Will Apple ever release an iPhone SE 4? Probably. Do we actually know anything about it? Apparently not. Reliable insider Ming-Chi Kuo says he was wrong about his latest report – meaning we don’t actually know Apple’s upcoming plans.
While Kuo previously said that Apple was planning an iPhone SE with an iPhone 14 design (6.1-inch display, Face ID, and OLED screen), he now says that his “latest research” indicates that this model will likely be an “engineering prototype for Apple in-house 5G baseband chip technology and mass production validation, and there are no plans for mass production and sales.”
That said, the analyst no longer talks about an upcoming iPhone SE 4 but Apple’s efforts to mass produce its in-house 5G modem. As of now, the company wants to start mass-producing it as early as 2025, but if everything goes wrong, the company could push the schedule back to 2026 or later.
Kuo says, “the advanced-node technology to be employed for mass production of Apple in-house 5G baseband chip will depend on the mass production schedule.”
Interestingly enough, another analyst said yesterday that Apple plans to release a new iPhone SE 4 in 2025 with its in-house 5G chip. That being said, it seems this iPhone launch is deeply connected to Apple being Apple to produce its own 5G modem.
With that in mind, we can’t tell for sure if Apple is planning to release an iPhone SE 4 with an all-new design or if the company is planning to launch this entry-level iPhone, if not with its own 5G modem.
According to the rumors, Apple wants to test its in-house 5G modem with the iPhone SE before applying it to its flagship models. Previously, it was expected that next year’s iPhone 16 could feature this new chip, but it seems Apple could delay this change to the iPhone 17 or even iPhone 18.
