This rumored iPhone SE 4 spec has me seriously worried — here’s why

(Image credit: Majin Bu)

Update: Our iPhone SE 4 live blog is up and running. Follow along for the Apple launch day news.

Just earlier this week, an accidental listing for what appears to be for the iPhone SE 4 revealed an interesting tidbit about its storage capacity. It showed that a base model would come with 8GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

While the amount of RAM pales in comparison to what the best Android phones offer, I’m actually much more worried about the storage amount.

A 64GB iPhone SE 4 wouldn’t keep up with my camera needs

iPhone SE 2022 rear camera — (Image credit: Future)

I shoot a ton of photos and videos on a daily basis, and I for one know how quickly they can eat up the storage in my phone. In fact, before I switched over to the iPhone 15 Pro with 2TB of storage, I was constantly managing what apps to keep or delete on my iPhone 14 Pro Max with 128GB.

I thought I was safe at 128GB of storage, but clearly my affinity for recording video on my iPhone was too much for it to handle. The iPhone SE 4 would be at a major disadvantage if it does indeed come with 64GB right off the bat, especially when iOS and subsequent updates take a big chunk of that capacity.

It's also worth noting is that the iPhone SE 2022 shoots at 4K resolution, so I suspect that at the very least for the new iPhone SE 4. These recordings are often the biggest offenders when it comes to hogging up space, but it would give the iPhone SE 4 a bit of breathing room if it were upgraded to 128GB.

Disadvantage against main rivals

Pixel 8a vs Nothing Phone 2a side-by-side in the hand. — (Image credit: Future)

There’s a lot of tough competition at around the $500 price range, but one commonality shared by many of the best cheap phones is that they have 128GB of storage. In fact, the Google Pixel 8a comes with exactly that amount — so an iPhone SE 4 with 64GB would be less convincing on paper.

Another model I’ve tested, the Nothing Phone 2a, also comes with even more storage at 256GB, but the crazier part is that it costs so much less at $349. That would be 3x more storage than what we could get with the iPhone SE 4, which is staggering when you think about the amount of stuff you can store.

The Nothing Phone 2a is a perfect example of how budget phones can still offer a generous amount of storage, which would lessen the reliance of using cloud storage to keep as much of the local storage free on the iPhone SE 4.

Only one phone in our best cheap phones guide has a starting storage of 64GB, while everything else has 128GB minimum. It’s the current iPhone SE 2022.

The iCloud conundrum

iCloud data syncing — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Speaking of cloud storage, I had to upgrade my iCloud subscription to the 50GB plan — up from the free 5GB option I initially was on. I thought I was good on that plan up until I was nearing full capacity on my 128GB iPhone 14 Pro Max, which forced me to move up again to the $2.99/month iCloud plan that gave me 200GB of storage.

What I’m getting here is that I really don’t want to upgrade again because of the lack of local storage on my phone. By keeping the iPhone SE 4 to 64GB of storage, it would force me to continue to rely on cloud storage.

I’m not saying that I won’t come across this problem if it were 128GB of storage, but at least I have extra room to work with before I’m forced to offload stuff to iCloud.

Bottom Line

Leaked iPhone SE photo showing phone's screen — (Image credit: Majin Bu)

Nothing good can come from an iPhone SE 4 with 64GB of storage. It’s laughable unless Apple magically decides to keep the price unchanged at $429. I don’t think that would happen given how costs are constantly increasing, plus all the bigger upgrades the phone’s expected to receive.

I’m crossing my fingers that Apple makes this upgrade happen because everything else about the iPhone SE 4 would make it a formidable phone at $499.

More from Tom's Guide

John’s a senior editor covering phones for Tom’s Guide. He’s no stranger in this area having covered mobile phones and gadgets since 2008 when he started his career. On top of his editor duties, he’s a seasoned videographer being in front and behind the camera producing YouTube videos. Previously, he held editor roles with PhoneArena, Android Authority, Digital Trends, and SPY. Outside of tech, he enjoys producing mini documentaries and fun social clips for small businesses, enjoying the beach life at the Jersey Shore, and recently becoming a first time homeowner.