The iPhone SE 4 is the long-awaited next entry in the iPhone SE lineup. Information about the device has been scarce, with only a few bits of information leaking out here and there, but now there’s a newer, more surprising rumor: that the name of the next iPhone SE might actually be the iPhone 16E.
The news first broke in mid-December from a source that’s relatively unknown in the U.S. and was limited to just Weibo. Now, Majin Bu, a tipster with a much more solid track record, shared a post on X recently that supports the news.
Bu also corroborates the color choices: black and white, with the ever-popular red color conspicuously absent. Multiple X users responded to Bu’s post asking why the color choices are so limited, while others debated the reason for the name change.
Based on what my source has reported, it seems that the new iPhone that Apple will unveil in 2025 will not be called iPhone SE4, but iPhone 16E. It should feature a design similar to the iPhone 14, with an OLED display and an action button. The available colors will be white and… pic.twitter.com/Vm8DCh1Xo0
— Majin Bu (@MajinBuOfficial) December 31, 2024
Bearing in mind that the name change is still not officially confirmed, there are several reasons that Apple might have decided to move away from the established SE tag. The first is Apple Intelligence; this next handset is expected to be fully compatible with Apple’s AI, but the iPhone 15 will still be available for purchase when the phone launches. Switching to iPhone 16E marks this as an expansion of the next generation of phones and not a budget-focused phone that is ostensibly more powerful than many flagships from just a few years earlier.
The images Bu shared line up with earlier rumors about the iPhone SE 4’s design. It resembles the iPhone 14 in appearance, doing away with the Home button seen in previous iterations. The images don’t provide a clear view of the bottom of the phone, however. Some sources say the iPhone SE 4 will charge via Lightning, but it’s far more likely the handset will use USB-C to stay in line with European guidelines (and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has supported its use of USB-C in his Power On newsletter.)
It’s still too early to say anything definitive about this upcoming phone. It isn’t expected to launch until March or later, so there is plenty of time for more details to emerge ahead of release.
Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it’s a…
I finally have RCS on my iPhone, and it’s one of my favorite iOS 18 features
Apple’s Messages app has certainly come a long way. When the first iPhone launched in 2007, it could only send SMS — there weren’t even picture messages. Then it got MMS protocol support in iPhone OS 3.0 with the iPhone 3GS. With iPhone OS 5.0, Apple implemented its own iMessage chat protocol, making it easy for Apple users to communicate with other Apple device users.
However, when it came to messaging Android users, Apple dragged its feet for the longest time, sticking with SMS and MMS, which aren’t encrypted and don’t offer full-quality photo and video sending. It also sparked the whole blue bubble versus green bubble war.
Read more
Here’s every carrier that lets your iPhone send RCS messages to Android phones
RCS messaging has gained popularity by leaps and bounds this past year, especially in the Western market. More than 1 billion people are estimated to use RCS messaging at present, and a huge part of that growth is due to Apple introducing RCS compatibility with the arrival of iOS 18.
While iOS 18 has supported RCS messaging with Android phones since it launched in September, carrier support was a bit scarce upon launch. Now, Apple has updated its support page with an expanded list of carriers that support RCS.
Read more
If your iPhone can handle iOS 18.2, it can probably handle iOS 19
The last few iPhone updates have brought a lot of changes with them. Just take a look at iOS 18.2: It introduced a ton of AI-powered features that had never before been available. If you have an older phone, it’s easy to worry that its hardware won’t be up to snuff for the next round of updates. For now, you can breathe easy: If your iPhone can handle iOS 18, then it should also work with iOS 19, according to a new leak.
The news comes from the French site iPhoneSoft. Although Apple guarantees five years of support for its devices, some devices get supported for longer periods of time, but this tip suggests that any phone currently capable of downloading and installing iOS 18 will also work with iOS 19, although some features could be limited.
Read more
