Apple is gearing up to unveil the fourth edition of its venerable iPhone SE franchise next quarter, and more details about its design and specs are trickling down the proverbial rumor grapevine.
The 2025 iPhone SE 4 will be unlike anything Apple has released in its cheapest iPhone line so far. The biggest change is that it will be equipped with an OLED display for hte first time, and, you guessed it, it means that Apple is done with the puny 4.7-inch display diagonal for good.
Needless to say, the iPhone SE 4 footprint will remain very small, on account of the fact that it will move to a more modern design that eschews the thick bezels and home button of the iPhones of yesteryear.
The iPhone SE 4‘s display, in particular, was said to be borrowed from the iPhone 13, with the necessary specs downgrades taken by Apple in order to reduce the display costs as much as possible so that it can still make a profit on a $499 iPhone.
Renowned display industry analyst Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) fame is now claiming that Apple will now try and do better with the upcoming iPhone SE 4.
Instead of using the iPhone 13 display panel, as previously suggested, Ross Young now tips that Apple has opted to use the iPhone 14 screen that will be less than two years removed from the release of the iPhone SE 4.
Our own iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13 display tests suggest that, despite having the same specs on paper, there are subtle differences between the two panels. It is not clear if Apple will alter the specifications of the iPhone 14 screen to fit it in the eventual $499 price, but at the time of release it will already be panel that it several years old for manufacturers, so they might have already significantly lowered its price, hence why Apple is going with it.
Alternatively, the fact that Apple’s budget phone display supplier BOE may go on the US government’s black list of companies that are a threat to national security may have also played a role in this decision.
Ross Young, however, informs that the iPhone SE 4 display suppliers will still be BOE and LG Display, so it remains to be seen if Apple has changed anything about the panel’s specifications when it starts producing it en masse this month for an SE 4 release some time in the spring.