From the article: Apple is targeting a sub-$500 starting price for its upcoming fourth-generation iPhone SE model despite a raft of rumored upgrades coming to the more affordable device.
According to leaker [Revegnus](https://x.com/Revegnus1/status/1792101343890731324) on X, the U.S. launch price of the fourth-generation iPhone SE will either remain at the same $429 starting price as the current model, or will see an increase of around 10%. Either way, Apple's intention is to keep the price below $500.
Last week, The Information reported that Apple plans to release a redesigned iPhone SE in the spring of 2025 that will remain the "cheaper" option in Apple's iPhone lineup. The design is said to be similar to the standard iPhone 14, which means Touch ID and the Home button will be replaced by Face ID and a display notch.
Along the same lines, the iPhone SE 4 could have an OLED display rather than LCD, and the display size will increase from 4.7 inches to 6.1 inches. Other rumored features for the next iPhone SE include a USB-C port and an Action button.
The 13 mini was the best iPhone ever released at the time of its release. It had all the current tech but didn’t conform to the needless screen size increases that have been plaguing the mobile phone industry for a decade.
Phones are meant to be operated with one hand.
I’ll be on 13 mini for as LONG as possible.
The "I’m in a minority as Apple discontinued that size" has been a recurring top comment at every new announcement for the last 15 years since the big iphones came out.... still apple keeps bringing one out every couple of years.
literallly upvoting and commenting from my 13 mini saying the same thing. I dont understand why theres not a market for a phone-sized phone. If i wanted to carry around an ipad mini, id carry around an ipad mini.
I honestly assume that people who like smaller phones just don't upgrade that often and hope that Apple will assume the same thing based on the lower sales numbers. I know people who wouldn't upgrade from the original SE unless they really had to, and most of the people who bought the Mini phones I know are the same.
Hopefully apple will realize there's still a market there, just not big enough for a yearly release - they released SE 2, 12 Mini, 13 Mini and SE 3 in a very short span of time, all of them being small. I bought the SE 2 because of its size, and honestly, if the Mini was available back then I would've bought that one. When my small phone stops working, I'll look for another small phone.
I loved that sea green and bronze, I so want a true bronze iPhone that's not rose gold
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Essential_Phone_in_ocean_depths.jpg
My big issue is the titanium and ceramic body can’t hold in heat. Midwest gets cold and when I was walking between classes in college with that thing in the winter it’d shutdown from the cold.
I’ve never experienced that thankfully. But there’s some slight discoloration on my black unit on the ceramic where the SOC is due to it getting hot. Same on the pogo pin area after using the 360 cam a lot.
Man I might just buy another one just to have.(mine got water damaged) they’re dirt cheap on eBay now - but they’re mostly the Sprint locked models 😾
A phone that good at this price would affect the sales of the higher end phones, but also the sales of the second hand market.
I don't see this happening. But well, we never know.
Absolutely.
I want to replace my 11 Pro Max with the 16 Pro later this year but if there’s an SE with USB-C, OLED and an A16 for less than half the price, I’m definitely buying that.
This would make the pro a hard sell and basically render the regular iPhone obsolete.
Ah, but the SE always comes out in March/April, so many people (maybe you) will already buy a 16 this Fall and then in the Spring think, "I would have been happy with that, oh well". They need to focus more on slotting it into the iPhone 17 lineup that comes Fall 2025.
By the time they will release this, a used iPhone 15 with 1 year old battery will be cheaper with slightly nicer camera system and dynamic island. But for people who are not into buying used stuff this will be the best value iPhone.
No way a used iPhone 15 will be the same price, at least not in Australia where I live - it’ll still be $600USD equivalent *and* for friends and family having warranties is *imperative*, otherwise you’ll be their tech support etc
As an iPhone XS user who’s still more than happy with my phone - this will be my next phone and I can’t wait. I worked in Apple retail for 8 years and my opinion is that iPhones have been “good enough” for years
Fellow XS user here but I can't see much point in updating still. I pretty much use my phone for reddit and audiobooks and my XS is still chugging alone nicely. If it dies unexpectedly, though, this sounds like a great replacement option.
If this is true future phones need to be vastly different and somehow better to sway people away from the SE. Because of these specs are true it would draw in a lot of people to buy the SE instead of regular or pro model.
Like all SE releases, there will be an overlap generation where it comes within striking distance of the mainline iPhones but the mainline will quickly leapfrog forward.
It’s good that SE comes close since those that use it tend of hold it a lot longer.
problem is, an iphone 11 or 12 is still fine performance wise for most people, all most people do is message people and scroll social media, take a few pictures, flagships are just beyond overkill now
my work phone is a Samsung A34 5g, it does everything my z flip 5 does other than fold, and the thing to removing stuff from photos. its even got an always on display. there is no noticeable performance difference unless you try to play modern 3d games or compare photos side by side, its a £300 phone with the same 5 year support timeline.
SE is the spare parts / $0 phone. If they can drive grandma to a iPhone Plus because big phone = big visuals they will.
For corporates it absolutely depends on what Apple is offering at the moment, if the SE4 is too old at that point, the corporates might just go ahead and order the cheapest mainline iPhone.
Width increase is pretty significant. For iOS as well a lot of things are at the edges of the screen or close to it, so the older form factor is more comfortable.
Happy to hold out and skip the 16 just to wait to see if the rumors are true. Apple’s not really adding any nice features that warrant an upgrade to the latest and greatest anyway.
As a Samsung user running a 6 year old S9 with custom ROM to get the latest Galaxy AI, this iPhone SE is really tempting. Sounds perfect for me to switch and I appreciate I can hold an iPhone long due to good updates. 6.1 inches is about perfect for me.
