Why you might want to skip the iPhone 16 and get next year’s iPhone SE 4 instead

The iPhone 16 is about a month away, and if you’re looking for a new iPhone , you should start figuring out which of the four models is the best choice for you. I’ll remind you that you should absolutely get an iPhone 16 variant if you want to take advantage of the Apple Intelligence features coming via an iOS 18.1 upgrade later this year. That makes the iPhone 16 series unique.

None of the old iPhones that Apple will continue to sell after the iPhone 16 launch event will support Apple Intelligence. The iPhone 15 Pros will be discontinued, and they are the only current iPhones that can handle Apple Intelligence right now.

You might be waiting for the iPhone 16 phones to launch so you can buy a cheaper iPhone 15 or iPhone 14 variant. Apple routinely discounts older models when the new generation arrives. I’d tell you that’s a sound strategy, but the iPhone SE 4 stops me from recommending an iPhone 15 or iPhone 14 purchase this September.

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The iPhone SE 4 will not only support Apple Intelligence, but it might also launch sooner than expected. A new report says it might get an early 2025 release date, and that’s great news.

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I said a few weeks ago that Apple Intelligence would make the iPhone SE 4 an even bigger nightmare for Android. I speculated at the time that Apple would equip the ~$500 phone with a processor that matches the power of the base iPhone 16 model, AI included. That would make the iPhone SE 4 a tremendous upgrade.

Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter says the upcoming affordable iPhone will indeed have Apple Intelligence. That implies the handset will have 8GB of RAM and a processor at least as good as the A17 Pro inside the iPhone 15 Pros.

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Gurman also notes the iPhone SE 4 will look like an iPhone 14, as Apple will bring the notch display design to its cheapest iPhone. This implies Touch ID is going away for good, and that’s actually great news. The $500 iPhone will offer an all-screen display like all other budget Android handsets.

Finally, the report notes the handset will pack a “crisper OLED” panel, an upgrade that seems guaranteed even if it doesn’t show up in rumors. Without an OLED panel, you can’t make iPhone displays with a notch and thin, symmetrical bezels. The iPhone XR’s LCD was an exception. But that was also some seven years ago. OLED panels are now the norm for iPhones.

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The most interesting iPhone SE 4 tidbit in Gurman’s newsletter concerns the release date window. The Bloomberg reporter says Apple might release the iPhone SE 4 as early as the beginning of 2025. That would be several months earlier than the previous iPhone SE variants, which usually launch in spring.

The Apple insider doesn’t mention the handset’s starting price, but he says that a $500 iPhone SE 4 would be a “hot seller.”

With all that in mind, the iPhone SE 4 should be on your radar. It’ll tick many boxes. It’s a new iPhone; it could cost between $500 and $600 and should run Apple Intelligence. This device would also last you quite a long time, considering it’ll match the iPhone 16 or iPhone 15 Pro hardware.

Apple Intelligence is the only reason to ignore the iPhone SE 4 in favor of the iPhone 15 or iPhone 14. If you’re absolutely sure you don’t need AI on your phone, you can go for one of these two iPhones once Apple discounts them next month.

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