The iPhone SE is one of Apple’s oddities in their otherwise fairly refined line of smartphones. The original, which launched in the spring of 2016, saw Apple deviate from their playbook in order to attract the budget-conscious buyer, especially those from outside of the U.S. Fitted with the snappy A9 processor that was housed inside the iconic iPhone 5 chassis, all for a relatively low price of $399 USD, the phone was a roaring success. Though Apple is known for annual refreshes, the SE wouldn’t get a refresh until the spring of 2020, which saw it get updated to the iPhone 6 design. This, too, proved to be a success for Apple. Even during a pandemic, the SE 2 was able to sell a whopping 24.2 million units; lagging only behind Apple’s flagship of the year, the iPhone 11.
However, their continued success with the SE line would face difficulties a couple years later with the release of the iPhone SE 3. In a report by PCMag, who referenced a survey done by research firm Wave7 who conducted a survey of workers across the most popular U.S carriers, noting that “56% of reps said that iPhone SE demand is weaker this year than it was for the previous iPhone SE; only 8% said demand is stronger.” This drop in interest could have been for a couple reasons. Firstly, smaller-screened phones had become less and less popular amongst the masses, so the SE 3’s continued use of a dated design from 2014 was unappealing. Secondly, a big marketing push by Apple with the SE 3 was its 5G capabilities. For a phone marketed towards the budget-conscious, particularly towards developing areas, 5G is far from a priority for such buyers. All of this, combined with the fact that the phone released only a couple years later with no hardware updates from the second generation, and it’s no surprise the third generation of the SE failed to sell well.
With that said, recent leaks of a potential iPhone SE 4 could be the product that Apple sees becoming one of their most popular. If the alleged CAD leaks are to be believed, the SE 4 could see a huge overhaul to its design, porting over elements from the iPhone 14 like the squared off edges, action button, and, at last, a bezel-less screen with a notch for Face ID. This would mean that Apple would have finally transitioned fully to Face ID for their phones, leaving only the base iPad as the only product to continue using Touch ID. YouTuber ZONEofTECH also compares the singular camera module on the CAD leaks to Apple’s other phones and suggests that it could be the exact same 48 MP sensor that exists on the base model iPhone 15.
If these leaks are true, and the SE 4 releases with a brand new, modern design, coupled with a solid camera, while at the same time maintaining that $399 price-tag, then Apple could potentially have a winner on their hands. Although their recent pricing trends indicate that the phone would likely see a marginal price-bump, anything more than $449 USD may turn off a good subset of the market, especially those outside the U.S. Lastly, though nothing was leaked in regards to the chipset that will be running this device, the SE’s have historically kept up pace with the rest of the iPhone lineup. If the SE 4 releases this fall, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see it come fitted with an A17 chip, while the more expensive iPhones get released with A18’s.
We’ll have to wait and see how the iPhone SE 4 turns out if and when it releases, but if these CAD files are anything to go by, we may just have a budget-friendly winner on our hands.
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