iPhone SE 4 Likely to Feature 8GB of RAM for Apple Intelligence

[DavidSchaub]

Instead, I think they might be going for something like this:

View attachment 2405685

Yeah, I buy this, except: I'll be shocked if the SE 4 has two cameras. I would still bet on there only being one.

If this uses the A18, I'm sure it won't be cheaper than $599.

If they could figure out how to get the 8GB of RAM and AI to work on the A16... Maybe it could be $549?

I do wonder if instead of just dropping the iPhone 13, if the iPhone 14 will also stop being sold?

So something like: (maybe keeping the SE3 around is ridiculous?)

 

[Apple$]

I highly doubt it. If that's what was holding you back, why didn't you just get a 16GB version then? I'm sure you would find something new to complain about.

I'm curious, how much RAM do you have in your Lenovo?

I have tested, my private 8GB M1 Air is provably faster than my 16GB similarly priced Lenovo from work, for various MS Office tasks. For instance, I have a large Powerpoint file where the Lenovo is literally buffering when navigating through the presentation, while the Air is instant.

My Lenovo is a 16 GB RAM, Ryzen 7 5400.

 

[sublunar]

If Mark is right, I can actually see Apple doing it. First, though, you accidentally mixed up the pricing. Obviously the iPhone 16 won't be the same price as the iPhone 15.

Than you've got to wonder: "Where would this new iPhone SE 4 fit?". Based on the rumours, it's going to look a lot like the iPhone 14 which sells for $699 and would likely see a price drop to $599 next month. My bet: the new iPhone SE is in fact a replacement for the iPhone 14 at max. $599, or given the cost savings - at best - $499. Also don't rule out the iPhone 16 Pro: it's clear Apple treats the iPhone line-up as "SE for 'budget', 'regular 15' for the majority of people, '15 Pro' as actually the flagship".

Rumours also indicate that while the design is iPhone 14 based, the chassis is similar to the iPhone 16. An obvious reason for this is to achieve economy for scale.

For me this is a clear sign: Apple wants to get rid of all the old designs, because right now they have got multiple types of production lines (iPhone 8-line, iPhone 12-line, iPhone 13/14-line and iPhone 15-line). It served them fine for a couple of years, because the designs are pretty old which means costs are going down... but right now it might be too many.

Instead, I think they might be going for something like this:

View attachment 2405685

According to the rumours, they will all be based on the same type of chassis which provides great scale of economy. At the same time, it allows them to drop older models. Don't forget that they also want to move every model to USB-C which the iPhone 14 or older don't have.

I've listed the price of the model at $599 (what would be the iPhone 14's new price next month), but it could possibly go as low as $499 as well. We'll have to wait and see if it actually gets AI. I can see Apple keeping it away, but on the other hand, the next SE likely won't come until at least 2027... so not adding AI might be too risky. A great indicator will be Apple's 11th gen iPad in September or October. If the 11th gen iPad gets the A18 chip with AI, than I bet the iPhone SE 4 will too. If they don't, the iPhone SE 4 likely won't either. In that last scenario, the iPhone 15 might remain as a filler model between the iPhone 16 and iPhone SE 4.

Also, with 3 models, the iPhone line-up will perfectly align with the strategy they are using for the iPad:

- A 'budget' model, the model for people who want something cheap: the iPhone SE 4
- An 'air' model, the model for the majority of people: the iPhone 16
- A 'pro' model, the model for those that want the greatest: iPhone 16 Pro

In terms of pricing, it's also a great model for upselling. If you're considering the $499/$599 iPhone, you might as well 'for just a few hundred dollars' consider the 'latest' at $799... And when you're considering that one, it's just a few hundred more for the absolute 'greatest' at $999. It's a strategy they've maintained for years now, across basically their entire product line-up.

To be fair, I did say something not a million miles away in another thread.

Apple could leave the 15 in the lineup despite it being incapable of Apple intelligence due to only having 6gb of ram. It’ll only be for a year and despite the major upgrades that buyers will see in the SE4 they could still leave some crucial items out to segment the market and create ladder upsells.

Apple get their parts bin platform to test out their modem and other cost reduced technologies in something roughly the same size as modem iPhones which is a bonus for them.

The SE4 could replace the 14 in the lineup price wise and could easily come with Touch ID on the power button. It might also max out at 256gb storage.

This leaves buyers in September being upsold to the 16 if they want both apple intelligence and FaceID and perhaps more than 256gb storage. To be fair if apple were being really obvious on the upselling they could give the SE4 just 128gb max storage and throw in FaceID.

