April 1 marked the release of Apple's latest product, the iPhone SE, but the tech giant's newest creation may not be enough to save it from the global sales decline that iPhone products have been facing since last year.

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According to Digitimes, the demand for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus in the first quarter of this year has been way lower than the demand for the iPhone 6 in the first quarter of last year.  

Apple's chain of distributors are reportedly anticipating that shipments of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus in the second quarter of this year will decrease by 50 percent.

This does not come as a surprise, given that Apple itself has been very vocal and open about its sales woes. In its most recent income and revenue conference, the company conceded that 2016 may be the very first year in history that it will record a drop in its iPhone sales. Apple CEO Tim Cook, however, dispelled the idea that the sales drop would be very drastic.

"We do think iPhone units will decline in the quarter," Cook admitted, but noted that the decline will not be as bad as many analysts have predicted. "We aren't going to project beyond the upcoming quarter," Cook added.

This is where iPhone SE may come in handy. In 2015, Apple was able to record a sale of 30 million units of 4-inch iPhones alone. Additionally, more than 33 percent of all iPhones sold in the market to date are models that came before the iPhone 6. It is therefore clear that a large chunk of iPhone users are still utilizing the iPhone 5 series and are probably waiting for a cheaper and a smaller unit before deciding to upgrade.

With a recorded 3.4 million pre-orders from China alone, the iPhone SE is said to be Apple's way of "testing the waters" in the international market against newer and better Android smartphone giants such as Huawei, Xiaomi, LG, and Samsung.

Will Apple make it once again?

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