Leaked! Apple iPhone SE 4 likely coming in iPhone 14 avatar

Here is some good news for people who were eagerly waiting for an update regarding the Apple iPhone SE 4. It is being suggested that the iPhone SE 4 will likely mirror the iPhone 14 in many ways. The information has been provided by Ming Chi Kuo, analyst at TF International Securities. However, the analyst had earlier in the month of January 2023 informed that Apple has actually cancelled the production of iPhone SE 4. "The supply chain has received instructions from Apple indicating that the production and shipment plans for the 2024 iPhone SE 4 have been canceled rather than delayed," the analyst had said via Medium. However, there has been a U-turn in iPhone SE 4 fortunes since then and the phone is likely to be launched after all.

According to the updates provided by Kuo, iPhone SE 4 will adopt an in-house 5G baseband and will feature an OLED display instead of an LCD, as the biggest change. "Apple has restarted the iPhone SE 4 and will adopt an in-house 5G baseband chip. The significant decline in Qualcomm's Apple orders in the foreseeable future is a foregone conclusion," he tweeted.

"My latest survey indicates that Apple has recently restarted the iPhone SE 4, which will feature an OLED display instead of an LCD, as the biggest change. Overall, the SE 4 is a minor modification of the 6.1-inch iPhone 14," another tweet by Kuo stated.

The analyst also informed that the new iPhone SE 4 will have the Apple's 5G baseband chip produced by a 4nm process (similar to 5nm) and will only support Sub-6GHz as the current plan. However, it's still being determined whether the iPhone 16 series will use Apple's 5G baseband chip. The main challenge lies in whether Apple can overcome the technical obstacles related to mmWave and satellite communications.

Assuming the mass production of the SE 4 goes smoothly in 1H24, the iPad and Apple Watch, which have lower technical requirements, will soon abandon Qualcomm's baseband chips, too, he added.

This move will benefit Apple's hardware gross margin, while Qualcomm's Apple business will decline significantly in the next 2-3 years.