Apple’s small flagship phone is a much-needed course correction

Enlarge / The iPhone SE will hopefully "inspire" some small, high-end competitors from other ecosystems. (credit: Apple)

People want big phones. That’s an unquestionable fact. Look at Apple’s iPhone sales for the entire year of 2015, and you’ll have all the proof you need (and if you need more, remember that it was unexpectedly strong sales for Samsung’s original Galaxy Note that helped stoke interest in big phones in the first place).

I myself switched to an iPhone 6 the minute it came out in 2014, and I upgraded to a 6S last year. I haven’t looked back. But I’ve only ever wanted the 4.7-inch versions of both phones—the 5.5-inch Plus series phones are just too big and awkward for me.

And that’s the rationale behind the iPhone SE. It’s a high-end option for people who want a new phone but don’t want to deal with a bigger phone. It’s remarkable primarily because most smartphone manufacturers have completely abandoned smaller high-end phones as they’ve chased bigger screens (Sony’s Xperia Compact series being the most notable exception).

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