That way anyone who needs more storage will have to go up to a higher model - 15 if they need more storage, 16 if they want to try apple intelligence and maybe get better cameras etc.

I doubt that Apple would allow the SE3 to continue as an official model even if the SE4 comes with a price increase (buyers may feel this is justified given bigger screen so I wouldn’t worry too much, especially if third party retailers continue to sell SE3, 13 and 14 models at a discount for at least a few months).

 

[Velli]

Yeah, I buy this, except: I'll be shocked if the SE 4 has two cameras. I would still bet on there only being one.

If this uses the A18, I'm sure it won't be cheaper than $599.

If they could figure out how to get the 8GB of RAM and AI to work on the A16... Maybe it could be $549?

I do wonder if instead of just dropping the iPhone 13, if the iPhone 14 will also stop being sold?

So something like:
View attachment 2405699

Whatever the setup is, there's no way the cheapest phone is above 499,-. And I'm saying that while arguing to always expect Apple to set the price higher than we think.

 

[DavidSchaub]

Whatever the setup is, there's no way the cheapest phone is above 499,-. And I'm saying that while arguing to always expect Apple to set the price higher than we think.

Well, they could always keep selling the iPhone SE3

I'll add it to my table.

I have difficulty seeing an 8GB AI capable iPhone SE4 selling under $499.

 

[Velli]

Well, they could always keep selling the iPhone SE3

I'll add it to my table.

I wouldn't be shocked 😆

I have difficulty seeing an 8GB AI capable iPhone SE4 selling under $499.

Agree, so that is my guess.

 

[Circa1984]

I suspect this means a RAM bump for MacBooks which is long overdue in my opinion.

12 is the new 8 … Apple Will Find a way to not include the needed 16GB in the base model … rumors already pointing toward 12GB being the bump. Currently the 8GB models are already maxed out between the OS and graphics requirements - remember RAM is shared! Some graphics cards alone have 8GB. 12 is better or is it? … 16 is needed, especially if they now AI processing is thrown on top of it.

 

[DavidSchaub]

12 is the new 8 … Apple Will Find a way to not include the needed 16GB in the base model … rumors already pointing toward 12GB being the bump. Currently the 8GB models are already maxed out between the OS and graphics requirements - remember RAM is shared! Some graphics cards alone have 8GB. 12 is better or is it? … 16 is needed, especially if they now AI processing is thrown on top of it.

All true... I still expect 12GB :/

 

[ThomasJL]

My goodness, Tim Cook fans will praise anything that useless man does. They will rightfully praise him for including 8GB of RAM in the upcoming iPhone SE, and they will also wrongfully praise him for including 8GB of RAM in current Macs.

Cook's fans think that as long as Apple is making boatloads of money, then it doesn't matter if customers are being sold products at extortionate prices while simultaneously lacking functionality.

 

[Mother Nature]

Why would there need to be any nebulous requirements if everything is done off-device on a server somewhere?

Because Apple's approach is "on-device", not "off-device".
The things that require any sort of cloud processing will be using Apple's Hybrid approach I don't remember the name. Private Cloud Computing or something like that.

 

[ThatsMeRight]

Yeah, I buy this, except: I'll be shocked if the SE 4 has two cameras. I would still bet on there only being one.

If this uses the A18, I'm sure it won't be cheaper than $599.

If they could figure out how to get the 8GB of RAM and AI to work on the A16... Maybe it could be $549?

I do wonder if instead of just dropping the iPhone 13, if the iPhone 14 will also stop being sold?

So something like: (maybe keeping the SE3 around is ridiculous?)
View attachment 2405710

Theoretically they could create A16 chips with 8 GB of RAM. They've done that with previous A-chips in the past as well. That would, however, increase costs so it's not the most likely scenario. It would probably be more economical to either stick with the current A16 design or order more A18 chips (which would likely result in an over-all per unit lower A18 cost price for Apple).

I think it's either going to be the A16 chip (6 GB RAM) without AI, or the A18 chip with AI. Again, good indicator would probably be the iPad 11.

I think the iPhone SE 4 will be the device to basically replace the iPhone 13/14 (and possibly 15 if they go for the 'budget', 'air', 'pro'-strategy).

Obviously we'll have to wait until early next year for the new SE model, so this fall they'll definitely continue selling iPhone 15 and iPhone 14.

