Some analysts have been enjoying an on-again/off-again sport with the iPhone SE over the previous few months, and now it seems that a minimum of one could have misinterpreted among the data coming from Apple’s provide chain.
Apple has launched three fashions of the iPhone SE since 2016, however a December tweet from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo forged doubt on whether or not we’d see a fourth mannequin anytime quickly. Kuo pointed to the poor gross sales of the 2022 iPhone SE and different lower-end fashions, such because the iPhone 13 mini and iPhone 14 Plus, as causes Apple could have been rethinking the next-generation “iPhone SE 4.”
Earlier than that, Apple had been anticipated to ship the subsequent mannequin in 2024, which might have been roughly on course for the everyday launch cycle for the wallet-friendly mannequin. The primary-generation iPhone SE arrived in 2016, whereas the second-generation mannequin adopted 4 years later in 2020. Though Apple launched a third-generation mannequin in 2022, that looks as if an exception to the common launch cycle, meant nearly solely so as to add 5G help, because it in any other case remained virtually unchanged from its predecessor.
Apple additionally appeared to observe a selected playbook for its iPhone SE fashions, melding traditional designs with newer chips. The 2016 iPhone SE was patterned after the iPhone 5s that was launched 2.5 years earlier than it in late 2013, and the early 2020 iPhone SE adopted swimsuit by adopting the design of the 2017 iPhone 8. By that logic, the 2022 iPhone SE ought to have adopted the design of the 2019 iPhone 11, however it was primarily a rehash of the 2020 mannequin as a substitute.
Is the iPhone SE 4 Actual?
However, many had excessive hopes for the fourth-generation iPhone SE, anticipating it to a minimum of get an edge-to-edge display with a side-button Contact ID sensor, much like what Apple has finished with a lot of its iPad fashions. Some even believed Apple might go all-in on Face ID, though that’s all the time appeared extra far-fetched resulting from the price of the TrueDepth digital camera system and associated sensors.
Nonetheless, Kuo’s mused that the higher-end design might improve Apple’s prices, which wouldn’t be clever because the financial system started taking a downturn into 2023. So, maybe Kuo was as shocked as anyone when he shared in February that the iPhone SE 4 appeared again on monitor for a 2024 launch — and that it might undertake the design of the 6.1-inch iPhone 14, together with an OLED show.
That report was largely tied to the concept Apple would use the iPhone SE because the mannequin to introduce its first in-house 5G modem chip — a notion corroborated extra just lately by analyst Jeff Pu.
Kuo and Pu seem to have totally different views on the timing of the discharge, although, with Pu suggesting the iPhone SE with Apple’s personal 5G chip received’t arrive earlier than 2025, in distinction with the 2024 timeframe that Kuo predicted in February.
Whereas Apple’s current cost-cutting measures could have delayed its manufacturing plans, there’s a extra easy rationalization: Kuo now admits he was mistaken concerning the iPhone SE 4.
As his newest tweet suggests, Kuo noticed details about an engineering prototype and assumed it was the subsequent iPhone SE. Nonetheless, it seems it’s simply an iPhone Apple has put collectively to “validate its in-house 5G baseband chip expertise,” and there aren’t any plans to mass-produce or promote that machine.
What This Means for the iPhone SE
Kuo’s misreading of Apple’s shorter-term plans doesn’t rule out the chance that an iPhone SE should still be within the works. We’re simply unlikely going to see one subsequent 12 months.
Pu’s 2025 prediction stays on the desk, and Kuo confirms that if the engineering prototypes go based on plan, the in-house 5G chip might present up within the first iPhones by 2025.
There are nonetheless good causes to consider the iPhone SE would be the proving floor for this new 5G chip. For one factor, Apple is a cautious firm, and it’s a lot safer to deploy its first chip in a finances iPhone whose prospects aren’t usually in search of bleeding-edge 5G efficiency. This might permit Apple to work out any kinks earlier than going mainstream with a second-generation 5G modem chip.
What’s much more important is that Apple’s first-generation 5G modem reportedly lacks help for the sooner mmWave frequencies which were commonplace on each 5G iPhone offered within the U.S. since 2020 — apart from the iPhone SE. Eradicating mmWave help in favor of its personal 5G chip could be an enormous step backward for Apple’s flagship iPhones, however it’s a a lot simpler first for the iPhone SE; the present mannequin doesn’t help mmWave 5G, and it’s not one thing individuals count on from finances smartphones.
Even when Apple is ambivalent about releasing one other iPhone SE, getting its first 5G modem chip onto the market could also be sufficient cause for it to create one. What the subsequent iPhone SE could appear to be continues to be anyone’s guess, particularly since if it’s fated to exist solely as a container for Apple’s 5G chip designs, it’s not going to reach till that chip is prepared, which may very well be pushed again to 2026 or later if check outcomes on the present engineering prototype don’t go based on plan.
[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.]