The ‘iPhone SE 4’ May Look a Lot Like an iPhone 16

iPhone SE concepts via Concept Central Credit: Concept Central
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While we haven’t heard much lately about Apple’s next-generation iPhone SE, most reports suggest it’s still on track for an early 2025 launch. However, a new leak suggests that Apple may adopt a much more modern design for the so-called “iPhone SE 4” than we first thought.

While prior iPhone SE models have retained the old-school large bezels and front-screen home button, it’s long past the time for Apple to retire that design. In fact, with the removal of the 2021 ninth-generation iPad from the lineup, the iPhone SE is the only device Apple sells that still features a home button and Touch ID sensor front and center.

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The original iPhone SE, released in early 2016, followed the design of the iPhone 5s, which had been released 2.5 years earlier while adopting the latest A9 chip from the late 2015 iPhone 6s lineup. Apple repeated that trend with the second-generation iPhone SE in 2020, using the 2017 iPhone 8 as a template for the design and the 2019 iPhone 11 as the basis for the A13 chip.

The company arguably broke that trend in 2022 with a third-generation iPhone SE that was virtually identical in appearance to its predecessor but added the latest A15 chip and 5G support to the mix. However, most believed that was an aberration — an interim release aimed at eliminating non-5G phones from the lineup.

Still, even before the iPhone SE 2 arrived, rumors had been circulating that Apple was working on a new model with an edge-to-edge screen and side-button Touch ID. Those rumors were likely based on at least some legitimate information from within Apple, as the company was working on a side-button Touch ID sensor — it just wasn’t for an iPhone, but rather the iPad Air that was released later that same year.

Earlier theories had posited an in-display Touch ID sensor, but while there was some evidence Apple was working on that technology, sources revealed in early 2022 that Apple had given up on those plans.

Still, until recently, many believed that the iPhone SE would follow the model set by Apple’s modern non-pro iPads, adopting a Touch ID sensor in the side button. However, we’ve heard a different story over the past year.

Since last fall, multiple sources have predicted that the next iPhone SE will feature an iPhone 14 design complete with a Face ID sensor — and even use the existing iPhone 14 battery. Since the new budget iPhone is expected to launch early next year, the timing seemingly lined up; the 2022 iPhone 14 would be 2.5 years older than the 2025 “iPhone SE 4” in the same way as the models past.

However, a leaker in February had a different idea, suggesting the iPhone SE would get the Dynamic Island instead of the notch, with “a design very similar to that of the current iPhone 16 still in development,” minus the dual-camera array.

We were a bit skeptical of that report, especially when purported renders appeared that seemingly contradicted it by showing an iPhone 13 or iPhone 14 design instead. However, another leaker is now adding more fuel to the fire.

As spotted by MacRumors, a Weibo leaker going by the name Fixed Focus Digital shared information suggesting the iPhone SE 4 will feature a backplate with a manufacturing process “exactly the same” as the iPhone 16. Unlike the February iPhone 16 report, this focuses on the rear of the iPhone SE rather than the front, but the two could easily align.

After all, Apple has effectively abandoned the notch in favor of the Dynamic Island, which is also an important user interface (UI) element on the latest iPhone models. By the time the iPhone SE 4 comes along, the iPhone 14 will be the only phone Apple sells that still has a notch. That model will likely drop off the market a few months later when the iPhone 17 lineup debuts, relegating the iPhone 15 to that lowest tier. Introducing a new iPhone with a notch would force Apple to continue to support the older UI for another few years while moving to the Dynamic Island would unify the entire iPhone family by the end of 2025.

As MacRumors notes, reliable sources informed it that the iPhone SE’s dimensions “perfectly matched” the base model of the iPhone 14, but that was back in November. It’s possible that Apple has since changed its plans, likely due to economies of scale. Unlike the current iPhone SE, the design of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 16 are visually similar enough that there’s little reason for Apple to keep running an older manufacturing process just to make it look slightly different.

It’s also possible that Apple might change the camera system on the new iPhone SE, although arguably, the iPhone 16 backplate might just be a better fit for what Apple had in mind anyway. The previous reports suggested Apple was customizing the iPhone 14 casing for the single camera of the iPhone SE, but that’s more awkward in a device with a square camera bump. By contrast, the iPhone 16 is expected to have a dual-camera array in tandem, with an oval, rectangular bump that’s more like the iPhone XS. It’s easier to imagine how a single camera and a flash could fit into the same space with fewer modifications to the machining processes.

In addition to Face ID and the new design, the 2025 iPhone SE is also expected to adopt an OLED display and likely the same A18 chip coming to the iPhone 16 this fall. It will also naturally feature a USB-C port, but that’s a given, considering that Lightning is officially dead.



[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.]

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