Many rumours suggest what to expect from future iPhones

The death of the iPhone SE gets reported intermittently and somehow never quite becomes a reality. Now we hear that Apple will introduce an iPhone SE 4 equipped with Touch ID in 2024. Meanwhile we’ve picked up a little more insight into what to expect from future iPhones.

What’s happening with iPhones?

That’s going to soften the blow as ASPs across the iPhone range are expected to increase next year, though the tech is also expected to become significantly more powerful, driven by 3nm processors for longer battery life and more. But the iPhone SE 4 will hold a place in the line-up.

The device is expected to offer a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, a notch design, and thinner bezels than before. It should also carry the same A16 Bionic chip as we saw inside the iPhone 14 Pro.

The news was reported by Mashable India citing Apple watcher, Ming Chi-Kuo. The phone will use an Apple-created 5G modem and may also be manufactured using parts from earlier devices.

That’s the first Apple speculation.

The iPhone road map to under-panel cameras, sensors, and more

The second tells us what to expect from iPhones for the next few years.

DisplaySearch analyst Ross Young is very, very good at predicting changes to Apple’s iPhone displays. It’s his job and he’s a reputable insight giver on such things. In a recently published research paper, he predicted some of the features to expect from future iPhones.

So, what should we expect?

Well, if Young’s sources are correct, we’re on the way to under-display sensors, always-on displays, and ProMotion across every iPhone. We can anticipate the loss of the Digital Island by 2025 and an under-panel camera by 2027.

The pill shape will remain a feature in iPhone Pro models both this year and the next and will stick around with the entry level models until 2027. In 2025, ProMotion and Always-on displays will be added to all regular iPhones starting in 2025.

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My latest survey indicates that the volume button and power button of two high-end iPhone 15/2H23 new iPhone models may adopt a solid-state button design (similar to the home button design of iPhone 7/8/SE2 & 3) to replace the physical/mechanical button design.

— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) October 28, 2022

No moving parts…

And a second set of rumor suggest buttons on the iPhone 15 will become solid state across the board. That means no more mute toggle, means no moving parts, and probably means the devices will become even more waterproof (and a lot less repairable).

Finally, we learn iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 will drop support for the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, first-generation 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and fifth-generation iPad – most devices with an A11 Bionic chip or older.

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