Apple iPhone SE leak reveals details of the new release

The release of the next iPhone from Apple is scheduled for March 2025. With messages about that production will begin this December, The Apple community is eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new iPhone SE in their family.

Reimagining the iPhone SE

This will be the fourth iPhone SE since the product line debuted in 2016, with hardware upgrades in 2020 and 2022. The SE is effectively Apple’s only mid-range smartphone that offers a more affordable path into the Apple ecosystem than the main iPhone lineup. With Apple’s continued focus on premium phones, the SE is a crucial oasis for budget-conscious buyers.

Details about the 2025 iPhone SE come from noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Writing on Medium.com, Kuo notes that “mass production of the iPhone SE4 will begin in December 2024, with a projected production of around 8.6 million units between December 2024 and 1Q25.”

iPhone SE will draw an obvious comparison with Google Pixel 8a and Samsung Galaxy S24 Fan Edition. Both of these models are equally aimed at the mid-range market, and both come from more powerful phones that cost significantly more.

Alternatives to the iPhone SE

Google released the Pixel 8a in May 2024. The Pixel family is now in its 9th iteration and Google is expected to unveil the Pixel 9a at the I/O Developer event held every May. This gives the iPhone SE a chance to beat the Pixel 8a, though a tougher challenge will emerge shortly after the Pixel 9a’s release.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 FE is also at the end of the product cycle, namely the release of the base Galaxy S24, S24+ and S24 Ultra phones in January 2024. With the FE nearing the end of this year’s product cycle, not only will it be six months older than the iPhone SE, but Samsung’s marketing should switch to the S25 branding in January 2025, leaving the S24 FE in an interesting situation. a slot in a portfolio that looks older than it is.

Apple generally believes that the iPhone SE has capabilities that are generally similar to the main line of iPhones. This will definitely be the case with the future model. Tim Cook and his team are pushing the company’s entry into the generative AI market, and the iPhone SE will no doubt be presented as an affordable AI option and an Apple device “designed from the ground up” to support the clumsily named Apple Intelligence suite. AI generative tools.

Given that the Android-based competition at this price point will be investing heavily in AI, and that the aforementioned Google and Samsung phones are running second-generation AI software, it will be critical for Apple to gain AI mindshare in this crowded market sector .

iPhone SE goes beyond the iPhone. This is the iPhone that expands the reach of Apple’s ecosystem. It’s time for Apple to move into the mid-range, doing everything it can to create an aura of premium hardware. Without SE, Apple will not be able to enter the market with modern technologies. Without SE, Apple won’t be able to continue pushing its nascent efforts into the emerging generative AI space. And without the SE, Apple would have had to cede most of the “my first smartphone” spot to competitors.

Production can’t start soon enough.

Now read the latest iPhone SE, MacBook and iPad headlines in Forbes’ Apple Loop weekly news digest…