Apple’s Budget-King iPhone SE 4 To Enter Mass Production In December, Hinting At Sooner Than Expected Launch

Apple is preparing to launch its budget iPhone SE 4, which will potentially be a bigger deal than initially anticipated. The device is slated to feature a design similar to the iPhone 14, but the price will be less than $500, which would make it a pretty appealing deal. It is now being reported that Apple’s suppliers will start the mass production of the iPhone SE 4 in December, which is a hint that the launch might be closer than expected.

iPhone SE 4 to enter mass production in December, hinting that the device could launch in th Spring

The iPhone SE 4 launch will come with a plethora of surprises as we have covered various aspects of the design, and there have been some conflicting reports as well. We know that the device will house 8GB of RAM, similar to the iPhone 16 lineup, which is an essential upgrade considering how the company wants to bring Apple Intelligence to all of its devices. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo states in a blog post on Medium that the company’s suppliers have planned to begin mass production of the device in December, which is almost a month away.

A device entering mass production suggests that all of its research or developmental phase has been completed and the design of the device has been finalized. We have previously reported that the SE 4 is expected to come with a 6.1-inch OLED display, which is a major bump up from the older 4.7-inch screen on the SE 3. Additionally, it would also ditch Face ID in favor of Face ID, marking an end to the touch-based authentication system.

It remains to be seen if the company will incorporate the A18 chip or the A17 Pro chip in the product like the iPad mini 7. We suspect that the company would see fit to equip the device with the latest internals, as the product’s upgrade cycle is years apart, and it would want to future-proof the device. The increased RAM count and the new A18 processor would allow the device to bolster Apple Intelligence features, which would make the iPhone SE 4 Apple’s cheapest iPhone that features support for iOS 18’s flagship features.

Given the time frame of the iPhone SE 4’s mass production plans, Apple will potentially launch the device in Spring time. The company typically announces new products in March or April with various refreshes, and it appears that the iPhone SE 4 will make the cut as well. According to Kuo, Apple will ship around 8.6 million units of the SE 4 through th first quarter next year. Would you skip the iPhone 16 to get the iPhone SE 4?