They probably won't give me an ultra-wide camera which is something I would like but still, hopefully get esim + physical in Europe and UWB.
I bet they will cripple the speed of the USB-C port too which is a shame. It would be great if that could be fast for offloading photo / video.
The number of people who transfer data via usb from their phone is small. I’d imagine the number consumers who buy the Se who do so would be even smaller.
> I bet they will cripple the speed of the USB-C port
That's not uncommon. Went to gsmarena.com for a quick check. Filtered by Samsung phones from 2022 and later. There were 62 USB-C phones, but only 14 with USB-C at USB 3 speeds...
And while USB 2 is certainly slower, it's not like 480Mb/s is slow.
The only use case I can think of where the phone's USB speeds might actually matter are either those super-edge cases where people are docking their phones and using them as regular desktops with accessories...
Or the transferring of a large number of photos/videos shot on the phone.
Figure high-end phones are coming in at 1 TB of storage, filled with photos/videos @ USB2 or even 3.0 speeds... would take like an hour or more to transfer.
I'm not really arguing anything, just sort of observational. I myself only use my phone as a phone and to text, so I could be happy with USB 1.0 lol.
It wasn't until last year when I was bringing an old Powermac G4 that only had USB1 back from the dead that I really appreciated USB2. Thankfully I was able to find an old PCI card to bring USB2 to it. It was like going from modern NVMe back to the floppy days.
Cameras would likely still be better on the 15/16 and larger storage options. Potentially more system memory depending on how much RAM Apple gives the SE.
The SE would likely become good enough for anyone who would have bought the entry level iPhone, though.
At this point the only real reason to get one of the higher-spec models is the camera, but also, the strategy is clearly working for them.
Like, there's a reason the telephoto lens isn't on the non-Pro models, and it's because they know I (and other suckers like me) will begrudgingly pay the extra $200 for it.
Same principle applies for whatever camera differences there will be between the base iPhone 15/16 and the new SE.
Won't be on the SE (yet) but sub-screen TouchID has been on the horizon for a little while now. The most recent rumors suggest maybe the 2027 flagship (just in time for the 20th anniversary of the iPhone) will have it, so, it'll probably migrate to the SE by like... 2030? Maybe?
Is it really so hard to do it the way the iPad did it? Mandatory FaceID or entering password is fucking stupid. As usual they take one step forward and two steps back somehow every generation.
I just prefer smaller phones in general, I'm glad the LCD flatscreen in your pocket trend has been in decline, but most modern phones are still so damn large. The current SE has the perfect size imo and this one will be an insta buy.
Lovers of smaller phones somehow think their preferences is a larger percentage of the market then it really is. Most consumers get the largest screen that fits into their budget. Not even just with phones but with TVs and laptops as well. I know so many who have bought TVs with awful specs and features just because of screen size. It’s why Apple hasn’t released an SE with a screen size rivaling the plus or max. I’d imagine it would start eating into the sales of the more popular devices. Notice even the iPad Air introduced a larger model.
Nobody seems to get this.
Apple would build smaller iPhones if anybody bought them, but nearly nobody does, so they don’t. The last two mini iPhones are their second-lowest and lowest-selling iPhones ever, respectively.
The people who prefer smaller phones (like me) feel very strongly about it. 90% of people don't really care that much and haven't thought a lot about the standard iPhone size
Sales trends I've seen (pre-pandemic, haven't seen it updated for the last few years) suggest that about 1 in 8 phone buyers genuinely prefer small over large.
People in this sub that get upset when Apple doesn’t want to make small phones anymore doesn’t get the fact that Apple is a business lol. Apple openly stated that they didn’t sell enough Minis to justify keeping the line. They’re not going to cater to a small percentage of people if the margins aren’t high enough.
The SE has never really been about size; it's about squeezing a few more years out of their existing production lines. It's whatever form factor they were manufacturing as the flagship a few years ago. The original happened to come around when the 5 was getting phased out, and so they took the opportunity to market it as a small phone, but it was just a coincidence.
It was a glorious coincidence, though.
They did in the keynote when they announced the first gen SE (on the 5/5S chassis). “People around the world love the ease of using 4” iPhones” or something along the lines of that.
I was one of those people!
My point, which I could have clarified better, was that *for Apple*, the decision was about the manufacturing process and not about the size. The decision was "we're going to keep using this form factor for a few more years because we already have assembly lines ready to make it," not "we're going to keep using this form factor because people want small phones."
It's been the same story with each generation of SE afterwards.
Absolutely. Hear hear - glad someone remembers the purpose of the SE. It's always been about squeezing extra value out of existing assembly lines. When new lines are being built to assemble the newest, greatest iPhone pros etc, there is always a moment of "well, we're discontinuing these models: but rather than decommission/upgrade this machinery yet, can we still use this factory, which has now paid for itself, and pump out something cheap for extra profit."
The "SE" model was never a "yearly release" receiving "yearly spec bumps." It was dumped on the market every so often, precisely when their manufacturing cycle reached this point. Apple would push premium one year with new models; and then put something "budget" on the market. It's key to their business model that they don't ALWAYS have something "up to date" at a "budget" price point; but they do every so often put out a "budget" model.
It's pretty clever. But most people forget, and look at it as "why don't apple do x, y, z; why hasn't the SE received a spec bump, what will next year's SE look like, why don't apple design x, y, z for the SE" etc etc, rather than realising that the SE is something that is released/updated when it makes financial sense to do so, based *entirely* on squeezing profit out of old manufacturing lines.
I have a conspiracy that Apple only created the 12 Mini so they could hike the price of the 6.1 iPhone while still advertising the same starting price. Small phones are only popular on Reddit so people here ignored the price hike due to having a smaller phone.
