Before the iPhone SE 4 is expected to be released on February 19, 2025, there are signs that previous claims that the phone will be renamed may be true. In early January 2025, news that seemed unlikely to leak stated that iPhone SE4 would be renamed iPhone16E. This is mainly due to the source of the leaked information, but "iPhone SE" has been a successful brand since 2016.
Now Bloomberg reports backing up the rebranding argument, and doing so largely because of the wording Tim Cook used in his teaser tweet about the February 19 launch.
"Get ready for the newest member of the family" was initially thought to refer to iPhone SE4. The current theory is that iPhone SE has been in the iPhone family for 9 years, so this should be a truly new product.
While the renaming doesn't make it a truly new device, all the rumors surrounding iPhone SE 4 suggest it will be a major update. The iPhone SE used to use older technology, such as retaining the home button, but this time it seems to be different.
First, it will be able to use Apple Intelligence, which means it must have a fast enough processor and a large enough memory. There were rumors that iPhone SE4 would be equipped with a smart island, but this statement has been overturned.
Overall, the iPhone SE4 is expected to be similar in appearance to the iPhone 14 launched in 2022. Previous iPhone SE models were also based on the old design.
However, there is also news that iPhone SE4 will be equipped with an action button. The custom button was introduced in the iPhone 15 Pro and has since been added to the entire iPhone 16 series.
If all of this is correct, iPhone SE4 will look closer to the current iPhone lineup than before.
The main selling point of previous iPhone SE models was that they were always the lowest-cost iPhones. If Apple can do this while still offering all the rumored features, iPhone SE 4 looks set to be a hit. It's just debatable whether it will be different enough from previous models to warrant a rebrand. If it is named iPhone 16E, does this also mean that it will enter the annual update cycle, followed by the launch of iPhone 17E?
Apple continues to sell older iPhones, and it currently sells the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 alongside the iPhone 16 series. Therefore, iPhone16E or similar names may remain in the series for more than a year, but this seems to defeat its meaning as a new member of the family.
So far, there are no rumors that the upcoming iPhone 17 series will include iPhone SE-like models.