Just one day after Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman revealed new details about the impending arrival of the iPhone SE 4, 9to5Mac has shared some additional context in its own report. According to the Apple blog’s reliable sources, the next-generation iPhone SE will actually be the first iPhone to feature a brand-new, homegrown Apple component.
Apple’s 5G modem lives
Sources claim that Apple’s long-awaited 5G modem, codenamed “Centauri,” will first ship inside of the iPhone SE 4 next year. Apple has been trying to create its own modem since acquiring the modem division of Intel all the way back in 2019, but numerous reports have detailed the behind-the-scenes struggles in bringing the 5G modem to life.
9to5Mac’s sources suggest the Apple modem will handle the phone’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS capabitilies, and also drastically reduce battery consumption, especially when users enable Low Power Mode from the Battery menu in the Settings app.
The plan is to eventually bring the modem to every iPhone model, but this gives Apple a chance to experiment with the technology before putting in a flagship phone.
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More iPhone SE 4 details
Beyond the modem, the sources claim that the iPhone SE 4 will look most similar to the iPhone 14, complete with flat sides and an OLED panel with a notch at the top. While owners of the new budget model won’t get the Dynamic Island, Apple will finally bring Face ID to its more affordable product line, leaving Touch ID behind for good.
Apple will reportedly use the same 48MP wide camera and 12MP front camera as it did with the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, but there won’t be ultra-wide or telephoto lenses.
Finally, Apple Intelligence support will be possible as a result of the A18 chip Apple plans to use in the new iPhone SE. It will be the same chipset that can be found in the iPhone 16, along with 8GB of RAM and a 5-core GPU.
