In the early hours of today’s “Far Out” conference, Apple announced the iPhone 14 series and other new products.
While everyone is focused on the new iPhone 14 series, Apple’s cheap phones are surprisingly slightly more expensive — at least in the UK. iPhone SE 3 was predicted by analysts to attract 1 billion Android users to switch.
As TechRadar discovered, the iPhone SE 3 now costs £449 (about RMB 3,592) in the UK, compared to £419 before the iPhone 14 launch — a full £30 (about RMB 240) more. Apple’s price increase is likely due to increased inflation in the country. Not only that, but the pound has fallen to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985.
While this type of price change is not common in Europe and the U.K., other regions are more accustomed to it — such as Brazil, India and Turkey.
While other iPhones have reportedly not been affected by sales, the iPhone SE 3 has been in the midst of controversy because its flagship feature, 5G, was not enough to entice the American public to buy the phone.
But the iPhone SE 3 is doing better in Europe. counterpoint research shows that the European smartphone market fell 11 percent year-over-year and 13 percent sequentially to 40 million units in the first quarter of 2022, the lowest quarterly total since the second quarter of 2020, but both Samsung and Apple saw year-over-year growth in shipments and market share. They also saw a YoY decline due to their exit from the Russian market.
“The second quarter 2022 results were mixed, with year-over-year masking complex market dynamics. From an industry and macro perspective, Europe has changed significantly from last year and even the previous quarter,” said Jan Stryjak, associate director at Counterpoint Research.
Stryjak said the situation in Europe will remain bleak for the remainder of the year. “Many European countries are edging closer to the recession, and domestic political tensions are rising in many countries outside of Russia and Ukraine.”
The 5G iPhone SE 3 was launched in March this year. The 4.7-inch phone with a “classic design” is priced at $429 in the U.S. (from $3,499 in China) and features an A15 bionic chip, 12MP main camera with Deep Fusion technology, Smart HDR 4 and iP67 certification for water and dust resistance.
