The iPhone SE 4 is the long-awaited successor to the iPhone SE lineup. Information about the device has been scarce, with only a few bits of information leaking out here and there, but now there’s a newer, more surprising rumor: that the name of the next iPhone SE might actually be the iPhone 16E.
The news first broke in mid-December from a source that’s relatively unknown in the United States and was limited to just Weibo. Majin Bu, a tipster with a much more solid track record, shared a post on X recently that supports the news.
Bu also corroborates the color choices: black and white, with the ever-popular red color conspicuously absent. Multiple X users responded to Bu’s post asking why the color choices are so limited, while others debated the reason for the name change.
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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… pic.twitter.com/Vm8DCh1Xo0
— Majin Bu (@MajinBuOfficial) December 31, 2024
Bearing in mind that the name change is still not officially confirmed, there are several reasons that Apple might have decided to move away from the established SE tag. The first is Apple Intelligence; this next handset is expected to be fully compatible with Apple’s AI, but the iPhone 15 will still be available for purchase when the phone launches. Switching to iPhone 16E marks this as an expansion of the next generation of phones and not a budget-focused phone that is ostensibly more powerful than many flagships from just a few years earlier.
The images Bu shared line up with earlier rumors about the iPhone SE 4’s design. It resembles the iPhone 14 in appearance, doing away with the Home button seen in previous iterations. The images don’t provide a clear view of the bottom of the phone, however. Some sources say the iPhone SE 4 will charge via Lightning, but it’s far more likely the handset will use USB-C to stay in line with European guidelines (and Mark Gurman has supported its use of USB-C in his Power On newsletter.)
It’s still too early to say anything definitive about this upcoming phone. It isn’t expected to launch until March or after, so there is plenty of time for more details to emerge ahead of release.
