Those of us eagerly awaiting an iPhone SE 4 launch this year — and count me as a member of that group — have been looking to the spring as the likely launch window for Apple's revamped midrange phone.
But then we got a very weird surprise.
March seemed as good a time as any considering that's when the current iPhone SE 2022 debuted three years ago, though some wondered if Apple might leave us waiting until April for the latest SE. Nevertheless, a spring iPhone release seemed very much in the cards.
Now it turns out the cards are now pointing to a much more imminent date for what could be the best cheap phone of the year. That's the word from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who says that the iPhone SE 4 could make an appearance as soon as this coming week.
iPhone SE 4 launching this coming week?!
Rather than a high-profile launch event, Gurman reports, Apple will simply usher the new iPhone into the world via press release. All that comes from "people with knowledge of the matter," with Apple doing its customary no comment on future product release rumors.
Mark Gurman has been right about more things Apple-related before breakfast than I've been in a lifetime, so I'm not about to hand-wave away his report — especially since I've got no evidence from sources, unnamed or otherwise.
So instead, I'm going to assume that this claim is correct, and that Apple plans to quietly roll out the iPhone SE 4 this coming week without the hype that would accompany a spring Apple product event.
And if that comes to pass, I think it would be a big mistake on Apple's part.
Big iPhone SE changes
Based solely on the rumors about what's changing with this particular model, the iPhone SE 4 sounds like a pretty big deal. On the hardware side alone, Apple is likely to ditch the dated iPhone 8-era design in favor of more modern iPhone 14-esque look, with an edge-to-edge screen interrupted only by a notch.
That means Face ID replaces Touch ID as the way to unlock your phone and authenticate payments, and Apple's going to swap out the Lightning port for USB-C so that it can resume selling its SE model in Europe.
Under the surface, we're expecting an A18 chipset to power the new iPhone SE. While that's not necessarily a surprise — past SE models have always adopted the Apple silicon used in the flagships released the previous fall — the A18 marks a rather significant step forward for Apple's midrange phone.
I mean, there's a reason that some rumors have the new model appearing as the iPhone 16E rather than the iPhone SE (2025) — it emphasizes that this midrange phone shares more in common with the flagship iPhones than previous SE versions have.
The presence of an A18 chip inside the next iPhone SE delivers more than just a performance boost. It also means that Apple's least expensive phone will be able to support Apple Intelligence features, giving access to this suite of AI tools to a wider audience. That seems like something you'd want to celebrate with more than just a press release, no?
In fact, Apple could turn the iPhone SE 4 launch into a state-of-the-Apple-Intelligence union if it wanted to, where it could recap all of the features it had launched and talk up new capabilities that are coming to our phones such as the more powerful version of Siri that's in the works.
Tying that in with the arrival of a new phone would ensure that more people are paying attention to what Apple has to say about its AI push.
The importance of AI
That's why I think April would be a better time to launch the new iPhone. Apple's already confirmed that Apple Intelligence will be available in more languages at that time — chiefly, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Why not use the moment where Apple Intelligence becomes available in more countries to really talk up your vision for the features — and the more affordable phone that will be able to run them?
Why not use the moment where Apple Intelligence becomes available in more countries to really talk up your vision for the features — and the more affordable phone that will be able to run them?
We saw the value in that last month with the Galaxy Unpacked event where Samsung not only showed off the latest Galaxy S25 phones but also the updated Galaxy AI capabilities launching with those devices.
It's one thing to read about a feature like cross app actions where you can give one single voice command to performs tasks across multiple apps, but it's quite another to see it demoed right in front of you. Apple would be skipping out on that opportunity by launching the iPhone SE 4 via press release and underplaying its Apple Intelligence capabilities.
Then again, Apple's relationship with the entire iPhone SE has always felt a little off, almost as if it's slightly embarrassed to release a phone that isn't a premium device. Other phone makers like Google, Samsung and OnePlus in particular seem to embrace the challenge of making midrange phones that still deliver compelling features, while Apple seems to do it just so that it's not shut out of markets where phone buyers blanch at paying top dollar for handsets.
Hopefully, the iPhone SE 4 with its improved specs and Apple Intelligence support puts an end to that. And for that to happen, it will help if the phone launches with some enthusiasm on Apple's part.
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