Yes! We love the larger iPhones but as we have heartbreakingly realised there are some disadvantages to their size.  You can’t fit them into tiny, tight pockets and have you ever had to strain your thumb to reach the far side of the iPhone 6 Plus keyboard? It seems like Apple have listened to our woes and released a “retro” 4-inch version of its flagship product – the iPhone SE.

As it turns out, quite a few people prefer smaller phones.  At this week’s keynote event Apple revealed over 30 million people bought 4-inch phones in 2015 and NN4M’s stats show that the iPhone 5 is currently the company’s second most popular phone.  With not everyone ready to trade in their smaller screens, Apple have cleverly squeezed most of the iPhone 6s features into the body of the iPhone 5s – and it’s cheaper than its bigger cousins as well.

The lower price of the iPhone SE has some industry stakeholders worried that Apple are moving downstream and putting devices into the hands of consumers who are likely to spend less on the mobile app channel. For several years this same assumption has been made of customers with Android devices. However, analysis of customer behaviour on NN4M android apps across the top 10 devices in 2015 show that conversion is actually far higher for Android users whilst ATV is around the same as iOS.

There is obviously a market for smaller phones, one Apple would be silly to ignore. And yes, industry stakeholders are also right to worry that people choosing to spend less on their device are also likely to spend less on apps.  But as we have proved with Android customers, device choice is not necessarily a clear indication of willingness to spend via the mobile channel.

In fact, the introduction of the iPhone SE is a great opportunity – Apple are retargeting a niche of consumers who prefer smaller devices and who are also the second most popular app customer group – which could help to keep boosting the number of app users and sales.