Keeping the iPhone SE 3 in your table is not necessarily ridiculous. When I compare it with their iPad line-up, than basically the iPad 9 equals the iPhone SE 3. They kept selling the iPad 9 after introducing the iPad 10 and only discontinued it a few months ago, so who knows!

 

[danbuter]

Meanwhile, the Macbook Pro also has 8 GB!

 

[ric22]

Theoretically they could create A16 chips with 8 GB of RAM. They've done that with previous A-chips in the past as well. That would, however, increase costs so it's not the most likely scenario. It would probably be more economical to either stick with the current A16 design or order more A18 chips (which would likely result in an over-all per unit lower A18 cost price for Apple).

I think it's either going to be the A16 chip (6 GB RAM) without AI, or the A18 chip with AI. Again, good indicator would probably be the iPad 11.

I think the iPhone SE 4 will be the device to basically replace the iPhone 13/14 (and possibly 15 if they go for the 'budget', 'air', 'pro'-strategy).

Obviously we'll have to wait until early next year for the new SE model, so this fall they'll definitely continue selling iPhone 15 and iPhone 14.

Keeping the iPhone SE 3 in your table is not necessarily ridiculous. When I compare it with their iPad line-up, than basically the iPad 9 equals the iPhone SE 3. They kept selling the iPad 9 after introducing the iPad 10 and only discontinued it a few months ago, so who knows!

You're right. It's amazing they sell junk like those base iPads and still sell them for Apple prices. They cut corners on them, such as the screen, which is poorer in certain ways than the base iPad 3 screen, 12 years ago...

As such, I fully expect to see Apple still selling an iPhone 6 looking phone in 2025...

 

[ric22]

Meanwhile, the Macbook Pro also has 8 GB!

Remember that device and its meagre RAM have many passionate defenders on these boards... 😅🤦‍♂️

 

[ThatsMeRight]

To be fair, I did say something not a million miles away in another thread.

Apple could leave the 15 in the lineup despite it being incapable of Apple intelligence due to only having 6gb of ram. It’ll only be for a year and despite the major upgrades that buyers will see in the SE4 they could still leave some crucial items out to segment the market and create ladder upsells.

Apple get their parts bin platform to test out their modem and other cost reduced technologies in something roughly the same size as modem iPhones which is a bonus for them.

The SE4 could replace the 14 in the lineup price wise and could easily come with Touch ID on the power button. It might also max out at 256gb storage.

This leaves buyers in September being upsold to the 16 if they want both apple intelligence and FaceID and perhaps more than 256gb storage. To be fair if apple were being really obvious on the upselling they could give the SE4 just 128gb max storage and throw in FaceID.

That way anyone who needs more storage will have to go up to a higher model - 15 if they need more storage, 16 if they want to try apple intelligence and maybe get better cameras etc.

I doubt that Apple would allow the SE3 to continue as an official model even if the SE4 comes with a price increase (buyers may feel this is justified given bigger screen so I wouldn’t worry too much, especially if third party retailers continue to sell SE3, 13 and 14 models at a discount for at least a few months).

Yeah, good points.

I don't see Face ID as unlikely though. The iPhone 14 is going to be $599 next month. The SE 4 will likely use the exact same display set-up as the iPhone 14. If you skip the Face ID components in favour of Touch ID, than the display also needs needs a little bit of re-engineering... which results in altering production lines significantly. That probably costs more than just copying the iPhone 14 setup 1:1.

As for iPhone 15: what they'll do with it is the big guess. Based on what they've done for nearly two decades now, they'll continue selling it. But if they're giving the SE4 AI, than they would create an interesting situation where the cheaper SE4 model might be more interesting than the higher priced iPhone 15 model.

Therefore, if the decision is made to give the SE4 an A18 chip with AI, than starting early next year, I don't see a good reason to keep the iPhone 15.

On the other hand, going for an A16 chip with SE4 and keeping the iPhone 15 also doesn't sound logical: you'll have an A16-iPhone SE4 that's possibly hundreds of dollars cheaper than the A16-iPhone 15. Apple traditionally goes for the upselling strategy, but the effect here may be 'downselling'.

In fact, I think if they go for the 'budget' (=SE4)', 'air' (=iPhone 16), 'pro' (=iPhone 16 Pro)-strategy, than I think they're betting on more people going for the $799 iPhone 16 (that would otherwise have gone for the $699 iPhone 15).

 

[scorpio vega]

It better, otherwise it is pretty much DOA.

Why would it be doa?

The iPhone SE until now has never been anywhere remotely close to top of the line.

