They did, yet iPhone sales still declined. The only thing the SE did was lower the ASP (average selling price) of the iPhone.

Only Apple can be significantly down YoY have numbers in line with fairly low expectations yet get a bounce in share price. I guess being slightly above expectations is better than being slightly below. But did people forget that the expectations were low to start with, so beating them isn't exactly amazing.

They are still making more money and more profit than pretty much anyone else, so there is that.

But Apple's problem is when they introduce a current gen "lower" priced phone it's still bloody expensive relative to mid-range Android. And the actual cheap phones are their 2-3 generations old phones, which have bugger all appeal in the market, and they even fail on price compared to Androids when it comes to specs. The problem for Apple is that they are not really growing in number of individual users any more, they are simply selling upgrades to existing owners. And existing owners have finally come to realise they don't need to upgrade every year.

Broken phones aside, I try to go at least 3 years before replacing a phone, longer if possible.

I'm glad they're struggling. Apple make too much profits for too little effort. All their phones are over priced. Their not pro consumer. They're pro money.

Yes, users don't need to upgrade phones as much anymore. I don't think phone specs are as important as they once were because phones now are pretty powerful and can handle a lot and most things to come. Apple needs to do three things, keep introuducing cheaper phones to the market, but don't sacrafice a lot of quaility or else it will only hurt you. Keep creating new innovative software that keeps people hooked to your ecosystem. And above all and something I forgot, add new hardware innovation. The finger print id was a great idea and made things convenient.

We actually agree on something? I'd never think of the day...

Hopefully that means that the next iPhone isn't AU $1,350.

You are merely describing the core of corporate capitalism. Do as little as possible, pay as little as possible and profit as much as possible. And the 4th thing is to turn your brand into a quasi-religion/cult. It's just that Apple has been particularly successful at implementing that model especially the quasi-religion/cult bit.

What a horrible world we live in.  Hopefully the android makes big gains in the years ahead and forces their prices down.  

Lastnight at the DNC, Apple laptops was everywhere.

In the CNN room, and even on stage.