Is Apple Planning a ‘Plus’ Model of the Next iPhone SE?
Credit: iPhone SE 4 Concept [4RMD]
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While there’s every reason to believe that we’ll see a new iPhone SE launch early next year, a new leak suggests that Apple could also debut a larger model of its budget iPhone for the first time.
The information comes from the Japanese blog Mac Otakara, which has shared photos of what are purportedly two dummy units of the upcoming iPhone SE. As expected, the facsimiles show a design nearly identical to the iPhone 14, but there’s also a second dummy unit that mirrors the larger iPhone 14 Plus.
Although the dummy mockups match the dimensions of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus down to the tenth of a millimeter, several differences make it clear they’re not designed for a new iPhone. For one, there’s the very obvious presence of a single camera on the back — a feature that’s been unique to the iPhone SE since Apple first adopted a dual-camera array with the 2019 iPhone 11.
There’s also a mute switch rather than the Action button that’s now standard on all iPhone 16 models. However, the switch appears to be slightly smaller than the one on the iPhone 14. The other buttons are the same size, and all the hardware controls are where you’d expect them to be from the iPhone 14.
If the measurements of these dummy units are accurate, it won’t be too hard to find cases for the iPhone SE 4, as existing iPhone 14 cases should fit like a glove (other than having an excessively large camera cutout). That’s likely as every other report we’ve heard over the past several months has said that Apple plans to adopt the iPhone 14 design for the new iPhone SE, and it also fits right into Apple’s playbook for its budget iPhone. The original iPhone SE was physically identical to the iPhone 5s, and the second-generation iPhone SE externally mirrored the iPhone 8 in every way.
At least, that’s likely for the 6.1-inch iPhone SE. The larger plus-sized version is a much bigger question mark. While we’ve heard rumors of an iPhone SE Plus before, those were in the relatively distant past, before the iPhone 14 Plus or even the third-generation iPhone SE debuted. Those rumors were always vague and scattershot, and there was never a consensus on whether they represented a 5G iPhone SE, a larger iPhone SE, or a more advanced iPhone SE that would adopt the modern edge-to-edge screen design.
Either way, we never saw a so-called iPhone SE Plus, even though the design of the past two generations of iPhone SE would have also lent themselves to a larger version. The 2020 and 2022 iPhone SE were based on the iPhone 8, the last iPhone to have a plus version before Apple revived the name with the iPhone 14 lineup two years ago.
However, the notion of an iPhone SE Plus makes even less sense now than it did then. Not only have we heard nothing about it from the usual sources, but it’s hard to imagine how Apple would incorporate this into its current pricing structure, which already has an unusual amount of overlap.
For example, assuming Apple can keep the regular-sized iPhone SE below the $500 mark (which is another open question right now), it’s still selling the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus at $599 and $699, respectively. It’s the first year that Apple has kept the non-standard size of an iPhone around for two years. The iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini both remained on sale for the first year but dropped off the list in the second, and the presence of the iPhone 14 Plus already puts it in an awkward position, as last year’s 6.1-inch iPhone 15 has the same $699 price tag. Ditto for the iPhone 15 Plus and the iPhone 16, both of which start at $799.
By all reports, the iPhone Plus models haven’t fared much better in sales than the iPhone mini. The iPhone 16 Plus is said to be the last of its kind, so it’s hard to imagine Apple putting an iPhone SE Plus on the market, especially when it would likely have a price tag that would compete with the iPhone 14 at launch — and probably the iPhone 15 a few months after that when it drops into the third-tier $599 slot following the release of the iPhone 17 lineup.
The most important thing to remember is that these dummy units are often produced based on leaked specs and not anything official from Apple. Even Apple’s most trusted accessory partners don’t usually get final dimensions this early in the game. These are educated guesses made by case makers who want to start early development. Even Mac Otakara suggests these should be taken with a grain of salt at this point, stating its information comes from unverified sources from Alibaba (most likely third-tier Chinese accessory makers) and noting that the final precision design has not been decided and that it’s very possible we’ll only see the 6.1-inch model.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
