Despite replacing my iPhone SE with a newer iPhone, I have to say that the iPhone SE really hit a sweet spot - small and thin, but no less capable than the iPhone 7. My only gripe was that the fingerprint sensor was often finicky.

Some of us like small cellphones. This trend towards bigger and bigger screens has only made one-handed usage harder for me.

> My only gripe was that the fingerprint sensor was often finicky

iPhone SE actually has an older, first-generation Touch ID sensor.

Check out the Light Phone 2 on indegogo. It might fit the bill for a small form factor phone at a good price point with a small suite of apps.

I know correlation doesn't imply causation, but I'm going with it: https://i.imgur.com/fyveqs3.png

edit: chart of AAPL stock price for the past 12 years

Of course, Apple stopped selling 4" phones a couple of months before the dip we're seeing. You can't really tell the difference if you try to include more than a decade of data, though.

graph of sales of 4" phones?

I bet they must pay with put options to keep attracting new talent!

lmfao

That is one of the most egregious abuses of statistics I've ever seen on HN. Pretty funny. Stock price correlates with a whole raft of macroeconomic factors e.g. economy, taxation not just the specific performance of Apple. And even ignoring that Apple's performance as a stock is dependent on their overall revenue and profit mix for which they are extremely diversified. It's not just about iPhones.

What we do know is that iPhones are important to Apple and if they genuinely thought that there was a significant market for tiny phones then they would release one. They still sell the iPad mini and the smaller Apple Watch for example so it's not just they they are afraid of small things.

I'm pretty sure the graph was originally meant as satire.

I thought as much.

But still you see a lot of comments even here that Apple would be saved if they released a new iPhone SE or some other small phone.

While the SE has great specs and the form factor is nice, the screen and hence, the keyboard is a tad too small to type fast and comfortable. I think the sweet spot size-wise is the 6/7/8. They make it harder to reach top corners though (but still ok). That's a trade-off I am willing to take for a better typing experience.

Of course if they made an SE-sized phone with an XS-style screen, the keyboard would be as large as the 8 with the form factor of the SE :)

I can dream...

Ah that would be the sweet spot.

Me too.

Even though I have big hands, I like a small phone.

Same here, it is also a great phone for physical activity like running/biking where I don't need a tablet in my pocket.