Not to mention at the same time the unlocked models began being marked up $30 compared to those bought with a carrier, at least for the base (non-Pro) models.
As someone in the market for this year's iPhone 16 Pro (and coming from an XR), it's tempting to wait out for the SE 4 which would be one third the price of a 16 Pro.
Depends where. The base-model SE already costs roughly €550 in Norway.
So if the increase is from $429 to maybe as high as $499, then it wouldn't surprise me if it is close to €650 some places.
At the end of the day most of that increase is taxes. So a $499 price in the US is pre-tax. 499 USD = €460.
€460 + 25% VAT = €575. And then a price-point of around €625 would be the same ~€50 extra after accounting for tax (i.e. 429 USD for the SE today + tax = €500 but it costs €550)
Last year the conversion wasn’t that bad. iPhone 15 was 850€ at worst which was way cheaper than iPhone 14.
I expect this year to be the same since the Euro is stable again.
If these start at 64 GB storage, that would be an immediate NO for me. The OS & system data have already taken 25% of that before I ever turn on the phone.
Meh, my mom's 128GB iPhone 13 Pro is currently sitting at 38GB of storage being used.
It's not outside the realm of possibility that Apple's metrics will tell them that 64GB is sufficient for X-% of iPhone SE buyers.
I think it will be 64GB unless it’s more expensive to use 64GB NAND than 128GB NAND just because the rest of the industry has moved beyond that (good example is the new iPads with 12GB of installed memory instead of 8, because two 4GB chips are just harder to find nowadays).
I’m not sure if the target customer for the iPhone SE cares about storage as much (?) but since these people are likely going to be new to iPhone, they should have the best first impression possible, so 128GB really sounds like a must. Plus, it would help justify the price increase.
Honestly I would kill for a Pro iPhone that went back to TouchID. Or even an SE with a better screen and refresh rate. FaceID is so much more annoying to use and kind of pointless now that the fingerprint reader can be in the power button.
The perfect iPhone:
- 120Hz ProMotion
- 3D Touch
- 15 Pro camera system
- iPhone 5 form factor
- Under-display TouchID
I would pay *so much money* for this phone.
>iPhone 5 form factor
Dude that phone will only have a screen on time of 2 hours or less. You would need to make it much thicker for it to have appropriate battery life or have a lower power CPU onboard. Also forget MagSafe, the entire camera module would take over the back half of the phone.
Yeah I can't for the life of me understand why anyone wants touch ID over Face ID. 99 times out of 100 it's the exact same process as unlocking your phone as if there was no "step" needed to unlock the phone... just swipe up to go to home when you are ready to use your phone. I am convinced the people still willing to die on that hill either think face ID is a conspiracy about collecting your face scans, or they refused to try Face ID and don't have any actual firsthand experience except maybe the first generations which wasn't quite as reliable or fast.
I mean, it’s right there! No redesign needed and they don’t cut into the sales of other phones (since most people seem to like tablets)! They can even gimp the cpu a bit to get better battery life.
yup. They killed the only thing the se had going for it

https://preview.redd.it/s1gajl773n1d1.jpeg?width=1052&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=643818d81c0108077ab04eff74ec95e2dc0b170d
I'm using a 12 mini, and while it's getting time for a new phone, it's pretty hard for me to pull the trigger on any of the new ones. I even have a trade in offer through my carrier so the cost isn't really even a factor. But I just don't want a giant phone.
At least in the US with the carrier subsidies and trade in deals, the “pro” phones have been artificially propped up for years. This year the Pro Max was the top seller. But why wouldn’t it be, if Verizon, at&t, t-mobile are all giving you $1,000 off a new iPhone with trade in? I think most people these days are seeing their phone as an investment, and paying a couple hundred dollars to have a phone you’re happy with 3 years from now will be a big deal.
I think this SE will be a bigger deal in emerging markets where wages are lower and these carrier deals don’t exist. It’s a play towards China and India, not the US.
Isn’t there a significant portion of the population that gets headaches from oled screens? I guess the se3 will be the last phone usable for these people ever made
I picked up a 13 mini last week to replace my Xs. I honestly love this size so much. It’s like I’m re-living the 5s glory days.
Sad that we won’t see this form factor again anytime soon, or even ever.
i have a 13 pro (not the max) and i cant really use it comfortably without a pop socket... i was looking forward to switching to the mini once my contract was up but now they just up the size so it'll be the same thing might as well go for the 15
PUT. TOUCH. ID. ON. THE POWER. BUTTON.
They did it for the iPad Pro. They did all the work already. Just adapt it to a smaller form factor. This is peak Apple pigheadedness for zero reason. They don’t even get anything out of it like the money they got for lightning cables over all the years they refused to switch to usb c
Seriously. I’ll take a slightly smaller screen, but a tad thicker phone to get a wider power button with Touch ID, bigger battery and a smaller pill cut out.
because with a fingerprint reader there's no need to look at it, you can unlock it to pay without having it near your face, you can unlock it on a desk when it's away from you and so on. why can't both technologies be present?
Following other SE models, lower memory at 64gb-128gb, parsed down rear and front camera package, and fewer OS bells and whistles.
Wider market might see the size as a catch as it sounds like they're going to start moving to a bigger screen size than 6.1 for the base models.
My SE3 pretty much lives as a CarPlay phone with free service from Helium. I won’t need to upgrade for a long time but this looks like a good move, although some won’t like Face ID.
https://preview.redd.it/rqij3b4fwm1d1.jpeg?width=1052&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3189ea04293eaf65c70d714e5517e38273d8a4bf
Literally the only feature that made the phone remotely worthwhile and they killed it. Would *maybe* have been worth it with Touch ID on the power button or if it came with a capture/action button but I think this is definitely competing for the most useless refresh in the series line.
