The event will take place on Apple's campus in Cupertino, Calif., according to an invite sent to media on Thursday. • iPhone SE release live: new features and updates from Apple's launch event 
 
 Apple's iPhone release cycle is always one of the biggest tech events of the year, and 2016 looks set to see two new handsets - starting with the iPhone SE today and the new flagship, the iPhone 7. Apple was criticised for focusing on software updates with the release of the iPhone 6s last September rather than making radical hardware overhauls, meaning the 6 and 6s cycles look identical, bar the introduction of the rose gold shade. The device would feature a 9.7-inch touchscreen, the same size as Apple's iPad Air.  Apple is holding a product launch event today, on Monday March 21, at which it is expected to release a new range of products, including a new 4-inch iPhone, a smaller version of the iPad Pro, and a new set of designs for the Apple Watch. The event takes place the day before Apple returns to federal court in its battle over an FBI request to unlock an encrypted iPhone used by one of the killers in the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings.
– Analysts say Apple will unveil a smaller, more affordable iPhone, probably dubbed the iPhone SE, with similar features to the iPhone 6 at its Silicon Valley headquarters on Monday. Rumors are also swirling about a smaller iPad Pro, an updated iPad Air 3, and new designs for the Apple Watch, per USA Today and Wired. Yet with "no hints of any dramatic announcements"—the iPhone 7 is predicted for release in September, per the Telegraph—the event "doesn't seem to be stirring much passion," reports the AP. Experts estimate only 12 million units of a new 4-inch iPhone will sell this year, compared to 265 million units of the iPhone 6 sold in the last two years. The event kicks off at 1pm EDT.