The iPhone SE 4 is expected to come with a slew of upgrades that could make it Apple’s best budget iPhone to date.
Powerful processor? Check. Premium design? Check. Good camera? Check again. Apple’s iPhone SE has all the features that fans of the tech giant love about its premium smartphones. But what ultimately sets the mid-ranger apart is its price point.
iPhone SE is Apple’s cheapest iPhone. That is why when the device was rumored to make a comeback after the release of its third-generation model in 2022, it felt like Apple fans hit the jackpot.
The news came from trusted Apple insider and Bloomberg’s chief tech correspondent Mark Gurman, who reported in August 2024 that the iPhone SE 4 is likely to hit shelves in March 2025. While fans have already been on their toes for its supposed release next month, what got everyone talking even louder is Gurman’s latest report that the iPhone SE 4 will be announced as soon as this week.
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The tech powerhouse is not expected to hold a full launch for the upcoming SE and might simply announce the device on its website. Still, if this turns out to be accurate, the upcoming model might be the company’s best budget iPhone to date.
As with every generation of iPhone SE, this year’s model is expected to captivate the mid-range market while still keeping the spotlight on Apple’s flagship lineup, which is by far the iPhone 16 series. While it has fewer features than other iPhones, the new iPhone SE could come with a slew of upgrades that could revolutionize the company’s budget smartphone. This includes a Face ID and Apple’s first in-house cellular modem, among many others.
Home button is out, Action button is in
You’d easily spot an iPhone SE when you see one. Besides having a single camera lens at the back, the phone still has a Home button, which is no longer present in 2017’s iPhone X and newer models. The iPhone SE 3, for one, still came with the button when it was launched in 2022. And just like its predecessors, the SE 3 has a thick bezel surrounding its display.
This is set to change this year, as the iPhone SE 4 is likely to ditch the Home button, shrink the bezel, and add Face ID. The Face ID sensors will be placed in a notch rather than the Dynamic Island feature introduced on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max in 2022.
The result is a new iPhone SE that looks like the standard iPhone 14, which was leaked by tipster Majin Bu on a social media post in January. In the post, Majin Bu holds what seems like a non-functional dummy unit of the upcoming phone which, according to The Verge, is used by manufacturers to design and test their accessories.
Here's what the iPhone SE 4 looks like pic.twitter.com/pEyIAJ34VR
— Majin Bu (@MajinBuOfficial) January 25, 2025
Case manufacturer Spigen also shared renders of the phone when it accidentally published a listing of its upcoming cases. The post was taken down before GSM Arena published the images, which shows the same phone as the one Majin Bu is holding in the video.
The leaked clip and images suggest that the iPhone SE 4 will also have a custom Action button on the top left of the phone. Unlike that of the iPhone 16, the SE 4’s Action button is not built with a Camera Control feature to keep it at a distance from the more premium smartphone.
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The iPhone that’s not so little anymore
The iPhone SE has been designed to be smaller than other iPhones since its inception in 2016. Its first edition has a mere 4-inch panel, which gradually increased to 4.7 inches in the 2022 version.
Apple is taking its budget phone up a notch with a redesign that includes a bigger screen that naturally increases the unit’s overall size. iPhone SE 4 is expected to use a 6.1-inch display, which matches the iPhone 16. If this proves to be true, there will no longer be an iPhone smaller than the standard model.
In addition, the SE 4’s display is rumored to come with the same 60Hz refresh rate as the iPhone 16 and an upgrade to OLED.
Big camera boost
Cameras that take the most realistic photos are a signature of the iPhone. Apple is making sure that you get the same good-quality photos by beefing up the iPhone SE 4 with a 48-megapixel rear camera.
While the SE 4 sticks to the lineup’s single ultra-wide lens, this one matches the size of iPhone 16’s 48MP main camera. Not only that, it is now likely to be four times larger than the SE 3’s 12-megapixel shooter.
At the front, the SE 4 is rumored to use a 12-megapixel camera, which is also a notable increase from its predecessor’s 7MP selfie camera.
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Mid-ranger with flagship-level power
Under the hood, the iPhone SE 4 is powered by the same A18 chip which, Bloomberg reports, is the same as the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro models. According to The Verge, this is the same approach Apple used for its last two SE models, wherein they paired the latest processor with updated designs.
iPhone SE 4’s powerful chip is rumored to be boosted by an 8GB RAM, which is twice the size of the SE 3. It is also the required size to run Apple Intelligence, the company’s AI system, which is now enabled by default on iOS 18.3.
The iPhone SE 4 is likely to be the first iPhone to use Apple’s first in-house 5G cellular modem, code-named Sinope, to replace Qualcomm modems built in previous iPhones. Just like the previous SE, though, the fourth-generation model will only support Sub-6GHz instead of mmWave 5G.
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Equipped for universal charging
iPhone SE 4 is likely to bid goodbye not only to the Home button but also Apple’s signature Lightning port. Leaked images suggest that the phone will have a USB-C port, which will allow you to juice up the phone with any USB-C cord available.
As for the battery, the SE 4 is powered by a reported 3,279 mAh battery, which is the same as the iPhone 14. This, too, is a big jump from the 2,018 mAh battery in the SE 3.
According to Gurman, Apple will likely announce the SE 4 this week but doesn’t expect it to go on sale until later this February. It is predicted to come with a price of “roughly $500” (P30,000), which is higher than SE 3’s $429.
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