THE The iPhone SE 4 isn’t even outyet I can’t help but recommend this unreleased Apple product. That’s because all the rumors paint the same picture of this mid-range iPhone that’s supposed to hit stores next year. If you do not purchase the iPhone16 but you want a new iPhone, the iPhone SE 4 is probably for you.

The iPhone SE 4 will offer comparable flagship performance to the iPhone 16 since Apple wants it to run Apple Intelligence. The only real compromises are in design and camera. Apple will recycle the design of the iPhone 14 for this model, and you will only have one camera on the back instead of two or three.

But when you consider the likely price of the iPhone SE 4 – $499 – it should be an instant hit.

The good news is that the iPhone SE 4 is expected to launch soon. All reports indicate that the phone will arrive in early 2025. But it won’t be as soon as you might have hoped, with a more recent report stating that the phone won’t hit stores until March 2025.

Korean site AjuNews reports that LG Innotek will supply the 48-megapixel camera module for the iPhone SE 4. The company is currently testing the component and LG will reportedly begin mass-producing the camera module next month.

The report notes that LG Innotek typically delivers camera modules three months before a new product launch. With manufacturing scheduled for December, the iPhone SE 4 release date is expected to be March 2025.

While some iPhone fans might have hoped for an earlier launch, the March window makes sense for Apple. Previous variants of the iPhone SE were launched every year around this time.

I will add that iPhone SE 4 specs and price leak also recently proposed a release window for March 2025. But that might have been an educated guess based on Apple’s iPhone SE release history. The Korean report states that LG is a confirmed camera supplier for the upcoming iPhone model. The iPhone SE 4 camera will be produced in a factory in Vietnam.

The report states that the LG camera will feature a 48-megapixel sensor, which should be a significant improvement over the iPhone SE 3’s camera. This is likely the same sensor that Apple uses in the iPhone 16 series.

AjuNews provides the same story about the iPhone SE 4 that other leaks have offered. The iPhone SE 4 is expected to support Apple Intelligence, which implies that the handset must feature the same hardware as the iPhone 15 Pros or iPhone 16 phones. These are currently the only handsets capable of running Apple Intelligence.

The A18 is the most logical chip for the iPhone SE 4. It’s the processor that powers the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, and it’s more energy efficient and less expensive than the A17 Pro that powers the iPhone 15 Pro. Whichever silicon Apple chooses, the company will pair it with 8GB of RAM, the minimum amount of memory Apple Intelligence requires.

The report doesn’t mention a specific release date for the iPhone SE 4, and we shouldn’t expect one just yet. But other rumors say that Apple will launch several new products in the next quarter. The list includes the MacBook Air M4a new iPad Air and new accessories. Seeing all of these products come out around the same time would make sense.