Apple introduces iPhone SE, awaits consumer reaction

We shot an un-boxing video in time lapse mode by iPhone 6, to give you a little taste of thenew gadget. Of course, the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro also appears on the camera.   

Media coverage shows that some are worried about the market potential while others believe that the new phone will become an efficient iOS shifter for Android phone users, China Daily reports.

"In previous years, special meetings will be held to discuss marketing, sales and stocking with distributors, but this time things seems to be bit quiet, no meetings have been held so far," according to Tencent technology channel, citing a director of one of the brand's distributors.He also pointed out that the report from foreign media claiming that the pre-order volume of Chinese market has reached 3.4 million is only a pre-order figure. The real performance willbe seen on the actual sales volume.

According to reports, as of February, 1,333 models belonging to variety of brands were available in Chinese market. Screen sized at 5.1-inch to 5.5-inch have grabbed the most attention at 39 percent. The display size of 5.5-inch or larger enjoy 4.3-percent or more share.By comparison, only 3.8 percent of the attention went to 4-in or smaller-sized display phones.

According to consulting company Kantar World panel ComTech, as of January, Apple's iOS continued to grow share in urban China, though the rate of that growth was the slowest sincelate 2014. Apple also remained the most popular brand, capturing 25 percent of smartphonesales.  

"Looking at the three months individually, January was the weakest month for Apple in Chinaas more price-sensitive consumers might have been waiting to see what promotions Chinese New Year would bring in early February," said Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at KantarWorldpanel ComTech. "In the rest of the world, smartphone platform dynamics remained pretty stable period-over-period, with no surprises."

Tamsin Timpson, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia said: "In urbanChina, iOS share continued to grow year-over-year, albeit at a slower pace, as iPhone 6s,iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone 6 were the best-selling smartphones in the region." "Huawei continued its momentum and is closing the gap with its nearest competitor, Apple, capturing 24.3 percent of sales. Xiaomi, which announced its Mi 5 at the recent Mobile World Congress, maintained a distant third, as it dropped 10.2 percentage points over the same period in 2015."

US e-commerce data analysis website intelligence.slice.com revealed online sales figures forthe iPhone SE on March 28, which confirm that "while fewer people rushed online to get the latest iPhone than they did for the most recent launches, those who did were more likely to benew to the iPhone".  

According to the research, the early data indicates that the iPhone SE may help Apple grow its maturing iPhone consumer base.

"Only 35 percent of iPhone SE buyers purchased an iPhone online in the past two years, and16 percent of them were previously Android users. By comparison, 49 percent of iPhone 6S buyers upgraded from a previous iPhone, and 10 percent replaced an Android device they bought online within the past two years.

To sum up, we'd like to say happy birthday to Apple as the tech behemoth turns 40 on Friday. That's right, four decades ago, on April Fool's Day, Apple Computers, Inc was founded by college dropouts Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in Cupertino, California, who later brought tothe new company a vision of "think different" and forever changed the way people viewed computers.