Surprisingly, development of the iPhone SE 4 is reportedly underway, suggesting that the rumored affordable Apple phone will get a larger OLED display as well as a 5G chip designed in-house in Cupertino.

This is according to a tweet by Apple analyst Ming Chi-Kuo (opens in new tab) that Apple has "resumed development of iPhone SE 4."

This would be a turn of fate for the SE line, as Apple was previously rumored to have canceled the more affordable iPhone SE 2022 due to poor sales. However, previous rumors suggest that the next generation iPhone SE will be released in 2024, maintaining the two-year release cycle established with the iPhone SE 2020.

The OLED display is a significant upgrade from the LCD screens of previous iPhone SE models and could offer a more colorful and brighter panel than the current iPhone SE.

Kuo also noted that the SE 4 will be a "minor-changed" version of the current 6.1-inch iPhone 14. iPhone SE 4 renderings show off a design similar to the iPhone 14, only with curved sides.

More importantly, if Kuo's claims are correct, the iPhone SE 4 will be the first iPhone to feature a 5G modem designed by Apple and based on a 4 nanometer process node. What is of concern here, however, is that Kuo believes that this chip will only support frequency bands below 6 GHz, rather than the faster but less popular millimeter wave frequencies. Nevertheless, this represents a departure from Apple's use of Qualcomm's modem chip, and such a change could pave the way for future iPhones to use Apple-designed modems (aside from the iPhone 15, which will debut this fall with a Qualcomm-provided modem).

Other specs for the iPhone SE 4 are still open to speculation. If it ships next year, it could feature an upgraded A-series chip, the A16 Bionic. Camera improvements would also be welcome. In particular, the addition of a night mode, which was a rather large omission in the iPhone SE 2022.

There may be concern that the new iPhone SE 4 design will be more expensive than its predecessor, which was in the $400 range in 2020; the SE 3 jumped to $430, but that is still a competitive price for an iPhone. One can only hope that Apple can keep the next iPhone SE under $500 and remain competitive with affordable Android phones.