The iPhone SE has largely left carrier shelves, according to Wave7 Research, giving credence to rumors that a new model of Apple's smallest, cheapest iPhone is coming in early 2022.
Wave7 releases monthly reports on the US mobile-phone market based on surveys and interviews with dealers and stores. In its latest report, the firm says the SE has been "dropped by AT&T," is out of stock at T-Mobile, and has 0% market share at Verizon.
There's still some SE inventory at prepaid carriers, Wave7 says, but Apple's market share is low there. While Metro is selling the iPhone SE, Apple's share is down to 5% at that carrier. Boost and Cricket also both appear to have iPhone SEs, but they may be in small quantities.
Apple may be refocusing its manufacturing capacity to the more profitable and more popular iPhone 13 models. Wave7 reports that there are no longer "broad-based outages" of the iPhone 13, but "each carrier has at least one memory size in short supply." As the cheapest iPhone, the SE may just be getting the short straw during the chip shortage.
Apple also clearly prefers its own stores right now. While Wave7 says the SE is out of stock at carriers, Apple's online store shows SE units available for next-day pickup, both unlocked and for each major carrier.
Introduced just as the pandemic hit in April 2020, the iPhone SE was seen as "all the phone most people need" in a year of economic uncertainty and near collapse. At $399, it's $200 less than Apple's next model up, the $599 iPhone 12 mini.
Even beyond the chip shortage, though, the iPhone SE is a 4G-only phone, and thus hitting up against carrier desires that as much of their lineups as possible support their new 5G networks.
Last week, MacRumors had a story citing Ming-chi Kuo, an Apple analyst with a shaky track record for predictions, saying that Apple would launch a new iPhone SE in the first half of next year. That model will retain its 4.7-inch size, MacRumors predicts, but add 5G connectivity.
Previous SE models were announced in March or April, so the same time frame in 2022 is likely.