The first big disappointment is that although the smartphone has been designed for the emerging markets, it has not been made available in the first round in the fastest growing and one of the largest emerging markets - India.
"By making it available in the first round itself in the country, Apple could have indicated that the Indian market is high on its priority list. Though the company had mentioned about the significance of the India market for it, not including it in the list of the countries where iPhone SE would be made available first is definitely a big turn off," says Faisal Kawoosa, lead analyst with CyberMedia Research (CMR), a market research firm.
The 64 GB version of the phone will come at $499 while the 16 GB model will cost users $399 (US price).
It will be available in four colours including rose gold, the company announced during its special "spring lineup" at the packed auditorium at its Cupertino, California-based headquarters, earlier this week.
The iPhone SE is a mix between the iPhone 5 and iPhone 6 generations of devices with size and design of iPhone 5S and the specs and capabilities of the iPhone 6S.
"Fundamentally, iPhone still remains a premium segment phone in India even with SE launch and now it would be available through the continuum of premium range of smartphones. In India, smartphones above Rs 30,000 contribute just a little over three percent to the market," Kawoosa told IANS.
The iPhone will have a 64-bit A9 processor and M9 motion co-processor. The camera is also carried over from the 6S; it is the same 12-megapixel iSight camera with a true tone flash.
With its new image signal processor it has the ability to shoot Panorama up to 63MP, 4K video (1080p up to 60 fps) and slo-mo up to 240 fps.
The phone is claimed to have an improved battery life, Bluetooth 4.2 and new microphones.
