Will iPhone SE 4 be the world’s most popular AI phone?

These are iPhone 14 models, but don’t expect them to be identical

Apple may soon introduce the world’s most affordably priced AI smartphone when it ships its fourth generation iPhone SE, though we aren’t certain when it will appear.

What to expect?

With no certainty at all, current speculation concerning the new smartphone is that it will maintain the mid-range market. The most recent credible speculation comes from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who reckons the device will be larger than before with a 6.1-inch OLED panel, like iPhone 14.

In fact, he said. It will be a slightly modified version of that phone. He also seems to think that it will include an Apple-designed 5G chip, but that seems to chime against what we’ve heard before concerning development of that part.

Of course, inclusion of that 6.1 inch display makes it reasonable to anticipate the device will be curved like current iPhones. You’ll have a single lens camera but may get a bigger 48MP module.

We don’t yet know if it will feature Face ID, but I can’t help but imagine Apple has a few boxes of second user FaceID modules to recycle into these models by now, and the production process for those modules should logically also begin to fall.

But who put the AI in iPhone?

All of this is great, of course, but it’s also worth making an educated guess at the processor inside these devices, which I speculate will be an A15 chip.

This is interesting as it makes for a really great upgrade on the existing SE range, but it’s also interesting from another point of view, and that is AI.

You see, what this means is that the iPhone SE, for all its limitations (single lens camera and slightly older chip) will still be the smartphone to beat for AI at the edge in this price category.

I really don’t think competitors will easily be able to beat the product, which will inevitably be more than capable of running whatever AI features Apple intends introducing at WWDC 2024.

With AI smartphones expected to define the market over the next few years, the iPhone SE may really help the company maintain some position in the space. All that for around a (guessed) $449 per unit, or cheaper on a carrier deal. And that’s why I think it may become (one of) the world’s most popular AI phones.

Exciting stuff.

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