Every generation of the Apple iPhone Special Edition (SE) has been crafted with the same philosophy: Maximize an outgoing design, insert current-generation internals, and sell it for an affordable price relative to other iPhone models. Apple is coming with an iPhone SE 3, built in accordance with the line’s core mantra of bringing value to loyal customers once again.
We’ll go for a trip down memory lane quickly here.
The first generation device was a supercharged 4-inch iPhone 5S, at the time when the iPhone 6S models had already upsized to 4.7-inches for the regular model and 5.5-inches for the Plus variant. However, it shared the same Apple A9 processor (cutting-edge in 2016) and cameras as its more expensive sibling. Essentially, it was an iPhone 6S crammed into a smaller form factor for those who missed the one-handed use, pocketability, as well as the company’s old design philosophy.
It was followed up 4 years later by the second-generation SE, which was released between the 11th and 12th generation iPhone models. This time, it was wrapped in the iPhone 8’s outer shell with A13 Bionic processor as its beating heart, which could also be found in the iPhone 11 models released just months prior. It is still up on the Apple website as the cheapest iPhone you can get, starting at Php 26,490.
Looking at those trends, it won’t be hard to make an estimate as to which internals will make its way into the upcoming 3rd-generation SE. As of now, the rumors speculate a launch next month, with the phone supporting 5G networks. This won’t come as a surprise since countless midrangers nowadays are shipped with this feature included – so Apple will have to do the same if it wants its SE to be competitive in the market.
Internals-wise, we could be looking at the A15 Bionic found in the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro models, which is still one of the most powerful mobile chipsets to date. It will also share the same updated camera hardware with the 13, making this an interesting mishmash of sorts that we’ve grown accustomed to in the prior SE models.
Photo courtesy of Anandtech
If we were to make another guess based on past trends, the upcoming SE will also come in the iPhone 11’s external design. This means that this will be the first iPhone SE with Apple’s modern design cues with small bezels and a notch.
We’ll just have to wait and see what the Apple iPhone SE 3 will have in store for us.
