I find this tragic and heartbreaking... 
...because I know how it’s gonna turn out. Apple will drop it like a bad habit at their earliest chance and we’ll once more go back to the GigantiPhones, all models/tiers, going forward.
A shame.
If this report is true/legit, then I missed that call big time. I truly thought there were loads of people in the world who didn’t want a giant phone and just wanted something compact and one-hand-friendly.
I was always hoping/assuming some future version of the SE was adopt the full face model for a $400-ish take on the design?
Maybe people just don’t feel good about spending $700 on something small (since that’s probably seen as a negative by many), but if they put out a $400-ish full face SE (even with the lesser camera and all), that’s where the smaller phone market resides, where price does indeed relate to size?
I’m just hoping they don’t abandon the idea. I know the days of the 5/5s/SE are long gone, but damn...I don’t need some of those crazy other sizes, and not at the prices they go for.
Apple, just put a full-face 4.7” screen in a modest, SE-priced phone and see if that results in anything. If not, then you can give up on the sub-5” market. But you’ve not exhausted all your options just yet.
I do think it’s a perception thing, sure enough.
“Why am I going to drop $700 on a phone smaller than all the others in the lineup?! Maybe if it was $400-500...”.
I just want the largest display, in the smallest body, for under $500. I don’t need six cameras, a nose-blower, an onboard lightsaber, etc. Just a solid, basic iPhone SE-level model with the large screen/small body thing going.