William Gallagher
Ahead of the expected February 19, 2025 launch of the iPhone SE 4, there are signs that previous claims of it being renamed may be true.
In early January 2025, a seemingly unlikely leak claimed that the iPhone SE 4 would be renamed the iPhone 16E. It was chiefly considered doubtful because of the source of the leaks, but there was also that "iPhone SE' has been a successful brand since 2016.
Now Bloomberg is backing up the claim of a rebrand, and doing so chiefly because of the phrasing Tim Cook used in his teaser tweet about a February 19 launch.
Get ready to meet the newest member of the family.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) February 13, 2025
Wednesday, February 19. #AppleLaunch pic.twitter.com/0ML0NfMedu
"Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," was initially taken to mean the iPhone SE 4. The argument now is that the iPhone SE has been in the iPhone family for nine years, so this ought to be something genuinely new.
Then a rename wouldn't make it a new device, but all of the rumors concerning the iPhone SE 4 do suggest that it is going to be a major update. Where the iPhone SE has previously used older technology, such as retaining the Home button, this looks to be different.
It's going to be able to use Apple Intelligence, for one thing, which means it will have to have a fast enough processor and sufficient RAM. There have been rumors that the iPhone SE 4 will have a Dynamic Island, although that has been contradicted.
Overall, it's expected that the iPhone SE 4 will physically resemble the iPhone 14 from 2022. Previous iPhone SE models have similarly been based on older designs.
However, it's also been claimed that the iPhone SE 4 will even get an Action Button. That customizable button was introduced with the iPhone 15 Pro before being added across the whole iPhone 16 range.
If all of this is correct, then the iPhone SE 4 is looking to be significantly closer to the current iPhone range than before.
The key selling point of previous iPhone SE models has been that they are always the lowest cost iPhone available. If Apple manages to do that while still providing all of the rumored features, the iPhone SE 4 looks certain to be a hit.
It's just debatable whether it's going to be sufficiently different from previous models to warrant being rebranded. Then if it is called the iPhone 16E, there's the question of whether that also means it will move to an annual update cycle and be followed by the iPhone 17E.
Apple does keep older iPhones on sale — at present it sells the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 alongside the iPhone 16 range. So an iPhone 16E, or similar name, could stay in the range for more than a year, but that seems to go against the implication of being a new part of the family.
So far there have been no rumors that would suggest an iPhone SE-like model for the forthcoming iPhone 17 range.
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Amber Neely
Andrew Orr
Christine McKee
Mike Wuerthele
Malcolm Owen
18 Comments
This strikes me as a simple misinterpretation of what Mr Cook said.
The iPhone SE (4th-gen) is a new product. So the description Cook applied to it ... still applies.
While I don't actually believe there will be a 16E, here's my devil's advocate case for why it might happen:
Fairly reliable rumor sources suggest that the phone will be getting the A18 processor that's in the current iPhone 16. IF this proves to be true, then it's easy to envision how this could become an annual spec-bump upgrade of the chip at the very least, and we would have the 17E next year, etc. Plus, if it's done annually in the Feb/March timeframe, it comes at a time when the spotlight is dimming on current iPhone models and discussion turns to what's coming in Sept. So this would be a nice publicity boost for iPhone, in general, at a time of year when there's a dearth of PR news for it. It would also give the regular iPhone a 6-7 month window of exclusivity on having the latest chip before the "E" model gets it.
Honestly, the real headscratcher for me is that IF the reliable rumor sources turn out to be right, this is going to be one HELLUVA phone for $499, and even that assumes that Apple raises the price. Seems like it would put all kinds of pressure on iPhone 16 sales, considering the 40%/$300 upcharge in the base price. And if this phone stays at the $429 base price--geez, that'll be crazy.
Any phone whose name includes a number (like "16") is going to sound old very quickly. Perhaps Apple wants its customers to feel like they are using an old iPhone, to encourage sales. Or perhaps Apple will give it a name that ages well, like SE. If Elon Musk were in charge, he would call it the "iPhone EX" and then in a couple of years he would call the next model the "XY". (Elon's four car models are S,3,X,Y.)
Blah blah blah. This is getting old.
Here’s my idea:
new iPhone (just called iPhone) $499
new iPad (still just called iPad) $399 (again)
both lower end chips. less sophisticated/costly internals.