Where is the next-generation iPhone SE?

Time is an interesting concept: humans have been on Earth for some six million years, yet the planet is 4.5 billion years old. We’re not far away from it being 20 years since the first iPhone launched yet, the first telephone was invented 148 years ago. So the length of time is relative. But one thing is for sure, it feels like it’s been a long time since we had a new iPhone SE.

There have been three generations of Apple’s most affordable iPhone. The first arrived in 2016 to win attention as one of the best cheap phones at the time. Four years passed before the year of the COVID-19 pandemic came calling, with a second-generation SE also popping up. Then 2022 saw the current iPhone SE.

As such, there’s no real established cadence to iPhone SE releases. Yet with the current version sporting a design that would have felt outdated some six years ago, let alone two, I think the cheap-ish Apple phone is overdue for an update and an overhaul.

Yet the rumors around the so-called iPhone SE 4 are scant. As we draw closer to September and a likely phone-centric Apple event, unofficial info around the likes of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models have gathered pace.

But there’s precious little about a new SE, which would make a good ‘one more thing’ for the next Apple showcase.

We want to SE changes

(Image credit: Future)

From the rumors so far, limited as they may be, we can expect a next-generation iPhone SE to have a design that’s far closer to the iPhone 14 than other models. Expect the Home button to go the way of the dodo and scope for a Dynamic Island to be added to the screen in order to make Apple’s phone design language ubiquitous across its smartphones.

A decent chip can also be expected, though how powerful it might be is a bit of a guessing game. And I’d expect USB-C charging to be a given.

All that being said, the lack of substantial iPhone SE rumors does make me wonder when we might expect to see one. Or if Apple even plans on actually making another affordable iPhone – after all, when new models arrive, a selection of older ones are still offered but at cut prices.

Part of me thinks Apple will wait for 2025 when its work on the AI-centric Apple Intelligence has had time to mature and bed into other devices.

And come next year, there could be enough A17 Pro chips, or similar, floating around for Apple to make an iPhone SE that has the power to handle the AI workloads, and thus can help bolster the adoption of Apple Intelligence; keeping it just for the high-end Pro iPhones could see the adoption of next-gen smart tools and software wither on the vine.

Alternatively, Apple could simply offer a capable and affordable iPhone that skips the Apple Intelligence capabilities – especially as some people might not give a hoot about AI.

Of course, this is all educated speculation and I can’t really answer when we’ll see a new iPhone SE with any certainty. But I feel there’s still hope for an affordable iPhone for all.