Apple now said to be launching next iPhone SE "by next week"

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman most recently said Apple would make the oft-rumored iPhone SE 4 (or iPhone 16E) official this week. Today he's back with a slightly altered timeline. Now he's saying the company's most affordable smartphone will be refreshed "by next week".

According to Gurman, a "smaller announcement" is imminent, possibly happening today. Then, on Friday, there will be some kind of announcement relating to the Apple Vision Pro, while a refreshed MacBook Air powered by Apple's M4 chip is coming "within weeks".

New iPhone SE is still imminent and should be announced by next week, when the company is holding product briefings. Tomorrow there’s a smaller announcement. For Friday, Apple Vision Pro reps are reaching out to press about an announcement to come. M4 MacBook Air within weeks. https://t.co/UabWO0shjY

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) February 12, 2025

Interestingly, Gurman hasn't mentioned a launch event for the iPhone SE 4, so this might just get official via a press release - perhaps fitting for the cheapest smartphone in Apple's arsenal, but on the other hand maybe it deserves more? Especially given how it's a lot of people's entry point into the Apple ecosystem.

Anyway, the iPhone SE 4 has long been rumored to look like the iPhone 14, sporting the same 6.06" FHD+ LTPS OLED screen with 60 Hz refresh rate and a notch for Face ID and the front camera. It will have a single rear camera (perhaps the main one from the iPhone 16), a water resistance rating of some sort, and it will be powered by the Apple A18 chip paired with 8GB of RAM to enable Apple Intelligence features.

The iPhone SE 4 will allegedly cost $499, which is $70 more than its predecessor from 2022 but the same amount as Google is rumored to charge for its upcoming Pixel 9a mid-ranger which the next iPhone SE should compete with head-on.