New iPhone SE 4 could look a lot like the iPhone 16

(Image credit: Apple)

published 22 July 2024

Quick Summary

A new report on Chinese social media says that the iPhone SE 4 will share the same backplate as the iPhone 16. That could mean the phone is getting a bigger camera upgrade than previously predicted.

The iPhone SE is Apple's best budget iPhone, and the fourth generation is expected to appear later this year or early in 2015. Until now the rumours have indicated that it'll be based on the iPhone 14, but a new report says that it's going to be more like a more recent iPhone: the as yet unreleased iPhone 16.

The new report comes via Chinese social network Weibo, where leaker Fixed Focus Digital says that the iPhone SE 4 will have "exactly the same" backplate as the iPhone 16. That directly contradicts previous rumours: as MacRumors notes, as of late 2023 reports close to Apple's manufacturing process were saying that the iPhone 4 SE's dimensions were a perfect match for the iPhone 14.

Why would Apple change the iPhone SE 4 design?

There are several potential explanations for the change, assuming of course that this particular leak is accurate. The first is that Apple may have decided that it's more economical to use some of the same production materials and processes for the SE as for the iPhone 16. With the iPhone 14's days numbered, it makes sense to standardise on a more recent model.

The more interesting possible explanation, however, is that the change is because the iPhone SE 4 is going to get a better camera system than previously predicted. The new iPhone 16 appears to be getting a significantly different camera assembly this time around, and having the same backplate for that phone and for the iPhone SE 4 could indicate that Apple is considering a more significant camera upgrade for the SE this time too.

Other rumoured changes include swapping out Touch ID for Face ID and adding the display notch, and the new design means a bigger display too: 6.1 inches compared to the current model's 4.7 inches. USB-C is a given and an iPhone 15 Pro-style Action button is also rumoured. But despite all of these changes Apple still reportedly plans to bring the new phone out with a similar price to the current model. Here in the UK the iPhone SE 3 is currently £429.

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Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).