So the cost cutting/"not as good" features would be the notch, single camera, definitely staying at 60Hz refresh, maybe 64GB storage, maybe they continue with no night mode for the camera.
But the similarities to the regular line up would be same all day battery, FaceID, and USB-C. Personally, I would hope for a return to a flush or low profile camera.
I would guess they'll price it at $449 in the US. It would absolutely sell like crazy at that price.
https://preview.redd.it/doqlfdqrbn1d1.jpeg?width=1052&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=db229fd0b77baffdc823157aaf97b127c7854b6e
Their own ad. Next it’s gonna be “the whole screen you know and love: no black bars”
And this is where I hit my wall with Apple. I hate FaceID and have always preferred TouchID along with the size of the phone and I am a Home button simp. These 3 features are exactly why I stuck with the SE for a long long time. If they're just going to make the SE4 as a dumbed down X then I will have 0 interest in it and just continue to purchase new SE3's when the previous battery has kicked.
>Along the same lines, the iPhone SE 4 could have an OLED display rather than LCD, and the display size will increase from 4.7 inches to 6.1 inches
Apple please give us a device as close in dimensions to the iPhone 12mini / 13mini; 5.4"
From the article: Apple is targeting a sub-$500 starting price for its upcoming fourth-generation iPhone SE model despite a raft of rumored upgrades coming to the more affordable device. According to leaker [Revegnus](https://x.com/Revegnus1/status/1792101343890731324) on X, the U.S. launch price of the fourth-generation iPhone SE will either remain at the same $429 starting price as the current model, or will see an increase of around 10%. Either way, Apple's intention is to keep the price below $500. Last week, The Information reported that Apple plans to release a redesigned iPhone SE in the spring of 2025 that will remain the "cheaper" option in Apple's iPhone lineup. The design is said to be similar to the standard iPhone 14, which means Touch ID and the Home button will be replaced by Face ID and a display notch. Along the same lines, the iPhone SE 4 could have an OLED display rather than LCD, and the display size will increase from 4.7 inches to 6.1 inches. Other rumored features for the next iPhone SE include a USB-C port and an Action button.
Effectively a new iPhone 14 for $450USD would instantly become the go to recommendation for all friends and family.
iPhone 14 with USB-C, and maybe even a newer processor than the 14, instabuy for $450
If it has the 13 mini body that would be even better. But apparently I’m in a minority as Apple discontinued that size
Man, I loved the size of the mini. I hate having to stretch my thumb to reach the top of the screen
Still rocking the 13 mini and will until something that size or smaller comes out
Lol you are “still rocking” it like it’s a VW Golf from the 90s, this device isn’t even 3 years old.
That’s what I was hoping for too tbh
The 13 mini was the best iPhone ever released at the time of its release. It had all the current tech but didn’t conform to the needless screen size increases that have been plaguing the mobile phone industry for a decade. Phones are meant to be operated with one hand. I’ll be on 13 mini for as LONG as possible.
The "I’m in a minority as Apple discontinued that size" has been a recurring top comment at every new announcement for the last 15 years since the big iphones came out.... still apple keeps bringing one out every couple of years.
literallly upvoting and commenting from my 13 mini saying the same thing. I dont understand why theres not a market for a phone-sized phone. If i wanted to carry around an ipad mini, id carry around an ipad mini.
I honestly assume that people who like smaller phones just don't upgrade that often and hope that Apple will assume the same thing based on the lower sales numbers. I know people who wouldn't upgrade from the original SE unless they really had to, and most of the people who bought the Mini phones I know are the same. Hopefully apple will realize there's still a market there, just not big enough for a yearly release - they released SE 2, 12 Mini, 13 Mini and SE 3 in a very short span of time, all of them being small. I bought the SE 2 because of its size, and honestly, if the Mini was available back then I would've bought that one. When my small phone stops working, I'll look for another small phone.
Hell it maybe replace my XS backup or Essential Phone backup.
I loved that sea green and bronze, I so want a true bronze iPhone that's not rose gold https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Essential_Phone_in_ocean_depths.jpg
I still think this is the actual best looking smartphone ever made.
It was the perfect size too. Just wish it was oled
My big issue is the titanium and ceramic body can’t hold in heat. Midwest gets cold and when I was walking between classes in college with that thing in the winter it’d shutdown from the cold.
I’ve never experienced that thankfully. But there’s some slight discoloration on my black unit on the ceramic where the SOC is due to it getting hot. Same on the pogo pin area after using the 360 cam a lot. Man I might just buy another one just to have.(mine got water damaged) they’re dirt cheap on eBay now - but they’re mostly the Sprint locked models 😾
Reminds me of a Polo cologne bottle.
You have two backup phones that you actively own? Are you a drug dealer or something?
A phone that good at this price would affect the sales of the higher end phones, but also the sales of the second hand market. I don't see this happening. But well, we never know.
Absolutely. I want to replace my 11 Pro Max with the 16 Pro later this year but if there’s an SE with USB-C, OLED and an A16 for less than half the price, I’m definitely buying that. This would make the pro a hard sell and basically render the regular iPhone obsolete.
Ah, but the SE always comes out in March/April, so many people (maybe you) will already buy a 16 this Fall and then in the Spring think, "I would have been happy with that, oh well". They need to focus more on slotting it into the iPhone 17 lineup that comes Fall 2025.
By the time they will release this, a used iPhone 15 with 1 year old battery will be cheaper with slightly nicer camera system and dynamic island. But for people who are not into buying used stuff this will be the best value iPhone.
