Two 'iPhone SE 2' models could launch in 2020

AppleInsider

A questionable report from the supply chain based on a purported "roadmap" suggests that Apple could release two 'iPhone SE 2' models in 2020, in different sizes.

Apple's annual upgrade of iPhone models has led to a regular supply of rumors about what is on the horizon, with a collection of four "iPhone 12" models thought to be released in the fall, alongside a single "iPhone SE 2" earlier in the year. The latest rumor is that it may not just be one model of "iPhone SE 2" on the way.

According to sources of DigiTimes, Apple is said to add an extra LCD-based model alongside the existing four OLED and one LCD model scheduled for launch in 2020. The sixth model is said by sources to be an upgraded model of the "iPhone SE 2."

The second SE model may not arrive alongside the first, as it is thought to be made available at the end of 2020 or in early 2021. While upgrades for the model are largely unknown, it is suggested to have a 5.5-inch to 6.1-inch LCD display.

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Members of the Apple supply chain producing components for iPhones have apparently been shown roadmaps for "six items" of iPhones, the publication claims. Within the supply chain, Chipbond Technology of Taiwan is said to have received packaging orders for the LCD screens of both SE models.

Due to the mixed success of Digitimes in reporting rumors, it is difficult to determine the accuracy of Thursday's report. The outlet tends to do better with supply chain shipments and product release timings versus feature specifications. Model announcements are not DigiTimes' strong suit.

The expansion of Apple's iPhone ecosystem has been raised before by other analysts and rumors, as the company prepares to move over towards releasing devices with 5G connectivity.

Current speculation from Ming-Chi Kuo has Apple coming up with four main iPhone model releases for the "iPhone 12" cycle. At the same time, Kuo predicts a launch of a 4.7-inch LCD "iPhone SE 2" for early 2020, with a form factor similar to the iPhone 8.

Crucially, Kuo also suggests there could be another "iPhone SE 2" model on the way, dubbed the "iPhone SE 2 Plus," but in the first half of 2021. This model has been suggested to have the 5.5-inch or 6.1-inch full-screen display, but will continue to use Touch ID with it integrated into the power button on the side.

Given the closeness of the timings said by DigiTimes and Kuo, as well as the identification of screen sizes, it is possible the two are getting similar stories from the same sources, or the former could be influenced by the predictions of the latter.

However, one investor note from Rosenblatt Securities in mid-December pointed to only the launch of one "iPhone SE 2" model in early 2020. At the same time, it too offered a list of six iPhone models predicted for launch, but one consisting of just the "iPhone 12" in a variety of forms, covering different screen sizes and compatibility with 5G.

It is plausible the list of six from the DigiTimes sources could in fact relate to the "iPhone 12" models alone and not the "iPhone SE 2." Among that list are a mix of display technologies, but the division is one LCD model alongside five OLED, rather than two LCD and four OLED.

Overall, the "iPhone SE 2" is tipped to have an A13 processor with 3GB of application RAM, a glass-backed design inspired by the iPhone 8, and wireless charging support.

GeorgeBMac

An iPhone 8 with an A14 processor makes no sense.

-- The A11 processor continues to work just fine.   In fact, Apple is still shipping product with the A10 installed.  So why is an A14 needed in an economy package?
-- The iPhone 8 is still too big for those who value the SE for its compact size.

-- Why put an obsolete screen technology (with wide borders) on a state of the art phone?  It's like putting a Porsche engine in a VW Beetle.

wood1208

Questionable report !!!!!

BayHorse

George, Steve Jobs once asked Wozniak’s why anyone would need more than 16k of RAM..... Why an A14? Because that! Happy and healthy New Year to you!

lkrupp

AppleInsider said:

A questionable report from the supply chain based on a purported "roadmap" suggests that Apple could release two 'iPhone SE 2' models in 2020, in different sizes.

Well, that settles it then.

williamh

BayHorse said:

George, Steve Jobs once asked Wozniak’s why anyone would need more than 16k of RAM..... Why an A14? Because that! Happy and healthy New Year to you!

I think you may have misremembered that. The Apple 1 was expandable to 48k. Bill Gates was quoted as saying nobody would need more than 640k of RAM but he denied ever saying it.

ilovemom

When the size of the new iPhone SE is increased, its most important feature is killed: "smallness".

zimmie

GeorgeBMac said:

An iPhone 8 with an A14 processor makes no sense.

-- The A11 processor continues to work just fine.   In fact, Apple is still shipping product with the A10 installed.  So why is an A14 needed in an economy package?
-- The iPhone 8 is still too big for those who value the SE for its compact size.

