iPhone SE 4 will debut early next year, according to a reliable source, and supposedly will support Apple Intelligence, the AI-powered features coming soon to iOS, macOS and iPadOS.
Apple’s 2025 budget handset reportedly will receive a significant redesign. And previous rumors suggest the handset will come with an upgraded display, too.
An AI-enhanced iPhone SE 4 is on the way
First released in 2016, the iPhone SE is Apple’s answer to criticism that its products cost too much. While the new iPhone 16 starts at $799, the iPhone SE comes in at about half that: $429.
The last new iPhone SE reached customers in March 2022, and we can apparently expect an upgraded version approximately three years later.
“Apple Inc., fresh off the release of the iPhone 16, is preparing to announce a new low-end phone early next year,” reported Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman on Tuesday. This falls in line with multiple previous reports that the iPhone SE 4 would arrive in 2025. But Gurman did score some fresh info.
He predicts the fourth-gen iPhone SE will support Apple Intelligence, a suite of AI tools that fix users’ grammar and images, as well as generate pictures based on user instructions. That will require at least an Apple A17 Pro processor and 8GB of RAM.
Design based on iPhone 14 means no Home button
A redesign for Apple’s budget iPhone has been widely anticipated. The current one is almost 3 years old, after all. Previous rumors indicated Apple would ditch the device’s Home button, making room for a larger screen.
Sources told Bloomberg that the iPhone SE 4 will resemble the iPhone 14, something that’s been rumored for almost a year. Still, corroborating evidence is always welcome.
If true, the 2025 version of Apple’s budget model will mark the end of the Home button. However, it will preserve the screen notch introduced in 2017’s iPhone X, a feature being phased out on pricier models in favor of the Dynamic Island. And speaking of phasing out tech, reports from a variety of sources indicate that the 2025 iPhone SE 4 redesign might include an OLED screen, not a traditional LCD. Gurman made no mention of that in his Tuesday report, however.
There’s also no word on the price of the iPhone SE 4, other than it’s not expected to come in a lot higher than the current $429 — it is Apple’s budget handset after all.