Details are converging on a spring launch for Apple's iPhone SE (2024) – the long-awaited fourth iteration of the 'cheap' iPhone. After four long years, Apple-obsessed sites like MacRumors are convinced that Apple is finally bringing Face ID to the iPhone's entry-level model, but that won't actually be the most interesting part...
We'll get to that though. First things first: the cameras! So there are two, if you count the FaceTime camera, and the main camera – which seems likely to be a 48-megapixel camera of the kind Apple likes to refer to as a "Fusion" camera. This means that it has a wide-angle lens but can also capture the center 12 megapixels (a crop) at a normal angle and effectively not lose any data (because the wide images are probably also saved at 12 megapixels after binning/processing).
The key source for this seems to be Korea-based LG Innotek – Apple's camera supplier.
So the back of the iPhone SE 4 will have one camera, just like the iPhone SE 2020, though everyone is expecting to see a more 'boxy' design in keeping with the rest of Apple's current design aesthetic, which is what we're seeing in the render.
That means the key features expected are:
- 48 Megapixel Fusion Camera
- 12 Megapixel TrueDepth FaceTime camera
- FaceID (no Home Button – but a notch)
- 6.06-inch OLED screen (no LCD)
- USB-C charging port
- iPhone 14 battery / rough shape
- 8GB RAM (to support Apple Intelligence)
No one seems sure whether there will be an 'Action button', though it's a save bet the camera shutter button on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro won't be making an appearance!
Then there is 'one more thing' which is of interest to Apple-watchers. This is set to be the first phone with Apple's own 5G modem chip. That should be effectively invisible for users, or might perhaps bring with it some battery life benefits. It might not, of course. Perhaps this will be another "Antennagate?" Interesting that Apple is trying it out on the SE and not the iPhone 17 on which the scrutiny will be more intense!
Apple designing their own chip, rather than buying in one from Qualcomm, increases the 'vertical integration' and is a step closer to Apple's complete control of the system on a chip, and might even have trade war implications.
That, though, is all in the future. For most of us, the real question will be whether the iPhone SE (2024) represents good value, since this is the 'value' iPhone. Will it, with only one camera on the back and an expected price of at least $429 / £419 (the current price) – and tipster @UniverseIce has it potentially as high as $549!
Still less, admittedly, than the last 'main' iPhone with one camera, the iPhone 8, which started at $699 (circa $850 adjusted for inflation!) Still, Apple's real question should be: "How will people feel about the SE's one camera compared to the 'budget' Google Pixel 8a's TWO cameras?"
