Apple's spring conference new products were criticized iPhone SE 3 was accused of "matryoshka dolls" again

Economic Observation Network reporter Qian Yujuan was called the Apple Spring Conference of the Spring Festival Gala by fruit fans, and arrived at 2 a.m. on March 9 as scheduled. The whole 80 minutes, three new products are compactly launched, but the outside world's impression is that this new product release leaves more slots than highlights.

"Innovation is not enough, color matching to make up." As early as last year, when the iPhone 13 was launched, because there were few innovative highlights at the hardware level of the mobile phone, only a variety of colors were added, Apple was criticized by users.

Today, the new version of the iPhone 13 series is just a change of "new clothes", for this new color design named "Cangling Green", the fruit powder quipped, "Stay up late and wait, but 'forgive color'." ”

In previous years, Apple's spring new products have the habit of updating the color matching, which makes Mr. Chen of the fruit powder express his surprise on the "iPhone is greener", and what makes him feel deeply unplanned is that the iPhone SE 3, which starts at 3499 yuan from the 4G upgrade to the 5G version, is almost exactly the same as the previous generation of products in appearance, and even dreams back to the iPhone 8 of 5 years ago.

The iPhone SE 3 is accused of being a "matryoshka doll" again

Unlike the new iPhone 13 series, the iPhone SE 3 is directly upgraded on the processor compared to the previous generation, equipped with Apple's latest A15 chip, which also makes the current iPhone SE only support 4G networks compared with the past, rising to support 5G networks.

However, Mr. Chen is not optimistic about the iPhone SE 3 that has changed the "core", "Apple is 'matryoshka' again." He told reporters that Apple once launched different products only by "changing the storage configuration", such a similar operation, and the fruit fan circle called it a "matryoshka doll".

When the iPhone SE 2 was released last year, it was pointed out that it was only a product that was slightly upgraded on the basis of the iPhone 8, and the appearance was basically the same." ”

On the morning of March 9, Mr. Chen saw the iPhone SE3 with a 4.7-inch LCD screen, a non-full screen, retaining the Home button and Touch ID, which is not his feeling alone, many netizens will call it, "the second doll machine of the iPhone 8".

For apple since 2020 to open up the iPhone SE product line, IDC China research manager Wang Xi has made in-depth observation, he told the Economic Observation Network reporter, he understands that the main strategic purpose of this product line is, "to expand the relatively limited budget of the user group and some overseas emerging markets." ”

According to Wang Xi, for the price segment market of $600 or even less than $500, Apple has an inherent product strategy, "with N-1, N-2 or older products, extend their life cycle, and sell at a reduced price." Under this strategy, Apple often chooses to lag behind the main products in the processor configuration, which is not difficult to understand, the iPhone SE is using an older mold, equipped with Apple's self-developed A-series chip processor, giving the corresponding user group a choice.

Digital field analyst Wang Yanlong told the Economic Observer Network reporter that Apple, as a leader in the global smartphone industry, will have an accurate data analysis system for the iPhone user group, even if the iPhone 12, iPhone 13 series of high-end flagship models have been launched, there are still many iPhone users have not "changed".

In Wang Yanlong's view, this part of the loyal apple users "waiting for not the big screen flagship", in response to this, Apple launched a low-end and low-priced iPhone SE, which can further promote the conversion of the above old users.

Raise the price but don't increase the amount

In recent years, mobile phone manufacturers in the Android camp have begun to adopt a diversified product line layout, guarding their respective shares in the high-end and low-end markets through multiple flagship products.

Under this influence, Apple has also differentiated a cheap product line for the low-end market on the basis of the digital high-end flagship. Mr. Chen noted that in addition to the latter's adherence to the cost-effective strategy, Apple from the iPhone 12 series, high-end flagship machines have also adopted a "increase in volume without price increase" model during the iteration.

However, the iPhone SE 3, which starts at 3499 yuan, surprised Mr. Chen, "64 G started, did not increase the amount, but increased the price by 200 yuan." Wang Yanlong also feels that if the current price of the iPhone SE 3 can have the configuration of the iPhone 8 Plus, "not only will it be a big seller, I will also replace the elderly at home with a new machine." ”

At present, the mainstream mobile phone configuration is mostly in the capacity of 128G, and the iPhone SE3 is priced at 3899 yuan in this capacity configuration. Wang Xi believes that there are more choices for mobile phones in this price range, not only Apple's own iPhone 12 mini in this price range, but also the flagship models of other Chinese smartphone brands.

"The number of users in the Chinese market who choose the iPhone SE 3 will be smaller." Wang Xi is expected to be supported by data, according to IDC data, the first generation of iPhone SE products, as of 2021, the cumulative shipment of about 40 million units, but the Chinese market accounted for less than 5%, the main sales area in addition to North America, Western Europe, Japan, Asia-Pacific and other regions accounted for higher than China.

Although Apple's SE series product line is not small in the global scale, "the Chinese market is not the main sales area." Wang Xi believes based on in-depth research on the Chinese smartphone market that "consumers in the Chinese market have a high demand for large screens and battery life." ”

Based on the current mobile phone market, a number of domestic smart phone manufacturers have benchmarked Apple, shouted out the slogan of "high-end", and at the same time, they rubbed their hands on the big screen, image, endurance and other aspects, and constantly iterated flagship products to open up the market.

On the other hand, apple, especially after watching its spring 2022 new product launch, Wang Yanlong felt, "Apple is fried cold rice." I didn't see too many highlights on the new hardware of the mobile phone, which also made Mr. Chen question, "Apple is routine? ”

At the close of trading on March 8, Eastern Time, Apple's stock price was reported at $157.44 per share, down more than 1%.