Drop everything, the new iPhone SE is here

The latest iPhone is finally here, and it's small, cheaper, but still pretty.

The iPhone SE features a 4-inch display, the same 64-bit A9 chip offered in the 6s and 6s Plus, providing fast speed, longer battery life, faster wireless and a 12-megapixel camera.

"iPhone SE is an exciting new idea — we started with a beloved, iconic design and reinvented it from the inside out. The result is the most beautiful and powerful phone with a 4-inch display in the world," says Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

"iPhone SE is packed with a stunning 4-inch Retina display, advanced 64-bit A9 chip with M9 motion co-processor, longer battery life, 12-megapixel iSight camera with True Tone flash, Live Photos, 4K video, faster LTE and Wi-Fi, and Touch ID.

"Everyone who wants a smaller phone is going to love iPhone SE," he says.

The 64-bit A9 chip, introduced in iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, offers iPhone SE customers two times faster CPU and three times faster GPU performance compared to iPhone 5s, all with gains in energy efficiency for improved battery life.

12-megapixel iSight camera features Live Photos, a new feature that allows users to reveal the moments immediately before and after a photo was taken, "so users can enjoy a living memory rather than an instant frozen in time".

The iPhone SE will be available in space grey, silver, gold and rose gold metallic finishes in 16GB and 64GB models, with a price tag starting at NZ$749.

Kiwis can order the new phone from Thursday, 24 March, with availability beginning 31 March.