The Next iPhone SE Could Hit the $500 Mark
Credit: iPhone SE 4 Concept [4RMD]Toggle Dark Mode
By all reports, a new “iPhone SE 4” coming next year could introduce some significant design improvements and hardware upgrades. However, anyone hoping Apple will find a way to keep it ultra-affordable may be disappointed.
That shouldn’t come as a big surprise, considering everything the next-gen model is expected to pack in. It’s already been nearly four years since the iPhone SE got a design overhaul, and that 2020 design was based directly on the 2017 iPhone 8, which was, in turn, the end of a design era that began in 2014 with the iPhone 6.
The 2022 iPhone SE changed nothing on the outside, staying with the same staid old design and simply bringing the specs up to snuff for a 5G era. So, to say we’re long overdue for a design update to the iPhone SE could be the understatement of the decade.
The good news is that if all the reports are accurate, Apple plans to bring the iPhone SE into the modern era. The design will follow in the footsteps of today’s iPhones, with a flat-edged design that should mimic the iPhone 14 or the iPhone 16 (depending on whose reports you believe) and support Face ID authentication — which means either a notch or a Dynamic Island on the front.
A Dynamic Island would make a lot of sense since that’s become a significant user interface element. By the time the iPhone SE 4 debuts next spring, the last of the notched iPhones, the iPhone 14, will be preparing to ride off into the sunset to make way for the iPhone 17 lineup, so releasing another iPhone with a notch would force Apple to support that older design for another few years.
The TrueDepth camera and other sensors for Face ID are already pricey, but Apple also reportedly plans to adorn the next iPhone SE with an OLED screen. That’s arguably more expensive than LCD panels, but Apple could be working at an economy of scale here that keeps the costs down by using the same base display tech on all of its phones.
This means we should also expect a price increase. Apple already bumped the iPhone SE from $399 to $429 when it added 5G in 2022. This time, there’s a good chance that the base model will hit at least $499, although it could end up going as high as $549.
That’s the price range being floated by leaker Ice Universe, who shared details on Apple’s 2025 iPhone lineup earlier today. Alongside reports of the luxurious new “iPhone 17 Slim”, the leaker reported specs on the iPhone SE 4 that’s slated to launch earlier in the year.
The specs don’t differ much from what we’ve already heard over the past few months: a 6.06-inch OLED panel with a 60Hz refresh rate, the A18 chip that will come to the iPhone 16 this September, a single rear camera with a 48MP sensor, Face ID, and USB-C.
Ice Universe is on “team notch,” contradicting other reports we’ve heard about a more iPhone 16-like design. However, not all of these reports are mutually exclusive. Another Weibo leaker reported last week that the iPhone SE would use a backplate design similar to the iPhone 16 but said nothing about what the front of Apple’s next budget iPhone could look like. The only specific mention of the Dynamic Island was in February from a leaker with a mixed track record.
Meanwhile, other leakers and renders point to a device that looks more like an iPhone 13 or iPhone 14. Of course, the differences between all of these iPhones are pretty subtle, and even this year’s iPhone 16 is expected to have a similar look, with the most significant change being a return to tandem camera placement. However, since the iPhone SE will have a single camera, it will be unique in its own way anyway.
The trickiest thing about a more expensive iPhone SE is where it would fit into Apple’s lineup. For the past few years, Apple has kept its older mainstream iPhones on the market, discontinuing only the Pro models but leaving the standard ones around at discounted prices. Today, the iPhone 13 still sells at $599 for the base 128GB model, while the iPhone 14 is $699 and the iPhone 14 Plus is $799 — the same price as the base iPhone 15.
We’re likely to see similar adjustments this fall, with the iPhone 14 falling into the $599 price slot and the iPhone 15 going for $699.
At $499, the iPhone SE 4 might still be a good option next to these, especially if Apple can increase the base storage to 128GB, but it could be a harder sell at $549.
On the other hand, if the iPhone SE 4 has everything we’re hearing, it won’t make nearly as much sense for Apple to keep selling two-year-old iPhones at a higher price. When the 2022 iPhone SE launched, and the 2020 iPhone 12 slipped into the bottom pricing tier later that year, the older model was still easily worth the price premium, as it offered a more modern design, a better camera system, an OLED display, Face ID, and more. An iPhone SE that follows the design of the iPhone 14 would blur the lines with an actual iPhone 14.
[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.]
