Apple's iPhone SE sneaks back into smartphone marketplace – for a few hours, at least

Welcome back, shorty. Apple has apparently made an under-the-radar market move in restoring the smaller iPhone SE to its online store.

The iPhone SE, which has a 4-inch display and was retired by Apple last year, reappeared Saturday in its online retail outlet's clearance section. Originally launched in 2016 for $349 and $449 for the 32 Gigabyte and 128GB model, respectively, the models now are lower-priced at $249 and $299.

Embodied with an A9 chip, the iPhone SE won't have the capabilities of, say, the iPhone 7, which has an A10 Fusion chip and boasts a 4.7-inch display. But fans of smaller phones may be willing to make the trade-off.

Supplies are apparently limited: The phones were listed as out of stock by Sunday afternoon.

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The device maker may have brought back the iPhone SE to clear out any inventory it had – and to boost sales figures, suggested tech news site Digital Trends, which was among the first media outlets to spot the smartphone’s return. MacRumors has been credited with first spotting its availability.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company's fiscal first-quarter revenue would fall short of expectations this month in a letter to investors. The main culprit? The economic slowdown, which particularly led to lower iPhone sales in China.

That forecast could lead not only to discounted iPhones but also the return of a "lower-priced 'SE' product," Patrick Moorhead, the principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, told USA TODAY at the time.

Many might welcome the return of the smaller device. When it was released, the iPhone SE was a hot seller, outpacing first-year expected sales of 10 million to 20 million forecasts to approach 30 million.

But consumer uptick eventually cooled off. Sales of 4-inch iPhones dropped from 13 percent of sales in the first quarter of 2017 to 5 percent in the second quarter of 2018, according to research firm IHS Markit. During the same time, sales of 4.7-inch iPhones barely edged down from 49 percent to 47 percent.

Consumers interested in the device should check the Apple site regularly in upcoming days, says Brian Fagioli of tech news blog BetaNews.

"The 64-bit A9 chip is still very capable and you have Touch ID – the gold standard in smartphone biometric security," he said. "Oh, and yes, the SE still has a headphone jack! You will have an excellent experience. If you want something that can fit easily into a pocket, the iPhone SE is a winner."

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Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Apple's iPhone SE sneaks back into smartphone marketplace – for a few hours, at least