During the early part of January, we heard that Apple was planning to discontinue the iPhone SE line. We now hear from the same source that it has been revived less than two months later.
According to famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the next iPhone SE will have the same-sized 6.1-inch OLED display as the iPhone 14 and built from the same chassis. As a result, this will be the first iPhone SE with OLED rather than LCD. BOE may manufacture the panel.
This will be the first iPhone to use Apple’s own 5G baseband chip, supposedly made on a 4nm process and supporting only Sub6 5G, not mmWave. If there are any issues with this chip, they’ll show up in the cheapest iPhone, not in the more lucrative expensive models.
It is unclear whether Apple’s 5G chip will be used in the iPhone 16 series in 2024. To make it into the Pro iPhones, the chip would need to support mmWave and satellite communications, which are the main technical challenges.
During the first half of 2024, production of the next iPhone SE is expected to begin. Over the next 2-3 years, Qualcomm’s Apple business will decline “significantly” due to the slow switch away from Qualcomm modems.
