Apple is hoping dynamite comes in small packages. Its new iPhone, unveiled on Monday, goes back to the smaller form factor used in the iPhone 5s and earlier models with a screen size of just four inches.

Claiming the iPhone SE is the most powerful 4-inch smartphone ever made, Apple said many customers have requested the reintroduction of a smaller iPhone.

With the SE, which comes in four colours — including the popular “rose gold” — Apple has not skimped on the internals. The phone comes with a 64-bit A9 processor and embedded motion co-processor, offering the same processing performance as the iPhone 6s.

Apple said the new phone also matches the graphics performance of the larger 6s.

The SE has a 12-megapixel camera capable of capturing video in up to 4K resolution.

Other features include 4G/LTE up to 150Mbit/s along with support for a wide range of LTE spectrum bands. It also supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi up to 433Mbit/s.

Like its bigger siblings, the iPhone SE comes with a fingerprint reader and near-field communication technology, with support for Apple Pay tap-and-go mobile payments.

The iPhone SE comes in two models, a 16GB version for US$399 and a 64GB version for $499.

Apple said the phone will be available in 110 countries — which presumably includes South Africa — by the end of May.

At the same time, Apple has introduced a new 9,7-inch iPad, called the iPad Pro. For the first time in an iOS-powered device, the new iPad Pro is available in a 256GB configuration.