Apple (AAPL) Introduces New iPhone SE

— -- Apple's new iPhone is meaner and smaller at 4-inches, with the company calling it the most powerful 4-inch phone ever.

Apple boasts speeds 50 percent faster than the iPhone 5s, the company said, referring to its central processing unit, or CPU. Its graphics processing unit, or GPU, is up to three times faster than the iPhone 5s.

"At the heart is our chips, our Apple A9 chip," Apple's vice president of iPhone marketing Greg Joswiak said, referring to the same 64-bit chip found in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. The iPhone 6s has a 4.7-inch display while the iPhone 6s Plus has a 5.5-inch display.

The phone has a 12 megapixel camera, panorama up to 63 MP and "True Tone" flash.

The price starts at $399 for the 16 GB model, the most affordable price for a new iPhone. The 64 GB model is priced at $499. With a two-year subsidized phone contract you can get it for free. The company is starting taking orders March 24 and it will be available March 31.

Apple said it expects to sell the newest phone in more than 100 countries by the end of May.