iPhone SE and iPad Pro released: Apple looks to address doubts with new handset and tablet launch

The two new devices feature blazing new tech in familiar boxes — and could decide the future of Apple

Employees cheer before the launch of Apple Inc. iPhone SE and iPad Pro 9.7 inch at the company's Omotesando store on March 31, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)

The iPhone SE and iPad Pro have gone on sale, with Apple hoping that the two new devices help address worries about the growth of the iPhone.

The new devices — which gained rave reviews from The Independent’s David Phelan — come at a difficult time for the company’s iPhone business. While it continues to sell more of the handset than ever before, some have suggested that Apple’s growth may falter in coming years.

The company’s new iPhone SE looks set to be part of Apple’s response to that. At the phone’s launch earlier this month, it said explicitly that it was releasing the phone to try and bring more people to iOS from Android, and to encourage people who prefer the smaller size of the iPhone 5 and 5s to upgrade to newer technology.

Bringing new customers to the iPhone will be important to satisfy the worries of some analysts and competitors, who argue that Apple might have reached “peak iPhone” and that the company’s most famous product’s huge growth might slow down. Though Apple’s other businesses are still huge, much of its status as the most expensive company in the world depends on the handset business.

Keeping up growth in its iPhone sales will probably see it look to find more buyers in developing markets like India and to bring over those buyers who tend to focus on cheaper Android handsets.

It is looking to do those things by putting its new phone into a familiar package. The iPhone SE uses the 4-inch body of the iPhone 5s, but inside are most of the headline parts of the top-of-the-line iPhone 6s.

The company has managed to make the new phone its cheapest yet, presumably partly in an effort to attract buyers from developing and poorer markets. In the UK, the phone sells for £359 and most mobile networks are offering it on subsidised plans.

Just as with the iPhone SE, the new iPad Pro packs in all of the power of its bigger and more expensive sibling — the 12.9-inch iPad Pro — but into a familiar box, this time looking almost identical to the iPad Air 2.

Around the world, the new iPhone and iPad had quieter launches than the huge, overnight queues that greet the release of new flagship phones. The company has had quieter launches in recent years, including for the Apple Watch, apparently looking to encourage people to buy online rather than queuing up outside of its shops.