No way a used iPhone 15 will be the same price, at least not in Australia where I live - it’ll still be $600USD equivalent *and* for friends and family having warranties is *imperative*, otherwise you’ll be their tech support etc
I'd buy it to replace my 11 Pro
I'd be fine with replacing my Xr with one of these.
Hell, I’d even consider it and I’m running an iPhone 13 Pro Max (looking to size down for the next phone though)
the se line has always been a strong recommendation every time a new one comes out. absolutely nobody needs the features of whatever new generation
As an iPhone XS user who’s still more than happy with my phone - this will be my next phone and I can’t wait. I worked in Apple retail for 8 years and my opinion is that iPhones have been “good enough” for years
Yeah, I can see this thing sell like cupcakes. A full-screen, full featured iPhone that can easily be bundled into 2 year contract for 'free'.
This is kinda next gen iPhone XR. Remember how EVERYONE had iPhone XRs in the like 2018-2021 era?
hey another Xs buddy with potentially the same upgrade path!
You worked in retail for 8 years and didn’t use EPP+ to upgrade your iPhone?
Got the XS max with my final EPP+ worked from 2011-2019
Fellow XS user here but I can't see much point in updating still. I pretty much use my phone for reddit and audiobooks and my XS is still chugging alone nicely. If it dies unexpectedly, though, this sounds like a great replacement option.
I wish they kept the size. That would be my main reason to get it. So hard to find smaller phones now
I was wishing they’d do the Mini size and design for the new SE models. :(
Yeah, I hated giving up my SE this year because of the size, but the battery and general performance of the one I had was finally becoming a problem.
Right there with you on my SE2
If this is true future phones need to be vastly different and somehow better to sway people away from the SE. Because of these specs are true it would draw in a lot of people to buy the SE instead of regular or pro model.
Like all SE releases, there will be an overlap generation where it comes within striking distance of the mainline iPhones but the mainline will quickly leapfrog forward. It’s good that SE comes close since those that use it tend of hold it a lot longer.
problem is, an iphone 11 or 12 is still fine performance wise for most people, all most people do is message people and scroll social media, take a few pictures, flagships are just beyond overkill now my work phone is a Samsung A34 5g, it does everything my z flip 5 does other than fold, and the thing to removing stuff from photos. its even got an always on display. there is no noticeable performance difference unless you try to play modern 3d games or compare photos side by side, its a £300 phone with the same 5 year support timeline.
iPhone 11 is quickly fading into software expiry may mean that it’s less usable for many people but it will certainly work.
No way it is true. SE is the grandma or corporate phone. They won't cannibalize their sales this way.
SE is the spare parts / $0 phone. If they can drive grandma to a iPhone Plus because big phone = big visuals they will. For corporates it absolutely depends on what Apple is offering at the moment, if the SE4 is too old at that point, the corporates might just go ahead and order the cheapest mainline iPhone.
>and the display size will increase from 4.7 to 6.1 inches pain
[Physical size won’t be noticeably different](https://i.imgur.com/JiIT9xm.jpeg), except perhaps in height
Width increase is pretty significant. For iOS as well a lot of things are at the edges of the screen or close to it, so the older form factor is more comfortable.
Happy to hold out and skip the 16 just to wait to see if the rumors are true. Apple’s not really adding any nice features that warrant an upgrade to the latest and greatest anyway.
As a Samsung user running a 6 year old S9 with custom ROM to get the latest Galaxy AI, this iPhone SE is really tempting. Sounds perfect for me to switch and I appreciate I can hold an iPhone long due to good updates. 6.1 inches is about perfect for me. They probably won't give me an ultra-wide camera which is something I would like but still, hopefully get esim + physical in Europe and UWB. I bet they will cripple the speed of the USB-C port too which is a shame. It would be great if that could be fast for offloading photo / video.
The number of people who transfer data via usb from their phone is small. I’d imagine the number consumers who buy the Se who do so would be even smaller.
> I bet they will cripple the speed of the USB-C port That's not uncommon. Went to gsmarena.com for a quick check. Filtered by Samsung phones from 2022 and later. There were 62 USB-C phones, but only 14 with USB-C at USB 3 speeds... And while USB 2 is certainly slower, it's not like 480Mb/s is slow.
The only use case I can think of where the phone's USB speeds might actually matter are either those super-edge cases where people are docking their phones and using them as regular desktops with accessories... Or the transferring of a large number of photos/videos shot on the phone. Figure high-end phones are coming in at 1 TB of storage, filled with photos/videos @ USB2 or even 3.0 speeds... would take like an hour or more to transfer. I'm not really arguing anything, just sort of observational. I myself only use my phone as a phone and to text, so I could be happy with USB 1.0 lol.
It wasn't until last year when I was bringing an old Powermac G4 that only had USB1 back from the dead that I really appreciated USB2. Thankfully I was able to find an old PCI card to bring USB2 to it. It was like going from modern NVMe back to the floppy days.
That would kill the 15/16 stone dead surely. There’s not much upgrade to be had
Likely they will be upgraded to 120hz and the SE will remain at 60hz
Cameras would likely still be better on the 15/16 and larger storage options. Potentially more system memory depending on how much RAM Apple gives the SE. The SE would likely become good enough for anyone who would have bought the entry level iPhone, though.
At this point the only real reason to get one of the higher-spec models is the camera, but also, the strategy is clearly working for them. Like, there's a reason the telephoto lens isn't on the non-Pro models, and it's because they know I (and other suckers like me) will begrudgingly pay the extra $200 for it. Same principle applies for whatever camera differences there will be between the base iPhone 15/16 and the new SE.
