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A display upgrade
This might go without saying, but inheriting the iPhone 14’s 6.1-inch display would mark a major upgrade for the iPhone SE, representing the greatest display upgrade between two iPhone generations since the iPhone X replaced the iPhone 7.
The current-gen iPhone SE 3 sports a 4.7-inch LCD display that can’t even claim to be full HD, whereas the incoming iPhone 14 display has a full-screen resolution of 1170 x 2532. It’s also much brighter than the outgoing SE display, at 1200 nits of peak brightness versus 625 on the older SE 3.
That said, we can’t expect too much from Apple, especially on a budget: I reckon there’s zero chance of us seeing a refresh rate higher than 60Hz, seeing as Apple still sees fit to equip its baseline iPhone 16 with this refresh rate, despite nearly all of the competition moving on to 90Hz or 120Hz panels.
Budget beast
Personally, I’m looking forward to welcoming the most powerful cheap phone we’ve ever seen to the market, because if the rumors are true, the iPhone 16E will have a lot more muscle than anything in its price bracket.
Though I remain unconvinced that $500 / £500 / AU$800 (as is rumored) is a particularly fair price for a budget iPhone, there’s no denying that the Apple A18 chipset is something of a beast compared to equally priced silicon from the competition.
If we take a look at the Google Pixel 8a, for example, we see a phone equipped with the Google Tensor G3 chipset, which while capable isn’t exactly flagship-grade even a year after release.
When the iPhone 16 series launched, bringing the A18 chipset with it, we were impressed by the generational improvement between it and the previous generation A16 Bionic, so it stands to reason that the iPhone SE 4 will be an impressively powerful smartphone, too.
Return of the notch
In borrowing the design of the iPhone 14, the iPhone SE 4 is expected to bring the notched display back to the current iPhone lineup for the first time in three years.
The iPhone 14 was, in fact, the last time we saw a notched display on an Apple handset, as the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max introduced the Dynamic Island now common to all models in the iPhone 16 lineup.
It stands to reason that the iPhone SE 4 will miss out on the neat tricks we’ve gotten used to in three years of Dynamic Island use, such as live notifications, now playing icons, and timers, unless Apple finds a new way to add these utilities as regular floating windows or notifications.
Still, is it too early to say I’m feeling a little bit nostalgic about seeing a notch on an iPhone display again? Just me? Okay then.
iPhone SE 4 or iPhone 16E?
Bloomberg’s resident Apple guru Mark Gurman has speculated that the next generation of the iPhone SE might get a new name to go with its new look and new hardware specs. The iPhone SE 4 may in fact launch as the iPhone 16E, which would mark it out as a member of the iPhone 16 lineup rather it occupying its own branch in the iPhone family.
As this liveblog previously mentioned, this could simply be a way to recognize the internal power (and likely Apple Intelligence support) that Apple’s new midrange phone brings – but I think the change could go deeper than that.
Apple’s main competitors all produce a cheaper version of their flagship phones at some point during the main products’ life cycles. Most recently, we’ve had the Galaxy S24 FE from Samsung and Pixel 8a from Google, both of which share a similar naming scheme and general concept with the supposed iPhone 16E.
I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of possibility that the iPhone 16E could kick off a new yearly release schedule for Apple’s most budget-friendly handset, in line with the competition. Given that the iPhone SE 4 / 16E is expected to launch with the same internal specs as the iPhone 16, it’s possible that Apple would want to keep this up with the iPhone 17E, 18E, and so on.
The only awkward part is the name – SE officially means “special edition” in Apple parlance, so would the iPhone 16E just be an… edition? I guess that makes sense…
Is one camera enough?
Hey there, TechRadar readers, Mobile Computing Staff Writer Jamie Richards here to take over the blog for a little while. As my colleagues have already mentioned, it looks like the iPhone SE 4 (or iPhone 16E as it may be known) will take design cues from the iPhone 14, but it won’t be a carbon copy of Apple’s 2022 base model.
One of the more notable features (or lack thereof) we expect to see with the iPhone SE 4 is a single-lens camera system, again making it the only iPhone in the entire family to ship without a double or triple-camera system. Personally, the loss of an ultra-wide lens isn’t much of a loss at all, but I’m sure other users enjoy the versatility an ultra-wide lens brings.
Hopefully, that single camera will match the iPhone 16’s 48MP Fusion main camera, which offers a cropped digital zoom function for 12MP shots at 2x zoom, but there’s a chance this main camera will still be a 12MP snapper like on the current-gen iPhone SE 3 and iPhone 14.
Taking a leaf out of Google’s playbook?
Speaking of Apple Intelligence compatibility, this looks set to be the key selling point of the iPhone SE 4. Until now, Apple Intelligence has been firmly marketed as exclusive to the most expensive iPhones – specifically the iPhone 15 Pro series and the latest iPhone 16 models – but an AI-compatible iPhone SE 4 would make Apple’s shiniest new toy accessible to millions more buyers.
In truth, Apple needs to build some momentum behind its AI features. Apple Intelligence hasn’t exactly hit the ground running, and I doubt that owners of the best iPhones will feel hard done by if tools like Notification summaries, Clean Up, and the redesigned Siri are suddenly made available for half the price.
Google offers the same AI features on the budget-friendly Pixel 8a as it does on the premium Pixel 9 Pro, a move which has allowed the company to refine and stress-test these features in ways that Apple can’t yet do on its iPhones.
The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will of course remain the best iPhones for hardware reasons, but the democratization of Apple Intelligence will, I think, be a positive move for both Apple and consumers.
No Dynamic Island, no problem?
We’re fairly certain that the iPhone SE 4 will miss out on the Dynamic Island, which has been a feature of every iPhone model since the iPhone 15 (prior to that, it was exclusive to the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max), but to me, this omission makes sense.
