iPhone SE update coming in 2022 and a new look for 2023

(Image credit: Apple)

published 4 April 2021

The Apple iPhone SE is due to get a refresh next year to include low-level 5G, according to analyst Ross Young. While this is due to be a similar design, a fourth-generation SE is slated for 2023 that has a brand-new look complete with a hole-punch display.

Launched in 2016, the iPhone SE was Apple’s first real budget smart phone in the iPhone range, with the original model providing the same A9 chip as the iPhone 6S in a smaller iPhone 5 casing. The updated second-generation iPhone SE (2020) moved to the larger iPhone 8 casing with the iPhone 11’s A13 chip.

Young, who is a display analyst suggests that next year’s iPhone SE will maintain the 4.7-inch display of the current SE. He also points to rumors that it will feature the lower-level Sub-6GHz 5G (as featured in non-US versions of the current range).

Providing just the lower-level 5G does keep a level of difference between the SE and the upcoming iPhone 13 range – which, presumably will move to a global mmWave 5G in all models. However, it does question whether people will pay the extra $300 / £300 / AU$520 for the iPhone mini.

As reported on Macrumors, Young also mentions a more significant upgrade of the phone coming in 2023. This, he says, is a 6.1-inch model with a punch-hole camera in the display, rather than a notch.

A 6.1-inch display would suggest that the fourth-gen iPhone SE would be using a casing similar to the iPhone 12. However, the hold punch design is something that has been mentioned previously by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo to be coming to the 2022 range.

The hole punch camera has featured in numerous Android phones over the last few years, from the Samsung Galaxy S20 to the Motorola One Vision and Honor 20. The benefit is that it’s considered far less intrusive than the notch, though it can still get in the way, especially when using the phone in landscape mode.

It’s likely to be at least another year before we get any real confirmation of an Apple punch hole though. So, you’ll have to deal with the notch a little longer.

As T3's Editor-in-Chief, Mat Gallagher has his finger on the pulse for the latest advances in technology. He has written about technology since 2003 and after stints in Beijing, Hong Kong and Chicago is now based in the UK. He’s a true lover of gadgets, but especially anything that involves cameras, Apple, electric cars, musical instruments or travel.