Apple insider reveals some surprising details about the iPhone SE 4

Sure, iPhone fans are excited now over the 2024 models because we are less than a month away from the rumored September 10th unveiling event for the iPhone 16 series. But next year is when we should see even more excitement as the iPhone Plus model will supposedly be replaced by the iPhone Air, all four models will carry the ProMotion display with a 1-120Hz variable refresh rate, and we might see the iPhone 17 Pro units feature an under-display version of the Face ID camera setup.

But even before next September, iPhone fever in 2025 will get an early start with the expected release of the budget iPhone SE 4 model early in the new year. The "Special Edition" iPhone, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, will be based on the iPhone 14. That seems to conflict with speculation from a Weibo leaker with the username "Fixed Focus Digital" who said last month that the design of the iPhone SE 4's rear panel would be lifted from the yet-to-be-announced iPhone 16.

Considering that Gurman is as much of an Apple insider as any tech journalist can be (as opposed to a securities firm analyst like Ming-Chi Kuo), we would tend to believe what he writes over the forecasts from an unknown Weibo leaker. Of course, even the most connected Apple insider is wrong every now and then. You might recall that Gurman called for the Apple Watch Series 7 to contain flat sides back in 2021, and while renders showed such a design, that look never appeared on a released Apple timepiece.

But let's assume that Bloomberg's Chief Correspondent is right. We can expect the iPhone SE 4 to feature a 6.1-inch OLED display compared to the 4.7-inch LCD display used on the last iPhone SE from 2022. The previous iPhone SE model was based on the iPhone 8 which means it had the Touch ID fingerprint sensor integrated in the home button. This will be replaced with Face ID and the Dynamic Island on the iPhone SE 4.

Other new features will see the Lightning port replaced with a USB-C port and included on the phone will be the Action button which debuted with the iPhone 15 Pro series. This button will activate a preset task among 12 options that the user can choose from.

According to a chart included in a tweet by leaker Ice Universe, the iPhone SE 4 will be powered by the A18 application processor (AP) which is the chipset that will be found running the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. While the chart showed that the phone would have either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, Gurman says that the iPhone SE 4 will support Apple Intelligence which means that the budget model needs to have a minimum of 8GB RAM to support Apple's AI initiative.

We could see a single 48MP camera on the back and Gurman says that the iPhone SE 4 could be a big winner if Apple can get the price tag to read about $500. The new version of the Special Edition iPhone could be released during the latter part of the first quarter or early during the second quarter of next year.