Apple’s next-generation iPhone SE seems to have been on one thing of a rollercoaster experience over the previous 12 months or so, with shifting reviews and timelines leaving many questioning when — or even when — the subsequent model of Apple’s most inexpensive handset will arrive.
In late 2022, oft-reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested the iPhone SE lineup had been indefinitely shelved. Nonetheless, by February, Kuo revealed that it was seemingly again on observe with hints that it may arrive as early as subsequent 12 months with the intention to grow to be the proving floor for Apple’s first in-house 5G modem chip, with a design based mostly on the iPhone 14 that might even embody an OLED display.
Sadly, Kuo’s 2024 timeline was solid into doubt when he revealed that what he believed to be an “iPhone SE 4” was truly nothing greater than an engineering prototype that Apple was utilizing to check its new 5G modem chip. In line with Kuo, there have been no plans to mass-produce or promote that exact machine.
Nonetheless, that didn’t rule out the chance that Apple has a brand new iPhone SE in growth, nor even that it could be the primary to get Apple’s personal 5G modem chip. It merely indicated that Kuo’s estimate of the timing was off. Different analysts had already pegged 2025 as a extra life like milestone for the brand new iPhone to point out up, and it’s in all probability no coincidence that that is additionally the unique and most life like estimate for when Apple’s 5G modem chip might be prepared.
Additional affirmation of a 2025 iPhone SE appeared in a report final month that pointed to OLED manufacturing issues as the primary purpose for the delay. Now that’s being corroborated by ITHome with a report that smaller show producers are combating to grow to be second-tier suppliers for the AMOLED panels for use within the new “iPhone SE 4.”
These aren’t the massive names like Samsung Show, LG Show, and BOE that Apple usually sources its OLED panels from, however quite smaller firms like Tianma that we’ve heard about in passing. Most rumors counsel BOE will get the lion’s share of the iPhone SE panel orders, whereas the smaller corporations can be contracted to make up for any shortfalls.
The battle amongst suppliers seemingly confirms that the iPhone SE is transferring ahead, though lining up provide chain offers doesn’t essentially imply that manufacturing will start straight away. Smaller producers want time to ramp up their manufacturing services, and that’s not one thing they’re going to wish to put money into till they know they’ll be getting sufficient enterprise to justify the expense of doing so.
What to Anticipate from the ‘iPhone SE 4’
Though Kuo’s prediction that the subsequent iPhone SE can be based mostly on the iPhone 14 design was based mostly on a misreading of an engineering take a look at mannequin, that doesn’t imply it isn’t prone to be very comparable.
We already know that the subsequent iPhone SE will use an OLED display, and most reviews counsel a 6.1-inch kind issue with the identical squared-off edges as the remainder of Apple’s present iPhone lineup. Meaning there’s a great likelihood it is going to strongly resemble the previous few generations of normal iPhone fashions.
Additional, because the present 2022 iPhone SE already options an A15 chip just like what’s discovered within the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, it stands to purpose that the next-gen mannequin will transfer to a extra highly effective chip. Based mostly on its anticipated 2025 launch timeframe, that’s prone to be the A17 chip that can arrive on this 12 months’s iPhone 15 Professional and iPhone 15 Professional Max.
That will sound far-fetched, however understand that by early 2025, the iPhone 16 Professional might be out with an A18 chip, with the A17 seemingly being utilized in the usual iPhone 16. Apple’s first three iPhone SE fashions launched within the spring and used essentially the most present chip accessible — the one launched the earlier fall. That was the iPhone 6s A9 chip for the primary iPhone SE, the iPhone 11’s A13 chip for the 2020 iPhone SE, and the iPhone 13’s A15 chip for the present 2022 iPhone SE.
Nonetheless, Apple modified issues up with the iPhone 14 lineup final 12 months when it reserved the most recent silicon for its Professional fashions, and it’s cheap to imagine one of the best “Professional” chip wouldn’t go into an iPhone SE; it’s more likely to get the identical chip as its customary contemporaries.
Equally, the iPhone SE has lengthy been anticipated to maneuver to a side-button Contact ID sensor, just like what Apple now makes use of on its non-Professional iPad lineups. If something, it’s a bit shocking this hasn’t occurred already. Nonetheless, the present iPhone SE has all the time felt like extra of a mid-cycle launch geared toward bringing 5G capabilities to Apple’s price range iPhone, and it’s equivalent to the 2020 second-generation mannequin in each different manner, save for the sooner A15 chip inside.
The shortage of a TrueDepth digicam across the entrance would enable for a smaller notch or perhaps a punch-hole design. Apple could even think about bringing the Dynamic Island to the iPhone SE since, by 2025, will probably be a longtime customary function. There’s additionally a great likelihood the iPhone 16 will undertake beneath show Face ID, transferring past the present Dynamic Island design and thereby making it even much less of a premium function.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]