iPhone SE 4 tipped to launch in early 2025 – and with an OLED screen (2024)

The iPhone SE 4 rumors have taken a real ride over the last 12 months or so: maybe it's dead, maybe it isn't, maybe it'll get the Dynamic Island that the other iPhones have. Now a new report is predicting a launch in early 2025, together with a significant display upgrade.

According to South Korean outlet The Elec (via Wccftech), the next iPhone SE is going to break cover "early next year". It's also apparently going to be the first in the SE range to come with an OLED screen, which the flagship iPhones have had since 2017.

We've already heard both of these rumors before – but the fact that they're again being reported adds some extra credence to them. The Elec says display manufacturers including Samsung are competing to supply Apple with the necessary OLED panels.

The OLED display in question is said to be the same as the one on the iPhone 14, which Apple still sells. That's partly why the iPhone SE series is available at a lower price point: Apple reuses older components that have been on production lines for a while.

The wait continues

We last got an iPhone SE launch back in March, 2022 – our iPhone SE 3 review will fill you in – and Apple hasn't seemed in much of a hurry to bring out a new one. Bear in mind that it now keeps older flagship iPhones on sale, for those wanting a cheaper alternative, and there's a busy market for second-hand iPhones, too.

Reports from last year suggested that Apple had abandoned plans for another iPhone SE, perhaps because it wasn't seeing the sales numbers that would make a new model worthwhile. However, it now seems that we will indeed get the iPhone 4 SE in 2025.

There has been talk that the iPhone SE 4 will at last adopt a more modern look, this time around, ditching the old Home button and adding Face ID and the Dynamic Island. That would no doubt make it more appealing to potential buyers.

The redesign could well come with a bump in screen size, too. That said, the handset is still going to come with trade-offs of course – most probably a single camera around the back, and an older chipset under the hood.

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