It’s the phone that people get to say they have iPhones. It’s the phone prepaid carriers can sell for cheap.

 

[arc of the universe]

iPhone SE will of course get 8GB.
and so will iPhone 16.
models launching in 2024 and 2025 is all about AI.

the real question is if iPhone 16 Pro will get 12GB or not.

 

[ric22]

iPhone SE will of course get 8GB.
and so will iPhone 16.
models launching in 2024 and 2025 is all about AI.

the real question is if iPhone 16 Pro will get 12GB or not.

And then how soon will Apple then be forced to upgrade to 16 or 18GB to keep up with competitors? AI will quickly demand it...

 

[Paddle1]

If Mark is right, I can actually see Apple doing it. First, though, you accidentally mixed up the pricing. Obviously the iPhone 16 won't be the same price as the iPhone 15.

Than you've got to wonder: "Where would this new iPhone SE 4 fit?". Based on the rumours, it's going to look a lot like the iPhone 14 which sells for $699 and would likely see a price drop to $599 next month. My bet: the new iPhone SE is in fact a replacement for the iPhone 14 at max. $599, or given the cost savings - at best - $499. Also don't rule out the iPhone 16 Pro: it's clear Apple treats the iPhone line-up as "SE for 'budget', 'regular 15' for the majority of people, '15 Pro' as actually the flagship".

Rumours also indicate that while the design is iPhone 14 based, the chassis is similar to the iPhone 16. An obvious reason for this is to achieve economy for scale.

For me this is a clear sign: Apple wants to get rid of all the old designs, because right now they have got multiple types of production lines (iPhone 8-line, iPhone 12-line, iPhone 13/14-line and iPhone 15-line). It served them fine for a couple of years, because the designs are pretty old which means costs are going down... but right now it might be too many.

Instead, I think they might be going for something like this:

View attachment 2405685

According to the rumours, they will all be based on the same type of chassis which provides great scale of economy. At the same time, it allows them to drop older models. Don't forget that they also want to move every model to USB-C which the iPhone 14 or older don't have.

I've listed the price of the model at $599 (what would be the iPhone 14's new price next month), but it could possibly go as low as $499 as well. We'll have to wait and see if it actually gets AI. I can see Apple keeping it away, but on the other hand, the next SE likely won't come until at least 2027... so not adding AI might be too risky. A great indicator will be Apple's 11th gen iPad in September or October. If the 11th gen iPad gets the A18 chip with AI, than I bet the iPhone SE 4 will too. If they don't, the iPhone SE 4 likely won't either. In that last scenario, the iPhone 15 might remain as a filler model between the iPhone 16 and iPhone SE 4.

Also, with 3 models, the iPhone line-up will perfectly align with the strategy they are using for the iPad:

- A 'budget' model, the model for people who want something cheap: the iPhone SE 4
- An 'air' model, the model for the majority of people: the iPhone 16
- A 'pro' model, the model for those that want the greatest: iPhone 16 Pro

In terms of pricing, it's also a great model for upselling. If you're considering the $499/$599 iPhone, you might as well 'for just a few hundred dollars' consider the 'latest' at $799... And when you're considering that one, it's just a few hundred more for the absolute 'greatest' at $999. It's a strategy they've maintained for years now, across basically their entire product line-up.

I don't think the base iPad is comparable to an SE, the SE is generally a higher spec device internally that always includes the latest chip at release.

I wouldn't expect it but I could see it go either way. If the iPad does get AI I would see that as an indicator for the SE, but if it doesn't I don't think that means much.

SE 4 is not getting Apple Intelligence or 8GB RAM. Gurman is wrong if that's what he's pointing to.

It wouldn't be the first time. The original SE released the same 1 1/2 years after the iPhone 6 and had better specs in some areas.

 

[Qubelek]

Fun fact is: Everyone who commented here goes for Pro and does not even think of buying SE ^^

 

[arian71]

Here we go again 8GB V 16GB

 

[Sami13496]

8 GB on iPhone is like 128 GB on Android

 

[DavidSchaub]

Fun fact is: Everyone who commented here goes for Pro and does not even think of buying SE ^^

I'm an iPhone 8 user and definitely might buy the SE4

 

[ifxf]

Will they be locking the AI db in RAM so less is available for other apps?

 

[ric22]

Pixel 9 series phones apparently have 16GB RAM for the AI functions (except the cheap base model, which'll have 12GB). That'll give them a massive AI advantage over the iPhones, unless Apple decide to run a heap less locally...