Apple store lists iPhone SE from US$249 - stock clearance or making way for the SE 2?

The iPhone SE has made an unexpected appearance on the Apple store, taking quite a few people by surprise. The smartphone was apparently killed off by Apple in September of last year, but it has been resurrected for the time being. The 32 GB version of the device is listed at US$249 while the 128 GB variant has a special price of US$299 (down from US$449). Unfortunately, most of the phones are listed as out of stock at the moment – just the gold and rose gold 32 GB models were left at the time of writing. These are brand-new unlocked iPhones that have turned up on the clearance section of the company's US online store.

There seems to be a couple of possible reasons why the iPhone SE has suddenly sprung back to life on the Apple store pages. It could be that a few crates of the devices were found in a dusty warehouse somewhere and needed to be offloaded to help boost iPhone sales after the disappointing results of last year. The optimistic types out there may be hoping that the Cupertino company could be simply clearing the path for an iPhone SE2 – if the remaining SE handsets fly off the shelves then that should demonstrate how much demand there still is for the diminutive device.

The iPhone SE was greeted with a warm reception upon its release: Apple was praised for creating a smaller and less-expensive edition of its famous smartphone. Indeed, its discontinuation was met with disappointment and also seemed to toll the death knell for a successor. But Apple has been struggling lately, and it’s likely the iPhone SE2 would be a surefire hit if it was developed with the same care and attention as the original Special Edition.

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