-- Why put an obsolete screen technology (with wide borders) on a state of the art phone?  It's like putting a Porsche engine in a VW Beetle.

A14 isn't out yet. I assume you mean A13, which is the chip currently in the 11 family of phones.

It makes perfect sense. The original SE was current internals in a 2.5-year-old shell, kept around as the entry-level phone for 2.5 more years (and still supported). While the A11 works fine, it will eventually be a limitation, and that will be before the A13 is a limitation.

Assuming the A9 is dropped by iOS 14 in late 2020, that will mean the iPhone SE was supported for at least two years after the last unit was sold. If they want to sell this new phone for 2.5 years and support it for another 2, an A11 would limit what they can do with the OS.

eriamjh

Businesses need cheap iPhones for security because Android isn’t. 

Some businesses don’t care about appearance, cameras, borders, touchID vs. FaceID, or screen size.   All they care about is functionality, security and cost.

Apple is smart to extend the life of the iPhone 8 design with a modern processor and call it the iPhone 9.  Businesses want their phones to be usable for a few years, not be terribly insecure (lack of iOS updates) or slow (lack of performance due to iOS updates) a few months after they refresh their phones.

I don’t understand the demand  for Apple to release two iPhone SEs. 

GeorgeBMac

zimmie said:

GeorgeBMac said:

An iPhone 8 with an A14 processor makes no sense.

-- The A11 processor continues to work just fine.   In fact, Apple is still shipping product with the A10 installed.  So why is an A14 needed in an economy package?
-- The iPhone 8 is still too big for those who value the SE for its compact size.

-- Why put an obsolete screen technology (with wide borders) on a state of the art phone?  It's like putting a Porsche engine in a VW Beetle.

A14 isn't out yet. I assume you mean A13, which is the chip currently in the 11 family of phones.

It makes perfect sense. The original SE was current internals in a 2.5-year-old shell, kept around as the entry-level phone for 2.5 more years (and still supported). While the A11 works fine, it will eventually be a limitation, and that will be before the A13 is a limitation.

Assuming the A9 is dropped by iOS 14 in late 2020, that will mean the iPhone SE was supported for at least two years after the last unit was sold. If they want to sell this new phone for 2.5 years and support it for another 2, an A11 would limit what they can do with the OS.

You are correct that the A14 won't be available this spring.   But for the rest, refer back to my original post.

StrangeDays

ilovemom said:

When the size of the new iPhone SE is increased, its most important feature is killed: "smallness".

That depends on who you ask. While those who valued the previous SE for its size may say so, there is another entirely viable argument that the purpose of the SE is to produce a cheaper iPhone by utilizing an older-model design. In this case, going back to the 8, which eliminates the cost of the FaceID sensor array and has the added bonus of appealing to those who want a home button. If this camp is correct, it was never really about the size, but about the cost-savings of using an older body.

macgui

According to sources of DigiTimes

I stopped reading after that. DigiTimes reporting isn't questionable. It's laughable.

zimmie

GeorgeBMac said:

zimmie said:

GeorgeBMac said:

An iPhone 8 with an A14 processor makes no sense.

-- The A11 processor continues to work just fine.   In fact, Apple is still shipping product with the A10 installed.  So why is an A14 needed in an economy package?
-- The iPhone 8 is still too big for those who value the SE for its compact size.

-- Why put an obsolete screen technology (with wide borders) on a state of the art phone?  It's like putting a Porsche engine in a VW Beetle.

A14 isn't out yet. I assume you mean A13, which is the chip currently in the 11 family of phones.

It makes perfect sense. The original SE was current internals in a 2.5-year-old shell, kept around as the entry-level phone for 2.5 more years (and still supported). While the A11 works fine, it will eventually be a limitation, and that will be before the A13 is a limitation.

Assuming the A9 is dropped by iOS 14 in late 2020, that will mean the iPhone SE was supported for at least two years after the last unit was sold. If they want to sell this new phone for 2.5 years and support it for another 2, an A11 would limit what they can do with the OS.

You are correct that the A14 won't be available this spring.   But for the rest, refer back to my original post.

Sure, but you could ask exactly the same questions (except the size one) ahead of the launch of the original iPhone SE.

The A7 worked just fine (would have gone with A6 for a similar year jump, but A7 was 64-bit, which is abnormally important). Why would they launch a low-cost iPhone with the newest processor? In answer to that, consider it the iPhone Long-Term Support. Exactly the same device was available brand new for years.