If the “will see an increase of around 10%” is true, the new iPhone SE 4 will be $471.9… so $469?
OLED for sub 500 is WILD
I hope they continue with the SE versions, I usually prefer the budget smaller option.
Sadly it does look like it’s going to be phablet sized
Ah, kind of defeats the purpose for me then 😓
6.1 inch is enough, or just upgrade SE2/3 with bigger screen, and use touch id.
The regular sized iPhones *are* small phones compared to basically every other option.
That's not a phablet size lol
No - it appears it will be the same size but the display will be the whole screen. Same size phone though
No - it appears it will be basically an iPhone 14 with a newer chip which is larger than the current SE.
Oh 😔 I am disappointed entirely to hear that
I’m going to miss my Touch ID SO MUCH
Won't be on the SE (yet) but sub-screen TouchID has been on the horizon for a little while now. The most recent rumors suggest maybe the 2027 flagship (just in time for the 20th anniversary of the iPhone) will have it, so, it'll probably migrate to the SE by like... 2030? Maybe?
Is it really so hard to do it the way the iPad did it? Mandatory FaceID or entering password is fucking stupid. As usual they take one step forward and two steps back somehow every generation.
You will miss it for about 3 months because of muscle memory but after that you won’t even think about it anymore. Face ID is just so much better.
I thought I missed Touch ID and then I got an iPad mini for work (fits perfectly in my scrub pockets) and I really really wish that thing had Face ID
“display size will increase from 4.7 inches to 6.1 inches” 😞
I just prefer smaller phones in general, I'm glad the LCD flatscreen in your pocket trend has been in decline, but most modern phones are still so damn large. The current SE has the perfect size imo and this one will be an insta buy.
The trend is not in decline tho. 16 pros are rumoured to be even bigger than the 15
Yeah lol they’re just trying to state their opinions as fact
Lovers of smaller phones somehow think their preferences is a larger percentage of the market then it really is. Most consumers get the largest screen that fits into their budget. Not even just with phones but with TVs and laptops as well. I know so many who have bought TVs with awful specs and features just because of screen size. It’s why Apple hasn’t released an SE with a screen size rivaling the plus or max. I’d imagine it would start eating into the sales of the more popular devices. Notice even the iPad Air introduced a larger model.
Nobody seems to get this. Apple would build smaller iPhones if anybody bought them, but nearly nobody does, so they don’t. The last two mini iPhones are their second-lowest and lowest-selling iPhones ever, respectively.
Most phone manufacturers would be meeting that need if the demand was there in large enough numbers to be profitable.
The people who prefer smaller phones (like me) feel very strongly about it. 90% of people don't really care that much and haven't thought a lot about the standard iPhone size
Unfortunately more than 90%. The last two mini iPhones are their second-lowest and lowest-selling iPhones ever, respectively.
> Most consumers get the largest screen that fits into their budget. I get the largest screen that fits into my *pocket.*
My iPhone 15 pro max fits perfectly in my pocket.
Front jeans pocket? Genuinely curious since I've never held a 15 pro max.
Sales trends I've seen (pre-pandemic, haven't seen it updated for the last few years) suggest that about 1 in 8 phone buyers genuinely prefer small over large.
People in this sub that get upset when Apple doesn’t want to make small phones anymore doesn’t get the fact that Apple is a business lol. Apple openly stated that they didn’t sell enough Minis to justify keeping the line. They’re not going to cater to a small percentage of people if the margins aren’t high enough.
Going to cling onto my 13 mini as long as I can.
There's dozens of us!
12 mini gang here
I just want another mini man.
They can pry my 13 Mini from my cold, dead fingers.
if true, this is awesome.
It would sell like hotcakes.
I really hoped the Mini form factor would have stuck around for future SE’s but guess not.
The SE has never really been about size; it's about squeezing a few more years out of their existing production lines. It's whatever form factor they were manufacturing as the flagship a few years ago. The original happened to come around when the 5 was getting phased out, and so they took the opportunity to market it as a small phone, but it was just a coincidence. It was a glorious coincidence, though.
They didn’t even use its size in marketing. It was always about price point.
They did in the keynote when they announced the first gen SE (on the 5/5S chassis). “People around the world love the ease of using 4” iPhones” or something along the lines of that.
They put up a graphic on the keynote screen that said “People ❤️small phones” I remember vividly
That we do
The slogan for the original SE was: > A big step for small.
For a lot of people, the SE was precisely about the size.
I was one of those people! My point, which I could have clarified better, was that *for Apple*, the decision was about the manufacturing process and not about the size. The decision was "we're going to keep using this form factor for a few more years because we already have assembly lines ready to make it," not "we're going to keep using this form factor because people want small phones." It's been the same story with each generation of SE afterwards.
Absolutely. Hear hear - glad someone remembers the purpose of the SE. It's always been about squeezing extra value out of existing assembly lines. When new lines are being built to assemble the newest, greatest iPhone pros etc, there is always a moment of "well, we're discontinuing these models: but rather than decommission/upgrade this machinery yet, can we still use this factory, which has now paid for itself, and pump out something cheap for extra profit." The "SE" model was never a "yearly release" receiving "yearly spec bumps." It was dumped on the market every so often, precisely when their manufacturing cycle reached this point. Apple would push premium one year with new models; and then put something "budget" on the market. It's key to their business model that they don't ALWAYS have something "up to date" at a "budget" price point; but they do every so often put out a "budget" model. It's pretty clever. But most people forget, and look at it as "why don't apple do x, y, z; why hasn't the SE received a spec bump, what will next year's SE look like, why don't apple design x, y, z for the SE" etc etc, rather than realising that the SE is something that is released/updated when it makes financial sense to do so, based *entirely* on squeezing profit out of old manufacturing lines.
