Apple fans the world over are excited to see what the company has in store for its iPhone line this fall, but before the iPhone 12 makes its way to store shelves, a much cheaper smartphone is expected to be unveiled. Over the past few months, rumors of an iPhone SE 2 (or iPhone 9, as some reports have called it) have been spreading like wildfire. We have seen renders, specifications, and even an early preorder campaign for the unannounced phone, but according to the Taiwanese publication DigiTimes, an official unveiling might finally be in sight.
Citing industry sources, DigiTimes reports that the iPhone 9 has entered its “final phase of verification” in China. Here is the blurb from the report, which is all that we have to go on at the time of writing:
Apple will soon introduce a new LCD iPhone series, dubbed tentatively SE2, which has recently entered the final phase of verification at an assembly plant in Zhengzhou, China, according to industry sources.
The iPhone 9 was expected to be unveiled during Apple’s semi-annual spring event, which has taken place in March of every year since 2018. That might still end up being the case, but with nearly every major conference and gathering in the tech industry and beyond being postponed or canceled on account of the coronavirus outbreak, it seems highly possible that Apple will follow suit and avoid sticking dozens of people in a room together.
That said, if production of the iPhone 9 is indeed wrapping up, Apple may instead announce the phone via a press release, as it did for a variety of new devices in 2017. It might not be quite as compelling as a press conference, but there’s no point in waiting around if the product is nearly ready to ship to consumers.
Rumors suggest the iPhone 9 will have a similar design to that of the iPhone 8, with a 4.7-inch LCD display and a Home button with Touch ID. Internally, the CPU will be upgraded to the same A13 that can be found in the iPhone 11 series, while the RAM will be increased to 3GB. Prices are expected to start at $399.