Why use an obsolete form factor for a new phone? The 6/+ and even 6S/+ had been released. It wasn't even exactly the same case as the 5S; there were slight changes, so they had to reconfigure machinery to make it.



If they make a new SE, I expect it to have an Apple-designed GPU. That means A11 or newer. The A12 has a newer instruction set which has significant security benefits (authenticated pointers; preventing whole classes of attack), so that could also be worthwhile.

Older processors aren't actually a whole lot cheaper. The difference between the A10 and the A13 is probably ~$10 plus maybe another $10 in RAM (2 GB to 4 GB). It can be worthwhile to skimp there when you can't really compromise on the screen (for example, on an iPad), but a phone screen is a lot cheaper than a tablet screen.

A12 with 3 GB of RAM would be a decent compromise without being too constrictive.

The real question is whether they would go with a Touch ID design when the last one they shipped was the iPhone 8, over two years ago. They will want to stop supporting the square, earless screen at some point. If they do a new Touch ID phone now, they'll have to support those screens until iOS 18 or so.

just cruisin

GeorgeBMac said:

An iPhone 8 with an A14 processor makes no sense.

-- The A11 processor continues to work just fine.   In fact, Apple is still shipping product with the A10 installed.  So why is an A14 needed in an economy package?
-- The iPhone 8 is still too big for those who value the SE for its compact size.

-- Why put an obsolete screen technology (with wide borders) on a state of the art phone?  It's like putting a Porsche engine in a VW Beetle.

I agree with everything you said but a Porsche is already a VW Beetle

dewme

In my opinion the key driver for an iPhone SE class phone would be a selling price of $399. That’s pretty much the whole deal. This means a heavy dependence on economy of scale on the bill of materials and a low manufacturing cost, probably done in India or Vietnam. Retaining the previous SE form factor that was based on the iPhone 5 is very unlikely since Apple would have to spin up new manufacturing and assembly capabilities that don’t directly leverage what’s in place for their current lineup. The iPhone XR would probably be the most likely basis for such a move if Apple can hit the cost target by cost reducing some of the higher end components like the LCD and camera, limit memory to one option like 64GB, and maybe slim down some of the software controlled enhancements related to image processing. It’s all speculation at this point because Apple’s iPhone lineup is much larger today than it was when the original SE hit the streets, so the remaining unserved niches are rather slim and shallow. 

GeorgeBMac

zimmie said:

GeorgeBMac said:

zimmie said:

GeorgeBMac said:

An iPhone 8 with an A14 processor makes no sense.

-- The A11 processor continues to work just fine.   In fact, Apple is still shipping product with the A10 installed.  So why is an A14 needed in an economy package?
-- The iPhone 8 is still too big for those who value the SE for its compact size.

-- Why put an obsolete screen technology (with wide borders) on a state of the art phone?  It's like putting a Porsche engine in a VW Beetle.

A14 isn't out yet. I assume you mean A13, which is the chip currently in the 11 family of phones.

It makes perfect sense. The original SE was current internals in a 2.5-year-old shell, kept around as the entry-level phone for 2.5 more years (and still supported). While the A11 works fine, it will eventually be a limitation, and that will be before the A13 is a limitation.

Assuming the A9 is dropped by iOS 14 in late 2020, that will mean the iPhone SE was supported for at least two years after the last unit was sold. If they want to sell this new phone for 2.5 years and support it for another 2, an A11 would limit what they can do with the OS.

You are correct that the A14 won't be available this spring.   But for the rest, refer back to my original post.

Sure, but you could ask exactly the same questions (except the size one) ahead of the launch of the original iPhone SE.

The A7 worked just fine (would have gone with A6 for a similar year jump, but A7 was 64-bit, which is abnormally important). Why would they launch a low-cost iPhone with the newest processor? In answer to that, consider it the iPhone Long-Term Support. Exactly the same device was available brand new for years.

Why use an obsolete form factor for a new phone? The 6/+ and even 6S/+ had been released. It wasn't even exactly the same case as the 5S; there were slight changes, so they had to reconfigure machinery to make it.



If they make a new SE, I expect it to have an Apple-designed GPU. That means A11 or newer. The A12 has a newer instruction set which has significant security benefits (authenticated pointers; preventing whole classes of attack), so that could also be worthwhile.

Older processors aren't actually a whole lot cheaper. The difference between the A10 and the A13 is probably ~$10 plus maybe another $10 in RAM (2 GB to 4 GB). It can be worthwhile to skimp there when you can't really compromise on the screen (for example, on an iPad), but a phone screen is a lot cheaper than a tablet screen.

