The last time we took a look at the latest rumors surrounding the iPhone SE 4, the device was going to be based on the 2022 iPhone 14 with a 6.1-inch OLED display with the A16 Bionic application processor (AP) expected under the hood. The fourth version of Apple’s “budget” iPhone will have a lot of firsts as it will be the first SE model with an OLED panel, the first to feature the Dynamic Island and the first with Face ID.
However. a post on the Chinese social media site Weibo by a tipster named “Fixed Focus Digital” says something else. Using the translation available on Weibo, the post says that the iPhone SE 4 will feature a back panel process that will be used on the iPhone 16 base model. He adds that the “shipment plan is about the end of September.” It isn’t totally clear what he is referring to although based on what we know the September shipment plan refers to the iPhone 16. The iPhone SE 4 isn’t expected to be released until next spring.
Weibo post by Fixed Focus Digital with English translation. | Image credit-Weibo
If this rumor is true, instead of a single 12MP camera on the back as previously rumored, we could see the iPhone SE 4 copy the camera array to be found on the iPhone 16. Speculation calls for the iPhone 16 to have Wide and Ultra-Wide cameras mounted vertically. That is a change from the diagonally mounted lenses that have been in use since the iPhone 13. This is reportedly being done to allow the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus to record spatial video for the Vision Pro.
Back in February, leaker Majin Bu said something similar about the iPhone SE 4 being based on the design of the iPhone 16. An image of the phone that he shared on his tweet showed a single camera with a flash vertically mounted underneath in keeping with the aforementioned expected vertical design of the iPhone 16‘s rear cameras.
Majin Bu’s tweet in February. | Image credit-X
Fixed Focus Digital is a relatively new leaker with an unknown track record. Earlier this year he posted that Apple was reverse engineering foldable phones made by other manufacturers. He added that an iPhone foldable prototype using a Samsung-supplied foldable display broke down during a period of heavy testing by Apple. The tipster said at the time that Apple was temporarily halting work on the foldable iPhone until it could source a foldable display that is more durable than the one it was able to obtain from Samsung.