Despite being included on all recent iPhones, the Dynamic Island still feels (or at least looks) like a premium feature, and including it on the iPhone SE 4 would leave almost no reason to buy the standard iPhone 15 (you’d get an additional camera, but lose out on Apple Intelligence compatibility).
A Dynamic Island-less iPhone SE 4 would still feel ‘budget’ enough to be worth including alongside the iPhone 15, and wouldn’t feel like a major compromise if you’re simply after a powerful iPhone with Apple Intelligence compatibility.
The iPhone SE 4 could be a nail in several coffins
We’ve talked a lot about the upgrades we’re expecting from the iPhone SE 4, but what about the features it could leave behind?
Being Apple’s oldest currently-available iPhone, the iPhone SE (2022) is something of a time capsule, packing outdated (but undeniably classic) iPhone features that almost certainly won’t be included on the iPhone SE 4.
These include Touch ID, the physical Home button, Lightning connectivity, and the sub-6-inch displays that Apple’s iPhones were once known for. I can’t picture the iPhone SE 4 using any of these features, so Apple could be about to wave goodbye to several important pieces of iPhone history.
What to expect on Wednesday
The iPhone SE 4 (or iPhone 16E) looks a banker for Apple’s launch on Wednesday 19, but can we expect any extra surprises?
Tim Cook’s “newest member of the family” line has led to some speculating that we might see an entirely new product – like its rumored smart home hub. After all, the iPhone SE 4 would be more of an update than a ‘new’ addition to Apple’s family.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, a pretty reliable source of rumors, has been increasingly confident that we’ll see Apple’s home hub – effectively a HomePod with a screen – sometime in 2025. But this February launch appears to be too early for it.
Given the unusual timing of the event – February is a rarity for Apple – I still think it’s most likely to be an iPhone SE 4 or 16E, perhaps alongside a smaller announcement like the mooted Apple Intelligence upgrade for the Vision Pro.
Then again, I’ve been wrong with Apple before – like the time in 2007 when I scoffed at my then-editor’s suggestion that Apple was going to launch a phone…
The iPhone lineup could get a rejig on Wednesday
Apple is pushing Apple Intelligence quite hard – and this rumored iPhone SE refresh is part of that plan. With an A18 chip and 8GB RAM, it’s expected to be the cheapest way of getting Apple’s AI features (on an iPhone, at least).
But what might that mean for the current iPhone lineup? It’s definitely possible that the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus might disappear to be replaced by the iPhone SE 4 (or iPhone 16E). Neither of those phones support Apple Intelligence, so would become a tougher sell.
Then again, the base iPhone 15 doesn’t support Apple Intelligence either, leaving it in something of a no-man’s land. It’s all a bit of a mess, so I’m interested to see if and how Apple shakes up the whole iPhone lineup on Wednesday.
Will the new iPhone SE get a price hike?
One slightly less exciting rumor we’ve heard about the SE 4 is that it could be a bit pricier than its predecessor – and perhaps even a lot pricier.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the new mid-ranger could land towards the upper end of previous estimates, in the ballpark of $500 / £500 / AU$800. For comparison, the current iPhone SE cost $429 / £419 / AU$719 when it landed three years ago.
Inflation means that price is about $465 / £465 in today’s money, so that rumored figure would (if true) represent a fairly big price hike.
The SE 4 would still qualify as mid-range in Apple’s world, of course, but as my colleague Jamie Richards (our Mobile Computing Staff Writer) has compellingly argued, it wouldn’t represent such good value compared to the best cheap phones on Android. Hmm, decisions…
What might the iPhone SE 4 look like?
We don’t yet know whether it’ll be called the iPhone SE 4 or iPhone 16E, but is this the design of Apple’s mid-range phone?
These images (or perhaps best-guess renders) shared by leaker Majin Bu are the closest thing we have to peek at the phone’s possible design. They certainly match previous leaks; it has a notch, a flat metal frame and a single-lens camera.
There’s also a customizable action button (a nice bonus for a more affordable iPhone). The notch means this should also be the first SE model with Face ID, which is a nice time-saver on my iPhone 16 Pro. If this is all true, it could prove popular – if the price is right…
What does Apple’s teaser tell us?
Get ready to meet the newest member of the family.Wednesday, February 19. #AppleLaunch pic.twitter.com/0ML0NfMeduFebruary 13, 2025
First off, what can we tell from the only official evidence we have so far about Apple’s launch? Tim Cook’s shiny Apple logo doesn’t give a lot away, but the internet has some compelling theories.
Firstly, the tagline “get ready to meet the newest member of the family” does tally with the iPhone SE 4 rumors. It’d be part of the iPhone family, but does that also hint at a rebrand? The iPhone SE 3 was simply the iPhone SE (2022) and there have also been rumors it might be called the iPhone 16E.
The circle around the logo could also be hinting at the new SE’s single camera, or the move away from a physical home button. It does also look a lot like an AirTag, but an AirTag 2 is expected to be a little further off…
Welcome to our iPhone SE 4 liveblog
Hello, I’m Mark Wilson (TechRadar’s senior news editor) and will be running our iPhone SE 4 and Apple liveblog for the next few hours. I’ve just realized I bought my first iPhone (the 3GS) a worrying 16 years ago, but these iPhone SE 4 rumors show just how much we can now expect from a ‘mid-range’ phone.
The SE 4 looks almost certain to arrive on February 19, and it seems we can expect an A18 chip, 8GB RAM and a 48MP camera. But else might it have, and will Apple have any surprises in store? That’s what we’ll be discovering here in this by-the-minute analysis of all the latest rumors around Apple’s first big launch of 2025…