A12 with 3 GB of RAM would be a decent compromise without being too constrictive.

The real question is whether they would go with a Touch ID design when the last one they shipped was the iPhone 8, over two years ago. They will want to stop supporting the square, earless screen at some point. If they do a new Touch ID phone now, they'll have to support those screens until iOS 18 or so.

Comparing the design changes from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 6 is not at all the same as the changes going from iPhone 8 to iPhone X.  That's a false equivalency. Those huge borders around the screen on the iPhone 8 severely limit its functionality and make it an obsolete design.

Further, as I pointed out, Apple is still putting the A10 into new products, so it is far from obsolete and the A13 not really needed in a budget phone.

No, ever since the iPhone 6+ we (and Apple) have known that the most critical factor in any smart phone design is screen size.   The benefit of Face-Id is not a slick way to open a phone but it vastly increases screen size without increasing the size of the phone.   Thus, by using it in the existing SE chassis, they could have significantly modernized this phone while still using low cost components to keep it affordable.

zimmie

GeorgeBMac said:

zimmie said:

GeorgeBMac said:

zimmie said:

GeorgeBMac said:

An iPhone 8 with an A14 processor makes no sense.

-- The A11 processor continues to work just fine.   In fact, Apple is still shipping product with the A10 installed.  So why is an A14 needed in an economy package?
-- The iPhone 8 is still too big for those who value the SE for its compact size.

-- Why put an obsolete screen technology (with wide borders) on a state of the art phone?  It's like putting a Porsche engine in a VW Beetle.

A14 isn't out yet. I assume you mean A13, which is the chip currently in the 11 family of phones.

It makes perfect sense. The original SE was current internals in a 2.5-year-old shell, kept around as the entry-level phone for 2.5 more years (and still supported). While the A11 works fine, it will eventually be a limitation, and that will be before the A13 is a limitation.

Assuming the A9 is dropped by iOS 14 in late 2020, that will mean the iPhone SE was supported for at least two years after the last unit was sold. If they want to sell this new phone for 2.5 years and support it for another 2, an A11 would limit what they can do with the OS.

You are correct that the A14 won't be available this spring.   But for the rest, refer back to my original post.

Sure, but you could ask exactly the same questions (except the size one) ahead of the launch of the original iPhone SE.

The A7 worked just fine (would have gone with A6 for a similar year jump, but A7 was 64-bit, which is abnormally important). Why would they launch a low-cost iPhone with the newest processor? In answer to that, consider it the iPhone Long-Term Support. Exactly the same device was available brand new for years.

Why use an obsolete form factor for a new phone? The 6/+ and even 6S/+ had been released. It wasn't even exactly the same case as the 5S; there were slight changes, so they had to reconfigure machinery to make it.



If they make a new SE, I expect it to have an Apple-designed GPU. That means A11 or newer. The A12 has a newer instruction set which has significant security benefits (authenticated pointers; preventing whole classes of attack), so that could also be worthwhile.

Older processors aren't actually a whole lot cheaper. The difference between the A10 and the A13 is probably ~$10 plus maybe another $10 in RAM (2 GB to 4 GB). It can be worthwhile to skimp there when you can't really compromise on the screen (for example, on an iPad), but a phone screen is a lot cheaper than a tablet screen.

A12 with 3 GB of RAM would be a decent compromise without being too constrictive.

The real question is whether they would go with a Touch ID design when the last one they shipped was the iPhone 8, over two years ago. They will want to stop supporting the square, earless screen at some point. If they do a new Touch ID phone now, they'll have to support those screens until iOS 18 or so.

Comparing the design changes from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 6 is not at all the same as the changes going from iPhone 8 to iPhone X.  That's a false equivalency. Those huge borders around the screen on the iPhone 8 severely limit its functionality and make it an obsolete design.

Further, as I pointed out, Apple is still putting the A10 into new products, so it is far from obsolete and the A13 not really needed in a budget phone.

No, ever since the iPhone 6+ we (and Apple) have known that the most critical factor in any smart phone design is screen size.   The benefit of Face-Id is not a slick way to open a phone but it vastly increases screen size without increasing the size of the phone.   Thus, by using it in the existing SE chassis, they could have significantly modernized this phone while still using low cost components to keep it affordable.

Apple is putting the A10 ... into deeply cost-constrained products. Specifically, iPads with big, expensive screens, and the iPod Touch which sells for only $200. Again, a phone screen isn't nearly as expensive as an iPad screen, so they don't have to skimp on the processor to hit a price target.

