A while back, I argued that no matter what rumored feature was coming to Apple's latest iPhone SE next year, the most important thing about the iPhone SE 4 revolved around the chipset powering the new phone. I still feel that way — but I do recognize that there's one other potential change to the SE that will go a long way in determining how successful this new phone is.
Specifically, the iPhone SE is set to get a big camera boost. And that's important given everything that's happened to the midrange phone space in the two-and-half years since Apple last released an SE version of its phones. In that time, other phone makers have taken a page out of Apple's book by taking some of the premium features from their flagships and featuring them prominently in less expensive offerings.
You don't have to look any further than the Google Pixel 8a to see this strategy executed at its best. The Pixel 8a may cost hundreds of dollars less than current flagship phones — it starts at $499 — but its camera setup benefits from Google's excellent photo processing algorithms and AI features. The result is a lower-cost device that produces images that hold their own against the best camera phones with higher price tags. And it absolutely blows away the camera performance of other phones in its price range.
That includes the current iPhone SE, which has the misfortune of squaring up against the Pixel 8a with an aging single-lens camera setup. Our 200-photo face-off featuring the current iPhone and the Pixel 8a was pretty much a walk-over for Google's phone. So something really needs to be done with the next iPhone SE if Apple is to reclaim its midrange mojo.
How the iPhone SE 4 could respond
If you go by the rumors surrounding the iPhone SE 4, that something looks to be a much-needed update to the main camera. By all accounts, Apple is sticking with the single rear camera lens on its next midrange phone. But it sounds as if the 12MP sensor that powers that camera is ready to be retired as it has been on all other iPhone models.
Instead, rumors have been forecasting a 48MP sensor for the iPhone's camera — a claim that's recently been backed by reports that the iPhone SE 4 has gone into production with suppliers providing that 48MP shooter. That would mean the iPhone SE 4 would have the same main camera as the iPhone 16 (though obviously, the iPhone 16 supplements that with an ultrawide lens.)
The importance of the iPhone SE 4 adopting such a camera goes beyond the boost in resolution. The iPhone 16 can crop in on zoom shots, effectively mimicking a 2x optical zoom. I've tested 2x zooms shot by other iPhones with 48MP cameras — the iPhone 15 to be specific — and the shots rival those taken by a camera phone with a dedicated zoom lens. Those other phones would regain their advantage once you zoomed beyond 2x, but on basic close-ups, it's quite an effective approach that Apple uses on its non-Pro models.
And that's what potentially awaits the iPhone SE 4, should it come with a 48MP camera. Improved zooms should really help Apple's budget phone stand out since it will be competing against other devices that also lack a dedicated zoom lens. Only the Pixel 8a and its AI-boosted Super Res Zoom feature would offer something similar on close-ups.
More than just cameras
Bolstering the iPhone SE's camera should certainly be a priority for Apple with the next SE model. After all, taking photos is one of the main tasks all of us expect our phones to handle. Give us a low-cost iPhone with a better camera and — finally! — support for night photos, and the iPhone SE 4 becomes a much easier sell.
But a better camera isn't the only likely improvement to get excited about ahead of that phone's arrival. Remember how I mentioned the iPhone SE 4's chipset at the start of this article? As important as the camera is to how we regard phones, the system-on-chip Apple ends up using in the iPhone SE 4 will be even more critical.
Historically, iPhone SE models have tended to use the chipset of the flagship iPhone that came out the previous fall. With a March 2025 launch being floated for the next iPhone SE 4, you'd figure the new phone would take its cues from the iPhone 16 that arrived in September. As you may remember, that iPhone runs on Apple's A18 silicon.
The A18 certainly delivers strong performance relative to the top Android devices, and its power management features helped each iPhone 16 model last longer on a charge than their iPhone 15 equivalent. Both of those qualities would definitely benefit a new iPhone SE. But an A18 chipset would also give the iPhone SE 4 enough on-device processing power to handle Apple Intelligence features, bringing that suite of AI tools to a lower-cost Apple device.
In fact, a low-cost phone with strong camera performance and the kind of AI-powered capabilities you don't generally see in midrange models sounds an awful lot like a description for the Pixel 8a. If those features also turn out to be the iPhone SE 4's calling card, the midrange phone market figures to become even more interesting next year.
