A leaker with a mixed track record has claimed that this year’s iPhone SE will be getting an upgraded name to reflect its new design: the iPhone 16E.
We are expecting the budget model to get its biggest ever upgrade this year, finally dropping the large chin with Home button for a modern form factor based on the iPhone 14 …
The iPhone SE
The iPhone SE was conceived by Apple as a more affordable entry point into the company’s ecosystem. The first model back in 2016 was based on the iPhone 5s, a classic design which stood the test of time well.
While the company was focused on the affordability of the model, some of us technically downgraded to it from flagship iPhones because we preferred either the compact size, the slab-sided design (at a time when Apple was in its rounded edges phase), or both.
The 2020 model was based on the iPhone 8, the last flagship device to have a Home button. The 2022 version was a very minor update on this, and is still on sale today. But more than seven years after Apple changed its iPhone design language with the iPhone X, the iPhone SE 3 now looks very dated.
The iPhone SE 4, or iPhone 16E
This year’s model is set to change that. Based on the iPhone 14, it will for the first time offer a design which looks far more in keeping with current and recent flagship models. While it will have a notch rather than a Dynamic Island, it will be a night-and-day difference from its predecessor.
Leaker Majin Bu is now suggesting that the new look may be accompanied by a new name: the iPhone 16E, perhaps styled as the iPhone 16🄴.
Based on what my source has reported, it seems that the new iPhone that Apple will unveil in 2025 will not be called iPhone SE4, but iPhone 16E. It should feature a design similar to the iPhone 14, with an OLED display and an action button. The available colors will be white and black.
9to5Mac’s Take
Majin Bu was right about the Desert Titanium color of the iPhone 16 Pro, and also about the vertical alignment of the base model iPhone 16 camera layout – though the latter had already reported on by other sources by that time.
But they’ve also been wrong on other things, like other iPhone colors and interchangeable magnetic tips for the Apple Pencil.
The design has of course been so widely-reported that it’s effectively a given at this point, and the colors indicated simply reflect the existing model (which also has a PRODUCT(RED) version).
One could certainly argue that such a big update should be reflected in a new name, but iPhone 16 branding for a somewhat older design might be confusing – especially when launching after the rest of the line-up. For now, then, we’re viewing this with a fairly large pinch of salt.
Image: 9to5Mac collage of images from Apple and Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash
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