Another voice has chimed in on the possibility that Apple’s upcoming budget-priced iPhone, expected to debut this week, might not be named the iPhone SE after all. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says there may indeed be a potential name change in store for Apple’s low-end iPhone.
Gurman’s comments came in his latest Power On newsletter. Gurman reasons that in Apple CEO Tim Cook‘s recent social media announcement about a new product unveiling scheduled for February 19, in which Cook teased the “newest member of the family.” To Gurman, this phrasing indicates that Apple could be planning to position the new handset as a new addition to the lineup rather than a sequel in the “SE” series.
Gurman’s comments jibe with earlier predictions from two industry leakers. Both Fixed Focus Digital, a leaker account on Chinese social media platform Weibo, and a December 31 X post by another leaker known as Majin Bu on X cited sources who said the new device’s name will be iPhone 16E.
The new budget iPhone is expected to be announced via press release on Wednesday, February 19, with pre-orders likely following shortly after.
The new device is expected to feature a USB-C port and Face ID, replacing the Touch ID Home button and the Lightning port the current iPhone SE is equipped with.
The upcoming iPhone’s display is said to considerably increase in size, from the current 4.7 inches to 6.06 inches, and will also feature an OLED display panel for the first time. The new iPhone is also expected to be powered by the same A18 chip as the current iPhone 16 lineup. The handset is expected to include 6GB to 8GB of LPDDR5 memory, an aluminum chassis, and a single rear 48-megapixel camera.
The iPhone SE/iPhone 16E is expected to carry a price tag of $499 to $549. The current iPhone SE debuted in March 2022 and carried a $429 price tag.
