Apple Releases iPhone SE, iPad Pro & iOS 9.3

Apple had a busy Monday, announcing iPhone SE, a Special Edition 4-inch iPhone 5s with the innards of iPhone 6s (surprise!) sans 3D Touch, toting a first generation Touch ID fingerprint sensor and a smaller battery (*cough* That 16 GB variant though! *cough*), and a new 9.7-inch iPad Pro. It makes perfect business sense of course. It's relatively a lot more 'affordable' and powerful than its disastrous (now discontinued) iPhone 5c, making it an attractive buy in emerging markets like India and China, and also because Apple sold 30 million of those smaller iPhones last year alone. Even if the current trend has veered towards phablets and gigantic phones, making things a little awkward for Apple in the process.

iOS 9.3 with Night Shift, 3D Touch actions in App Store, Secured Notes
and Top Stories in Apple News

You see, there was a time when 3.5 inches was considered the perfect screen size because you could reach every single spot on it without much palm gymnastics. Then came the 4-inch iPhone, which was still fairly comfortable to use, but with Samsung clearing proving early on that there does exist a niche market for phablets with its Galaxy Note series, and other companies soon joining the bandwagon, Apple eventually caved in and released even more bigger iPhones. So in some ways, the iPhone SE is Apple's return to its roots, boasting of a masterpiece of a design and packing in new wine in that old bottle with minimum compromises. In doing so, Apple may have just created the best 'small' high-end smartphone. The bigger question is whether will this also trigger an avalanche of new Android 'mini' flagships.