were others who found them too big – either awkward to handle, or just too large to fit comfortably into some pockets. Those people were left with the choice between a 4-inch phone with out-dated specs, or a high-spec phone that was larger than they wanted.
The iPhone SE is a 4-inch iPhone with very few compromises. You don’t get 3D Touch, the front-facing camera is limited to 1.2MP stills and 720p video, and you don’t get the option of 128GB storage – but otherwise it has all the new toys: A9 chip, Apple Pay, Always-on ‘Hey Siri,’ 12MP rear camera, Live Photos, 4K video …
Prior to the launch of the iPhone SE, 37% of you planned to buy it. Interestingly, a third of those were iPhone 6/Plus/S owners who wanted the smaller form factor. Additionally, a further 12% of you said you would buy it when it was on a par with the larger flagship models – and it gets extremely close.
So let’s see what’s changed now you’ve seen the new model. To give us the best comparison, we are using essentially the same wording for the questions.
The 9.7-inch iPad Pro is a nice upgrade to the iPad Air 2, offering all of the goodies available in the 12.9-inch model: A9X chip, Apple Pencil support and the Smart Connector. It also gets a much better display (brighter, less reflective, wider color gamut and dynamically adjustable white balance), along with a four-speaker audio system offering twice the volume of its predecessor. Oh, and a better camera than the larger model.
As always, please let us know the reasons behind your decision in the comments.