Next iPhone SE may come with bigger OLED display, in-house 5G modem

Apple has reportedly restarted the production of the iPhone SE 4 after a brief pause. According to notable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the next-gen iPhone SE, which is also Apple's most affordable iPhone, will come with an OLED panel instead of an LCD. The former will allow the smartphone to offer a better viewing experience. Apart from that, Kuo also notes that the iPhone SE 4 could come with Apple's in-house 5G modem. Currently, iPhone 12 and above carry 5G modems from Qualcomm.

In a series of tweets, Kuo says the iPhone SE 4 will be a "minor modification of the 6.1-inch iPhone 14." This indicates the phone will also get a bigger display as opposed to the current 4.7-inch display. The phone may also feature a flat-edge design and glass back.

Kuo goes on to say that Apple will use an in-house 5G modem instead of Qualcomm's X-series 5G modems. Apple has been rumoured to be working on a proprietary modem not just for smartphones, but also for its augmented reality (AR) tech. Notably, a report in January stated that Apple is also working on an all-in-one chip to enable cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on iPhones and other devices.

The same 5G modem may also feature on the iPhone 16 series, expected to launch in 2024. This means that the iPhone SE 4 could launch around the same time. In his tweet, Kuo writes, "The new iPhone SE 4 will equip with Apple's 5G baseband chip produced by a 4nm process (similar to 5nm) and will only support Sub-6GHz as the current plan... 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."

Apple has been expanding 5G support to its iPads, and the proprietary modem could feature on its tablets as well. It is a similar strategy that Apple adopted with its M-series CPU. Apple replaced Intel processors on Macs and started using custom chips (M1, M2, and so). The same SoCs (system-on-chips) also started appearing in iPad Pro and Air models.

Meanwhile, the last iPhone SE 3 was launched in 2022 with 5G and newer SoC. Otherwise, there was hardly to differentiate between SE 2 and SE 3 in terms of design and cameras. Apple may also want to improve the camera tech on the upcoming SE 4. The phone may also feature a USB-C port for charging.