Apple has revealed the new iPhone SE - here's everything you need to know about it

Apple has announced a new iPhone, although unlike other handsets, you wont need quite as many hundreds of pounds or quite as hefty a contract to get your hands on one. The second generation iPhone SE builds on the blueprints laid down by Apple's last compact phone, released in 2016. Here's everything you need to know about it: What is an iPhone SE? With Apple touting their mainline range of iPhones, you'd be forgiven for not realising that an 'SE' branded handset even exists. The original iPhone SE was popular among consumers with a preference for smaller devices, as larger 'phablet' (phone-tablet)-sized handsets became more widely adopted. Ever since the 4.7-inch iPhone 6, which went on sale in 2014, Apple's iPhone seem to have only increased in six with each new iteration. While larger phones became the norm for manufacturers, a vocal band of consumers championed small handsets for their ease of use and pocket-friendly size. The iPhone SE was discontinued in 2018 and quickly sold out when it was available to buy from Apple's website at a discounted price the following year. What features does the new iPhone SE have? The new handset contains an A13 Bionic chip processor, which means users can expect faster performance, advanced photography and smoother augmented reality experiences. The new chip also means the phone will support Portrait Mode photography, which uses machine learning to separate a photo's subject from its background and blur the background accordingly. The new iPhone SE is water and dust-resistant, and can withstand being emerged in up to one metre of water for half an hour. It features a 4.7-inch display, TouchID fingerprint scanner for identity verification and a rear-facing 12 megapixel camera. How much will it cost? The handset will start at £419. It comes in a choice of black, white and red finishes and 64GB, 128Gb and 256GB storage options. The iPhone SE (2020) prices are as follows: When can I buy it? The second generation iPhone SE goes on sale on 24 April. Pre-orders open on 17 April. Will the new phone's launch be affected by coronavirus? The new phone is Apple's latest product to be launched since the coronavirus outbreak caused the company to temporarily halt production in its Asian factories and close all its stores outside greater China. The company said in February it was expecting to miss its revenue expectations amid a global iPhone shortage as a consequence of the shops closing. Apple's launch comes at a challenging time when global phone sales are expected to slump to their lowest point in a decade. "We suspect the phone has already been delayed by several weeks thanks to the coronavirus outbreak," Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, said. "Although manufacturing now seems to have normalised in China, getting products to markets around the world is still a major headache. "Apple will be nervously waiting to see whether the arrival of such an affordable and well-specced iPhone will make consumers think twice about buying its premium flagship products which, depending on configuration, can easily approach three times the cost of the new iPhone SE. "History shows that iPhone purchasers seem happy to pay the premium Apple's products command, but the current global economic uncertainty risks challenging this assumption."