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Apple Is Releasing A Cheaper iPhone As Pandemic Forces People To Rethink Spending

Apple Is Releasing A Cheaper iPhone As Pandemic Forces People To Rethink Spending

Apple iPhone
Priced for tough times, Apple is releasing the iPhone SE for as low as $399. A pandemic is a really difficult time to introduce a new product. The Apple logo is displayed at the Apple store in Brooklyn, New York, Jan. 3, 2019. The new iPhone is cheaper than models rolled out last fall when the economy was booming. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

High-priced devices are expected to become an increasingly tough sell as the economy nosedives into the deepest downturn since the 1930s and the Great Depression.

Apple is releasing the second-generation iPhone SE priced for tough times. It will sell for as low as $399 — 40 percent less than the most affordable iPhone 11 unveiled in 2019, back when the economy was booming, AP reported.

The new iPhone SE was unveiled without the usual fanfare. Normally, new models are announced at a Silicon Valley theater named after Apple founder Steve Jobs, who introduced the first iPhone in 2007 and revolutionized the market.

With most of the U.S. under lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, this iPhone can be ordered online starting Friday. The first deliveries of the iPhone SE are expected on April 24.

Despite pricing the iPhone SE right, this is an extraordinarily difficult time to introduce a product, according to Daniel Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities.

Millions of people around the world have lost their jobs, and China — where most Apple iPhones are made — has been experiencing production delays at its manufacturing facilities.

“Apple faced a tough decision to make and ultimately decided to release and green light this smartphone to the market in hopes of gaining contained success out of the gates,” Ives wrote.

The iPhone SE has a design similar to the iPhone 8 of 2017 and many of its internal components are found in the more expensive iPhone 11, CNBC reported.

China is Apple’s third-largest market behind the U.S. and Europe.Apple stores and both its factories shut down in China for several weeks this year. Apple warned two months ago that quarterly sales would fall short of projections, citing weak demand in China.

More than 1 billion people have an Apple device, according to AP.

Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 70: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin goes solo to discuss the COVID-19 crisis. He talks about the failed leadership of Trump, Andrew Cuomo, CDC Director Robert Redfield, Surgeon General Jerome Adams, and New York Mayor de Blasio.

Apple and Google recently partnered to use their technology to help the U.S. government fight the coronavirus pandemic by improving contact-tracing efforts. Contact-tracing could help public health officials track the spread of COVID-19.

However, the new tool also raises privacy and security questions.

“Black communities will be tracked the most,” said Angela Benton, a Miami-based data privacy entrepreneur, in an email to Moguldom.