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The iPhone SE 4 release date must be near as cases are leaking

The iPhone SE 4 release date must be near as cases are leaking

The iPhone 16 should be at the top of your list, whether you’re buying your first iPhone or upgrading your current model. Apple Intelligence is the reason why. It may not be available right now and you may not even like or want genAI. But Apple Intelligence is here to stay, and it’s only going to get better. I’m sure you’ll use parts of it and take it for granted in years to come. That’s why buying one of the four iPhone 16 models makes perfect sense, especially if you plan to keep your new iPhone for three or four years.

However, I also understand that the iPhone 16 might seem boring. And it might also be too expensive for many, with the cheapest model starting at $799. At this point I repeat myself: There is an iPhone 16 alternative that will be significantly cheaper but can still support Apple Intelligence. This is the often rumored iPhone SE 4, which is expected to come onto the market in the coming months.

We still don’t have a solid release date, but we’re seeing more and more iPhone SE 4 cases leaking, which is an indication that the product is real and coming soon.

According to leaks, the iPhone SE 4 could hit the market in early 2025. This window makes sense for the iPhone SE series, which typically launches in the first half of the year. But Apple could do something different this year and start selling the iPhone SE 4 much sooner than expected. Instead of March or April, we could get a January release, which is an exciting prospect.

By then, Apple will have already released at least two major iOS 18 updates that bring some Apple Intelligence features to the iPhone 15 Pros and iPhone 16. Unlike the iPhone 16 series, the iPhone SE 4 will come to market with Apple Intelligence already integrated.

As a reminder, the iPhone SE 4 will reportedly look like the iPhone 14 and feature a notch at the top instead of the pill-shaped Dynamic Island. But it will rock the iPhone 16’s hardware, including the A18 chip and 8GB of RAM. I’m also hoping that the base storage will be increased to 128GB, but that’s just wishful thinking at this point.

The iPhone SE 4 will have a USB-C port on the bottom and a camera on the back instead of Lightning. The latter is a compromise that Apple needs to keep the price down.

Further compromises concern the keys. The phone should have a mute switch instead of the action button. Additionally, it won’t have the camera controls that the iPhone 16 introduces.

The above image, shared by Apple leaker Sonny Dickson on X, appears to confirm some design details of the iPhone SE 4. It features a horizontal camera cutout that can only accommodate a single rear-facing lens. There is no cutout in the housing for the camera control button. However, I would like to point out that not all iPhone 16 cases have cutouts for the new button.

Finally, the alleged iPhone SE 4 case features an opening for the mute switch. At this point, I think Apple will either use both buttons or none of them on the cheaper phones.

All of this is certainly just speculation at this point. But we’ve seen this dance before. The new cases and screen protectors for an unreleased iPhone usually leak in the months leading up to the product launch. The case is probably true. I would also like to note that Sonny Dickson is generally right about his Apple leaks.

Separately, I will address the elephant in the room. The iPhone SE 4 will look like the iPhone 14, so it’s likely that it will support screen protectors designed for the latter. But all the cases you have at home may not necessarily fit. Otherwise, they have a larger cutout on the back that exposes some of the glass. After all, the iPhone 14 has two cameras on the back in a diagonal arrangement.

With that in mind, I think the iPhone SE 4 launch is quickly approaching. However, don’t expect it to be on sale until early 2025. Apple will want to sell more expensive iPhone 16 handsets in the holiday quarter than the iPhone SE 4, which could easily become the best-selling device, especially with a starting price of under $550.