The new iPhone SE will appeal to many iPhone 6 owners, predict analysts – except in China, where a huge survey on the social network Weibo showed limited interest.

For most iPhone 6 owners, suggested Gartner, the timing is perfect …

Reuters reports.

The new Apple device will offer owners of the ageing iPhone 6 an affordable way to get onto the latest and most secure version of Apple’s iOS smartphone operating system, one industry analyst said. “These are people who keep their phones for four or five years, until they either break or the battery dies,” said Annette Zimmermann at consultancy Gartner.

But others doubt that the new model will appeal in China, where 5G is a big selling-point and is found in some mid-range phones now.

Competition has intensified in China as rivals are now releasing 5G devices compatible with the country’s upgraded telecoms networks while Apple has yet to launch an iPhone with 5G capability.

Views in the Weibo survey were mixed.

In a poll conducted on social media site Weibo, 60% of roughly 350,000 respondents said they would not buy the new $399 model, the cheapest iPhone available. But roughly a fifth said they would buy it, while the rest said they would consider a purchase.

Some appear to have been influenced by the discounting of lower-end iPhones that has been seen in the country, suggesting they would wait to see whether the same happens with the SE.

Last week several Chinese online retailers reduced iPhone 11 prices by as much as 17%. Apple occasionally lets its Chinese seller partners cut prices to spur demand, though it seldom allows pricing leeway for vendors overseas […] Though respondents were not asked for reasons for their choices in the poll, many commented that they would be interested [in the iPhone SE] if the price drops further. “If you don’t buy it and I don’t buy it, tomorrow the price will drop another 200 yuan ($28),” said one Weibo user whose comment got more than 10,000 likes.

How to trade in or recycle your old iPhone and upgrade to the iPhone SE

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