ANYONE hoping for one of Apple’s cheapest iPhones next year are out of luck.
The iPhone SE is the tech giant’s more budget-friendly model which has been going since 2016.
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There have been three versions – the most recent, iPhone SE 3, having been release last year.
Rumour had it that the firm was working on a fourth for release in 2024.
But experts now claim the plan has been cancelled.
According to well-known tipster Ming-Chi Kuo the move all comes down to chips.
Apple was apparently looking to start using its own new 5G chip, rather than Qualcomm’s, which are widely used in loads of smartphones.
He claims that Apple wanted to put its own kit into the iPhone SE 4 first to test the waters.
If all went well, it could then roll it out to the main handsets later, starting with the iPhone 16.
Instead, Apple has decided to give up on the SE line – at least for now.
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There was a two year gap between the iPhone SE 2 and iPhone SE 3.
And there was an even bigger one between the first and second, of four years.
So the SE may not be gone for good.
“The supply chain has received instructions from Apple indicating that the production and shipment plans for the 2024 iPhone SE 4 have been canceled rather than delayed,” Kuo wrote on Medium.
“Due to concerns that the performance of the in-house baseband chip may not be up to par with Qualcomm’s, Apple initially planned to launch its baseband chip in 2024 and let the low-end iPhone SE 4 adopt it first, and decide whether to let the iPhone 16 use its baseband chip depending on the development status of iPhone SE 4.
“However, the cancelation of the iPhone SE 4 has significantly increased the chances of Qualcomm remaining the exclusive supplier of baseband chips for the 2H24 new iPhone 16 series, which is better than the market consensus that Qualcomm will start losing iPhone orders in 2024.”
Kuo had previously suggested that the iPhone SE 4 would be delayed.
Tweeting in December, he said he believed it is due to the “consistently lower-than-expected shipments of mid-to-low-end iPhones”.
It is also down to “concerns that the full-screen design of the SE 4 will lead to an increase in higher costs/selling prices”.
But nothing has been said officially by Apple – so we’ll have to wait to see what they announce in the future.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
