New images of this year’s new iPhone SE have been published, revealing the design changes Apple is bringing to its first mid-range smartphone in three years.
Longtime Apple leaker Sonny Dickson is behind the latest scoop. His exclusive images highlight the design of Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone SE. The last iPhone SE was released in 2022, and Apple is expected to launch the iOS-powered follow-up during the first half of 2025.
Dickson’s images show two matched ‘blanks’ that Apple typically supplies to peripheral and accessory manufacturers before a release. This allows the manufacturers to work with a device with the exact dimensions, button placement, and controls as the handset. Naturally, Apple prefers this approach as the actual specifications and software can be kept under lock and key,
Nevertheless, the blanks allow us to look closely at Apple’s design choices and how they will impact the SE experience.
The New iPhone SE Buttons
The controls and ports on the right-hand side of the iPhone SE are clearly visible. A physical SIM card tray is at the lowest extreme. Above that are two volume buttons, and the traditional mute switch is above. This switch has been dropped from the main line of iPhones in favour of a programmable Action Button. That idea was extended with the Camera Control capacitive button introduced with the iPhone 16 family.
There’s no evidence of either being added to the iPhone SE design. Instead, the older toggle switch to mute the iPhone is returning. Given that one of the key marketing points of the iPhone SE is the lower price, the cost of materials will be far higher for a capacitive-style button than for an old-fashioned switch.
Even if the price were close, Apple would be looking for ways to distance the vanilla iPhone and the iPhone SE to allow for easier upsells to the more expensive hardware.
The New iPhone SE Camera
While there may have been consideration to introducing a two-lens main camera system to accommodate stereoscopic video recording for playback on the Apple Vision Pro, the iPhone SE 2025 on show here comes with just a single lens.
Again, consideration will be given to the hardware cost and the separation between the various iPhone models. But Apple has less room to manoeuvre here compared to the action button vs the mute switch. The mid-range space is highly competitive, and there will be smartphones at this attractive point with dual camera lenses—the Pixel 8a is a good example.
The New iPhone SE and Apple Intelligence
What can’t be seen in these shots are the updates to iOS 18 which is expected to launch alongside the iPhone SE. The release schedule for the first wave of Apple Intelligence—Apple’s generative AI efforts—should conclude with iOS 18.3, also due out in the first few months of 2025. It’s likely that the iPhone SE will launch alongside a new set of AI tools.
Now read the latest iPhone SE, Macbook, and AirPods news in Forbes’ weekly Apple Loop column…
