It looks like Apple might be set to release a successor to the iPhone SE in the coming months, four years after the original. A new report from Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter, claims that Apple suppliers plan to start assembling a new low-cost iPhone in February, with the Cupertino company set to announce it sometime in March.
Rumors of an iPhone SE 2 have been going around for a long time, but so far, Apple hasn"t announced anything of that kind. Back in 2017, the device was rumored to launch in the first quarter of 2018, but that never happened, even though the purported device would be spotted in real-life pictures in April of that year.
However, in the past few months, these rumors and reports have been growing stronger, and more consistent with each other. In September of last year, a report from Nikkei suggested it would be coming in the spring of 2020, and a month later, a separate report from CNBC said it was slated for "early 2020". Depending on your definition of early, both of those time frames align closely with an announcement in March.
As far as specs go, the iPhone SE successor is expected to pack the same chipset as the iPhone 11 family, the A13 Bionic, in a body similar to that of the iPhone 8. That suggests a 4.7-inch screen and a fingerprint sensor for Touch ID, rather than facial recognition. It"s also been rumored that the phone could have 3GB of RAM.
As for pricing, some reports have said it would cost the same $399 as the original iPhone SE, but that seems unlikely. Apple currently sells the iPhone 8, with a two-year-old chipset and otherwise older specs, for $449.