The rumor mill’s most reliable sources have been pointing to a refresh for Apple’s low-end $429 iPhone SE to land early this year, and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the launch could be coming “as early as next week.”
The new fourth-generation iPhone SE ought to be the device’s first significant makeover since 2020. It’s said to be adopting a design similar to the iPhone 14—one of the iPhones with Face ID in a display notch, rather than inside the Dynamic Island—but with the internationally mandated USB-C port that was first added to the iPhone 15.
We don’t know much about its internal specs, but like older iPhone SE models it will likely stick to a single-lens rear camera. Some reporting suggests the phone’s 6.1-inch display model could shift to OLED to match the rest of the iPhone lineup, dropping the LCD panel technology from older models. It should also support Apple Intelligence, which would most likely mean either an A17 Pro chip (like the iPad mini 6 just got) or an A18 like in the iPhone 16. Both of these include 8GB of RAM, a consistent requirement for Apple Intelligence across the entire iPhone, iPad, and Mac lineup.
Gurman suggests that Apple could raise the $429 starting price of the new iPhone SE to reflect the updated design. He also says that Apple’s supplies of the $599 iPhone 14 are running low at Apple’s stores—the 14 has already been discontinued in some countries over its lack of USB-C port, and it’s possible Apple could be planning to replace both the iPhone 14 and the old SE with the new SE.
Apple’s third-generation iPhone SE is nearly three years old, but its design (including its dimensions, screen size, Home button, and Lightning port) hearkens all the way back to 2014’s iPhone 6. Put 2017’s iPhone 8 and 2022’s iPhone SE on a table next to each other, and almost no one could tell the difference. These days, it feels like a thoroughly second-class iPhone experience, and a newer design is overdue.
Other Apple products allegedly due for an early 2025 release include the M4 MacBook Airs and a next-generation Apple TV, which, like the iPhone SE, was also last refreshed in 2022. Gurman has also said that a low-end iPad and a new iPad Air will arrive “during the first half of 2025” and updated Mac Pro and Mac Studio models to arrive sometime this year as well. Apple is also said to be making progress on its own smart display, expanding its smart speaker efforts beyond the aging HomePod and HomePod mini.