Apple kills upcoming affordable iPhone — Report

3 years ago 1

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Apple no longer plans to release a next-generation iPhone SE in 2024, according to well-known tech leaker Ming-Chi Kuo.

In a Medium post over the weekend, Kuo said that Apple’s supply chain had received instructions to cancel the production and shipment plans for what would have been the fourth iteration of the iPhone SE.

Kuo did not give a reason for the cancellation but previously tweeted that Apple had consistently recorded lower-than-expected sales of more affordable smartphones like 2022’s iPhone SE, the iPhone 13 Mini, and iPhone 14 Plus.

The fourth-generation iPhone SE was expected to feature many of the same exterior design elements as 2018’s iPhone XR, with a screen size between 5.7 and 6.1 inches.

However, some of the latest reports suggested it would drop the notch for the Dynamic Island, currently only available on the iPhone 14 Pro line-up.

Kuo said Apple had initially planned to use the more affordable iPhone as a testbed for its first in-house 5G modem chip due to concerns over its performance being inferior to Qualcomm’s chips.

It would use the experience with the in-house chip on the iPhone SE 4 to decide whether it would be integrated into the flagship iPhone 16, expected to be released later in 2024.

Kuo speculated that cancelling the upcoming iPhone SE could be a big blow to Apple’s attempt to shift all its smartphone modems to in-house designs.

Qualcomm has been providing baseband chips for the vast majority of Apple’s iPhones for several years, despite growing animosity between the two companies.

In 2019, Apple was forced to settle a multi-billion-dollar legal battle with Qualcomm, which sued the company for infringing several of its patents in its iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches.

Apple has gradually weaned itself off third parties for many of the components in its devices, including replacing Intel’s processors in its Mac line-up with its own M-series chips.

Its attempt to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm included buying Intel’s smartphone modem business for $1 billion.

But Apple’s modem development team has reportedly struggled to replicate the success of the M-series, with the chips seemingly being delayed from a launch in 2022 due to performance issues.