Apple updated its entry-level iPhone in March 2022, adding a few tweaks here and there as well as a slight price bump. But the aging design and minimal upgrades meant the new iPhone SE was coldly received, with many eagerly awaiting the next generation and critics hoping Apple was planning a more drastic redesign of the device.
Right on cue, rumors are now starting to surface about what it might look like. In this article, we’ve put together everything we know so far and what we can reasonably speculate about the iPhone SE 4.
Update 02/27/23: Analyst Ming-Chi Quo said Apple has restarted its iPhone SE 4 project, aiming to use a 6.1-inch OLED display and have its own 5G baseband chip.
iPhone SE 4 release date: When will the iPhone SE 4 be released?
Apple’s iPhone SE doesn’t follow the same predictable annual release schedule as the standard line, and intervals between updates can be harder to predict. The timing of the next launch indicates a two-year routine, but it followed a much longer gap between the first and second phone. Here’s when the three models released so far debuted:
As you can see, after Apple introduced the SE line in 2016, we had to wait four years for the device to be updated, so long that the original SE was discontinued in September. 2018. The 2nd generation moved it from the iPhone 5/5S design. to the iPhone 6/6S style that it retains to this day. Since then, we’ve had two releases, two years apart. With that in mind, it seems likely that the iPhone SE (4th generation) will arrive in March or April 2024.
Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants, a reliable industry expert specializing in displays and very accurate in his predictions, also believes that a new iPhone SE will arrive in 2024.
Dominik Tomaszewski
How much will the iPhone SE 4 cost?
Prices have risen steadily over the existing three generations, no doubt influenced by the overall cost of components and distribution. While the iPhone SE (3rd Gen) came out at around the same price as the model it replaced, Apple added a chunk to the cost, making the current model a bit less desirable than previous iterations, especially when you factor in the insignificant amount of storage that comes with the base model. Here’s how they line up:
iPhone SE (3rd generation, 2022):
- 64GB: $429/£449
- 128GB: $479/£499
- 256GB: $579/£609
iPhone SE (2nd generation, 2020):
- 64GB: $399/£419
- 128GB: $449/£469
- 256GB: $549/£569
iPhone SE (1st generation, 2016):
- 32GB: $399/£379
- 128GB: $499/£449
However, the iPhone SE must be inexpensive, and we’d be surprised to see a significant increase with the next generation, even with several rumored upgrades.
What will the new iPhone SE look like?
As the iPhone SE has always been one of the smallest devices offered by Apple, it seems logical that the discounted iPhone 13 mini will make its way to replace the iPhone 6 chassis on the SE. But that’s just one of many futures Apple could choose for the SE lineup.
In a recent episode of the Geared Up podcast, tech tipster Jon Prosser said that “iPhone SE 4…is just iPhone XR,” meaning it has an “all-screen” design and a 6.1 inch screen.
However, a report from Ross Young in late October claimed that Apple was also considering a 5.7-inch screen, which would be a new size for an iPhone. The iPhone 13 mini measures 5.4 inches and the iPhone X and XS measure 5.8 inches. Young also says that Apple is deciding whether to use an LCD or OLED screen for the display.
More recently, analyst Ming-Chi Quo reported that Apple is moving forward with a 6.1-inch OLED display for the iPhone SE 4. Overall design and functionality is expected to be similar to the base iPhone 14 (which will be a 1, 5 years at the time of the release of the SE 4 ).
What features will the iPhone SE 4 have?
Even though the iPhone SE 4 is said to have a notch, it might not have Face ID. Apple has established Face ID as a feature in its high-end products (iPhone and iPad Pro), and leakers don’t know if it will have face scanning technology. Having a notch without Face ID would be bizarre but not unprecedented – remember the MacBook Pro has a notch that only houses the front camera. We’ve seen older reports from industry analyst Ming Chi-Kuo (via MacRumors) and Chinese tech site MyDrivers claiming that Apple will move the Touch ID sensor to the power button like in the iPad from 10th generation.
Ian Zelco’s renders on Front Page Tech show the iPhone SE 4 with a single camera, so you can probably expect a similar 12MP wide-angle lens. However, we hope it will include some of the features we didn’t get with the iPhone SE 3, namely Night Mode and Cinematic Mode.
Depending on when it is released, it could get the upgraded A15 chip that is in the iPhone 14 or the newer A16. Neither would be a big improvement over the A15 in the current model.
The iPhone SE 4 could be the first iPhone to feature one of Apple’s 5G modems. Analyst Ming-Chi Quo expects it to beand claims that the baseband chip will be fabricated with a 4nm process and will only support sub-6GHz bands.
With the iPhone 13 lineup moving to a base 128GB (and 14-series handsets following suit), hopefully the new iPhone SE might follow suit, as 64GB isn’t really enough for most people anymore. especially since system files take up to more than 10 GB. But we don’t have much hope: the iPhone SE (3rd generation) was launched after the iPhone 13 line and always started with the same 64GB of storage, and the redesigned 10th-gen iPad also starts at 64GB. We explain more about why you shouldn’t buy the 64GB iPhone SE.
Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to find out. We’ll update this article as more information becomes available, so check back regularly to see what we can dig up. In the meantime, if you can’t wait until next year, here’s a roundup of the best iPhone deals available right now.
Table of Contents
