iPhone SE 4 is now likely cancelled: Ming Chi-Kuo

A report from the analyst last month speculated that the next-gen iPhone SE might be cancelled or delayed. Now, it appears that model has been scrapped entirely.

iPhone SE 4 was to get a full-screen display (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

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The iPhone SE 4 that was supposed to come out this year might be scrapped entirely. Apple has reportedly informed suppliers that it has cancelled plans to release a fourth-generation iPhone SE.

The information comes from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has an accurate track record with predictions. This arrives after a similar report from December by the same analyst saying that this iPhone is likely delayed to 2024 or cancelled. Turns out, it’s the latter.

In a Medium post on Friday, Kuo said that Apple initially planned to launch its first in-house 5G baseband chip in 2024 and let the low-end iPhone SE 4 adopt it first. Then, based on the development status of the iPhone SE 4, the company was to decide whether to let the iPhone 16 use the same chip.

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However, since the iPhone SE 4 is apparently cancelled, 2024’s iPhone lineup will continue using baseband chips from Qualcomm. The chipmaker is currently the exclusive baseband chips supplier for the iPhone 14 series.

If the news is indeed true, then Qualcomm may continue to dominate the global high-end phone RF (radio frequency) market well into 2023 and 2024, leading to higher profits than competitors, as speculated by Kuo.

It’s a bummer to see the iPhone SE 4 go, especially considering it was speculated to have a notched design for the very first time. That would’ve filled the void left by the cancelled iPhone XR. Apple doesn’t release new models under the SE lineup as religiously as the regular iPhone models. The third-gen iPhone SE arrived two years after the second and four years after the first, and there’s no telling when the next iteration will be released – if at all.