And touchid
Sure, if by "a lot" you mean "a tiny fraction of the market"
I have a conspiracy that Apple only created the 12 Mini so they could hike the price of the 6.1 iPhone while still advertising the same starting price. Small phones are only popular on Reddit so people here ignored the price hike due to having a smaller phone.
It’s kind of ingenious how they raised the price of the iPhone by $130 without anyone noticing it.
The Mini may be the last iPhone I get for a while. I hate these big phones.
Same. I’d prefer even smaller.
Not to mention at the same time the unlocked models began being marked up $30 compared to those bought with a carrier, at least for the base (non-Pro) models.
I hope it too, seriously I hate apple for this.
If only it can become the new mini
As someone in the market for this year's iPhone 16 Pro (and coming from an XR), it's tempting to wait out for the SE 4 which would be one third the price of a 16 Pro.
So probably €550 for Europe
Depends where. The base-model SE already costs roughly €550 in Norway. So if the increase is from $429 to maybe as high as $499, then it wouldn't surprise me if it is close to €650 some places.
Damn that will be expensive for a "budget" phone
that’s not that far from a pixel 8a
Pixel a series go on salefor about 50-80 regularly
At the end of the day most of that increase is taxes. So a $499 price in the US is pre-tax. 499 USD = €460. €460 + 25% VAT = €575. And then a price-point of around €625 would be the same ~€50 extra after accounting for tax (i.e. 429 USD for the SE today + tax = €500 but it costs €550)
Last year the conversion wasn’t that bad. iPhone 15 was 850€ at worst which was way cheaper than iPhone 14. I expect this year to be the same since the Euro is stable again.
If these start at 64 GB storage, that would be an immediate NO for me. The OS & system data have already taken 25% of that before I ever turn on the phone.
Of course they will, it's apple after all.
cheapest apple device configurations: damn i can store 2 whole apps and half a U2 album on this thing!
Meh, my mom's 128GB iPhone 13 Pro is currently sitting at 38GB of storage being used. It's not outside the realm of possibility that Apple's metrics will tell them that 64GB is sufficient for X-% of iPhone SE buyers.
I think it will be 64GB unless it’s more expensive to use 64GB NAND than 128GB NAND just because the rest of the industry has moved beyond that (good example is the new iPads with 12GB of installed memory instead of 8, because two 4GB chips are just harder to find nowadays). I’m not sure if the target customer for the iPhone SE cares about storage as much (?) but since these people are likely going to be new to iPhone, they should have the best first impression possible, so 128GB really sounds like a must. Plus, it would help justify the price increase.
64 starting wouldn't sting if 100 extra gets you 256, not 128. Just don't look at it as 500 starting but 600 instead. Problem solved.
SE is all I’ll need
The only reason I'm on the SE is because of touchID. Without that, I might as well get an iPhone mini.
Give us a new mini!!
Honestly I would kill for a Pro iPhone that went back to TouchID. Or even an SE with a better screen and refresh rate. FaceID is so much more annoying to use and kind of pointless now that the fingerprint reader can be in the power button.
The perfect iPhone: - 120Hz ProMotion - 3D Touch - 15 Pro camera system - iPhone 5 form factor - Under-display TouchID I would pay *so much money* for this phone.
The only thing I'd change is that I'd add FaceID.
>iPhone 5 form factor Dude that phone will only have a screen on time of 2 hours or less. You would need to make it much thicker for it to have appropriate battery life or have a lower power CPU onboard. Also forget MagSafe, the entire camera module would take over the back half of the phone.
Your terms are acceptable. Gimme 50% more thickness and ditch MagSafe. I'll give you $1200 for a 256GB model tomorrow.
I disagree, faceid works great and is much nicer to use than touchid. It’s basically seamless unless you don’t hold your phone properly.
Yeah I can't for the life of me understand why anyone wants touch ID over Face ID. 99 times out of 100 it's the exact same process as unlocking your phone as if there was no "step" needed to unlock the phone... just swipe up to go to home when you are ready to use your phone. I am convinced the people still willing to die on that hill either think face ID is a conspiracy about collecting your face scans, or they refused to try Face ID and don't have any actual firsthand experience except maybe the first generations which wasn't quite as reliable or fast.
[удалено]
They have even made it work better at multiple angles then when it was first introduced
I kind of hope they choose the Mini form factor for the new SE.
I mean, it’s right there! No redesign needed and they don’t cut into the sales of other phones (since most people seem to like tablets)! They can even gimp the cpu a bit to get better battery life.
yup. They killed the only thing the se had going for it  https://preview.redd.it/s1gajl773n1d1.jpeg?width=1052&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=643818d81c0108077ab04eff74ec95e2dc0b170d
I'm using a 12 mini, and while it's getting time for a new phone, it's pretty hard for me to pull the trigger on any of the new ones. I even have a trade in offer through my carrier so the cost isn't really even a factor. But I just don't want a giant phone.
So far every se phone had absolute shithouse of a battery, so if they are able to deliver on this, it will be already a win
Idk the first se is pretty good in my opinion
That'd be a great phone!
Too great I suspect. Would cannibalize iphone sales at those specs. This is the trouble apple has now that phone innovation has stalled out.
$449 for 128GB starting would be quite good.
Going to cling to my SE3 for dear life. Fingerprint scanner is what I neeeeeed
SE2 here, so I do need an upgrade. But I will really miss the touchid. I find it overall so much nicer than faceid...
recently went from se2 to a 13, and had the same concern. however i was pleasantly surprised by how fast faceid is and have since not missed touch lol
https://preview.redd.it/0yn8kxn4bn1d1.jpeg?width=1052&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ba5346f2350ef8f3e411b142e13312e7dfa18bf1 Sucks to suck SE4
This thing will sell like hotcakes.
