Apple’s new iPhone SE’s prospects seen to be less than bright in India, China

Even though Apple's new iPhone SE comes with top drawer features and a relatively low price tag, commentators say its small size might not appeal to consumers in India and China.

At the launch event of the device on Monday in Cupertino, California, Apple vice-president of iPhone product marketing Greg Joswiak singled out China as a target market, saying four-inch displays like that on the iPhone SE continued to be popular with first-time smartphone buyers.

He added Chinese buyers tended to start off with a phone featuring a 4-inch screen, just like the iPhone SE, he argued.

China is the second-biggest market for Apple, while India, among the fastest growing major markets in the world, are both considered to be of key importance to Apple, which expects overall iPhone sales to contract.

The iPhone SE is considered particularly  important for India, where, Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner, expects the smartphones market  to double to 200 million units over the next two years.

However, in India and China, smartphones provide the main access to the digital world and a big screen was highly valued, according to analysts, Reuters  reported.

But in India and China, smartphones are often the main connection to the digital world, and a big screen is highly valued, analysts said.

"(In India) the majority of the low-end, $100 phones have a five-inch display. The key reason being smartphone users are becoming more mature are preferring bigger screen size as many of them don't own a tablet or laptop," said Neil Shah, research director at Counterpoint Technology Market Research based in Mumbai, Reuters reported.