In fact, since the 2019 iPod Touch ($200) and the 2019 iPad ($330) use practically the same internals (iPod has 2 GB of RAM, iPad has 3 GB; bigger battery, of course), we can make a really good guess about how much more expensive an iPad screen is than a phone screen.

Unfortunately, the move from the 2019 iPad to the 2019 iPad Air is more significant. The processor, screen, and user-facing camera are all much improved, so it's hard to tell how much of the $170 price difference goes where. Still, a phone with internals equivalent to the cost of the 2019 iPad Air could be about $450. Stick with a lower-quality camera and lower-quality (not just smaller) screen, and it should be possible to get it down to $400.

The larger potential screen size is a benefit of Face ID. Improved ease of use is another. Improved security is another. I have a XS, and the screen is bigger than I want. I put up with the screen on my XS because Face ID is just so much better to use than Touch ID. The problem is any smaller and the ears wouldn't be big enough to hold useful information. That would mean getting rid of the ears, which would mean a whole new screen shape to support. While I agree Face ID would be a better inclusion than an A13 processor, they won't introduce a new screen shape on a budget phone.

GeorgeBMac

zimmie said:

GeorgeBMac said:

zimmie said:

GeorgeBMac said:

zimmie said:

GeorgeBMac said:

An iPhone 8 with an A14 processor makes no sense.

-- The A11 processor continues to work just fine.   In fact, Apple is still shipping product with the A10 installed.  So why is an A14 needed in an economy package?
-- The iPhone 8 is still too big for those who value the SE for its compact size.

-- Why put an obsolete screen technology (with wide borders) on a state of the art phone?  It's like putting a Porsche engine in a VW Beetle.

A14 isn't out yet. I assume you mean A13, which is the chip currently in the 11 family of phones.

It makes perfect sense. The original SE was current internals in a 2.5-year-old shell, kept around as the entry-level phone for 2.5 more years (and still supported). While the A11 works fine, it will eventually be a limitation, and that will be before the A13 is a limitation.

Assuming the A9 is dropped by iOS 14 in late 2020, that will mean the iPhone SE was supported for at least two years after the last unit was sold. If they want to sell this new phone for 2.5 years and support it for another 2, an A11 would limit what they can do with the OS.

You are correct that the A14 won't be available this spring.   But for the rest, refer back to my original post.

Sure, but you could ask exactly the same questions (except the size one) ahead of the launch of the original iPhone SE.

The A7 worked just fine (would have gone with A6 for a similar year jump, but A7 was 64-bit, which is abnormally important). Why would they launch a low-cost iPhone with the newest processor? In answer to that, consider it the iPhone Long-Term Support. Exactly the same device was available brand new for years.

Why use an obsolete form factor for a new phone? The 6/+ and even 6S/+ had been released. It wasn't even exactly the same case as the 5S; there were slight changes, so they had to reconfigure machinery to make it.



If they make a new SE, I expect it to have an Apple-designed GPU. That means A11 or newer. The A12 has a newer instruction set which has significant security benefits (authenticated pointers; preventing whole classes of attack), so that could also be worthwhile.

Older processors aren't actually a whole lot cheaper. The difference between the A10 and the A13 is probably ~$10 plus maybe another $10 in RAM (2 GB to 4 GB). It can be worthwhile to skimp there when you can't really compromise on the screen (for example, on an iPad), but a phone screen is a lot cheaper than a tablet screen.

A12 with 3 GB of RAM would be a decent compromise without being too constrictive.

The real question is whether they would go with a Touch ID design when the last one they shipped was the iPhone 8, over two years ago. They will want to stop supporting the square, earless screen at some point. If they do a new Touch ID phone now, they'll have to support those screens until iOS 18 or so.

Comparing the design changes from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 6 is not at all the same as the changes going from iPhone 8 to iPhone X.  That's a false equivalency. Those huge borders around the screen on the iPhone 8 severely limit its functionality and make it an obsolete design.

Further, as I pointed out, Apple is still putting the A10 into new products, so it is far from obsolete and the A13 not really needed in a budget phone.

No, ever since the iPhone 6+ we (and Apple) have known that the most critical factor in any smart phone design is screen size.   The benefit of Face-Id is not a slick way to open a phone but it vastly increases screen size without increasing the size of the phone.   Thus, by using it in the existing SE chassis, they could have significantly modernized this phone while still using low cost components to keep it affordable.

Apple is putting the A10 ... into deeply cost-constrained products. ....

Yes!  Exactly!   You know -- like the SE!