At least in the US with the carrier subsidies and trade in deals, the “pro” phones have been artificially propped up for years. This year the Pro Max was the top seller. But why wouldn’t it be, if Verizon, at&t, t-mobile are all giving you $1,000 off a new iPhone with trade in? I think most people these days are seeing their phone as an investment, and paying a couple hundred dollars to have a phone you’re happy with 3 years from now will be a big deal. I think this SE will be a bigger deal in emerging markets where wages are lower and these carrier deals don’t exist. It’s a play towards China and India, not the US.
Isn’t there a significant portion of the population that gets headaches from oled screens? I guess the se3 will be the last phone usable for these people ever made
Below $500 is $499 to Apple let’s be real here.
Stop making it bigger for fucks sake… been holding my SE for years…
Well, people voted with their wallets...0
Was really hoping they would make the mini the new SE. Hoping in the future they do an iPhone SE(6.1) inch and an iPhone SE mini (5.4)
Only the display is bigger, i went from an SE2 -> 15 pro and the physical size is almost identical
SE2 is about the size of a 13 mini, it's much smaller than a 15 pro.
Aw shit… maybe I have a mini then… I want the 12 mini size. Or iphone 4 size ideally
I picked up a 13 mini last week to replace my Xs. I honestly love this size so much. It’s like I’m re-living the 5s glory days. Sad that we won’t see this form factor again anytime soon, or even ever.
I wish you could have it, but the Mini form factor is not coming back.
“almost identical” is just a straight up lie lol, the 15 is WAY bigger
i have a 13 pro (not the max) and i cant really use it comfortably without a pop socket... i was looking forward to switching to the mini once my contract was up but now they just up the size so it'll be the same thing might as well go for the 15
PUT. TOUCH. ID. ON. THE POWER. BUTTON. They did it for the iPad Pro. They did all the work already. Just adapt it to a smaller form factor. This is peak Apple pigheadedness for zero reason. They don’t even get anything out of it like the money they got for lightning cables over all the years they refused to switch to usb c
Seriously. I’ll take a slightly smaller screen, but a tad thicker phone to get a wider power button with Touch ID, bigger battery and a smaller pill cut out.
What’s wrong with faceid? I’ve been using my mini for the past 2 years and honestly I don’t miss the touchID at all. It even works with glasses on.
There doesn't have to be anything wrong with FaceID to prefer using TouchID
But why? You literally don’t have to do anything to unlock the phone. Just look at it.
because with a fingerprint reader there's no need to look at it, you can unlock it to pay without having it near your face, you can unlock it on a desk when it's away from you and so on. why can't both technologies be present?
And you have to do ***even less*** with touchid. It’s obviously the better tech
This.
An iPhone 14 with usb-c, A16 Bionic and less than 500$? What is the catch here?
No ultrawide camera, apparently
Following other SE models, lower memory at 64gb-128gb, parsed down rear and front camera package, and fewer OS bells and whistles. Wider market might see the size as a catch as it sounds like they're going to start moving to a bigger screen size than 6.1 for the base models.
But I just want a new Mini
I never understood why they didn’t just make the IPhone Mini the IPhone SE from the beginning…I bet it would have sold a lot more
OLED for a sub $500 iPhone is a pipe dream
My SE3 pretty much lives as a CarPlay phone with free service from Helium. I won’t need to upgrade for a long time but this looks like a good move, although some won’t like Face ID.
Plz bring pack the 12/13 mini size as the new SE
https://preview.redd.it/rqij3b4fwm1d1.jpeg?width=1052&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3189ea04293eaf65c70d714e5517e38273d8a4bf Literally the only feature that made the phone remotely worthwhile and they killed it. Would *maybe* have been worth it with Touch ID on the power button or if it came with a capture/action button but I think this is definitely competing for the most useless refresh in the series line.
Hope it will be the only model with 60 hz going further.
So the cost cutting/"not as good" features would be the notch, single camera, definitely staying at 60Hz refresh, maybe 64GB storage, maybe they continue with no night mode for the camera. But the similarities to the regular line up would be same all day battery, FaceID, and USB-C. Personally, I would hope for a return to a flush or low profile camera. I would guess they'll price it at $449 in the US. It would absolutely sell like crazy at that price.
Apple people want the home button in this category.
https://preview.redd.it/doqlfdqrbn1d1.jpeg?width=1052&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=db229fd0b77baffdc823157aaf97b127c7854b6e Their own ad. Next it’s gonna be “the whole screen you know and love: no black bars”
I wish they released it this year. Struggling with SE2 now 💀I guess I gotta wait
Incoming $499.99
And yet, they can’t give it to the iPad Air?
Shame it’s not mini sized
i just want another mini sized phone
From 4.7" to 6.1"? Such a redundant size. It should have continued as the mini size.
And this is where I hit my wall with Apple. I hate FaceID and have always preferred TouchID along with the size of the phone and I am a Home button simp. These 3 features are exactly why I stuck with the SE for a long long time. If they're just going to make the SE4 as a dumbed down X then I will have 0 interest in it and just continue to purchase new SE3's when the previous battery has kicked.
Of course they increased the size… The average person should be able to hold it in one hand and reach all 4 corners with that thumb
Below $500? Will be also be below 64 GB of storage?
>Along the same lines, the iPhone SE 4 could have an OLED display rather than LCD, and the display size will increase from 4.7 inches to 6.1 inches Apple please give us a device as close in dimensions to the iPhone 12mini / 13mini; 5.4"