The arrival of the iPhone SE 4 sometime in the first quarter of next year would signal that Apple is preparing to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm as the ‘affordable’ model is said to be the first to ship with the company’s in-house 5G modem. codenamed Centauri. By setting up its own supply chain for baseband chips, Apple will no longer have to pay a large premium to Qualcomm, meaning Apple will have the flexibility to price the iPhone SE 4 competitively. Now, according to the latest information provided via Japanese telecom channels, the upcoming handset is said to be priced under $500, thus providing great value compared to the iPhone 16 series which is priced starting at $799 in the US.

The iPhone SE 4 will be one of the most affordable phones to support Apple Intelligence, making its price even more attractive to many people.

The pricing update comes from the yeux1122 blog on Naver, with the tipster saying that the retail price of the iPhone SE 4 in Japan will be under $500. In terms of value, those numbers are impressive, and while they’re more expensive than the $429 launch price of the iPhone SE 3, customers are said to be in for a lot of changes, both internal and external. Previously, we reported on the iPhone SE 4’s entire spec sheet which also included a price estimate in the range of $499 to $549, which would likely apply to different storage tiers.

For that amount, customers can expect the iPhone SE 4’s internals to include an A18 SoC, 8 GB RAM, a large 6.06-inch OLED display that lacks ProMotion support, but overall, the configuration is very attractive. The base iPhone 16, which is available for $799 in the US, also ships with an A18 chipset and 8GB RAM, so seeing Apple go the somewhat affordable route will make its competitors very nervous.

Additionally, thanks to the improved A18 Neural Engine and increased RAM, the iPhone SE 4 is expected to be Apple’s most affordable model to support generative AI features. Given that Apple’s path to becoming a $4 trillion company will be aided by the company’s expansion of generative AI features, the iPhone SE 4 should add fuel to the fire.

While we expect the launch to happen in the first quarter, Apple is expected to kick off 2025 with the release of the M4 MacBook Air family, so we’ll have to be a little patient for the official launch.

News Source: Naver