Apple has launched its last affordable iPhone SE in 2022, and the previous one before that in 2020, but it looks like the company will skip a year this time around and release the next one in 2025. That’s what a new report from Korea reiterates today.
When it does launch, the next iPhone SE will have a feature previously unseen in this affordable range: an OLED screen. All of the previous iPhone SE models were fitted with LCD panels instead, but now the cheapest iPhone will finally be making the jump.
The report claims three display makers are currently fighting for Apple’s orders for the next iPhone SE, with Samsung offering (perhaps surprisingly) the lowest price per panel of $30, BOE offering a price of $35, while Tianma went with $40. None have won the contract yet, as Apple has reportedly countered by offering just $20 per panel, so negotiations are still ongoing.
The panels to be used in the next SE will be similar to those seen in the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14. So we should expect the 2025 iPhone SE to have a 6.1-inch screen with 1170×2532 resolution, 1,200-nit peak brightness, and maybe even Ceramic Shield glass on top (though that’s not confirmed and could be skipped to save some money on the full package).
Today’s Korean report says both Samsung Display and BOE have secured good yields for these panels, while Tianma is not likely to be a serious contender as its tech lags behind the competition. Samsung’s advantage (and probably the reason it offered the cheapest price) is that it was making the iPhone 14 panels so it can use all of the tooling for that, or even existing panel inventory if there is any.
Samsung can also afford to go low for the SE in a bid to snub BOE since it can make more profits off of the panels for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 series. Meanwhile, BOE needs all the additional orders it can get, since last year it lost a good opportunity to increase its OLED panel production capacity when it faced difficulties making iPhone 15 panels, thus giving away more orders to Samsung Display.
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