According to leaker Revegnus on X, the U.S. launch price of the fourth-generation iPhone SE will either remain at the same $429 starting price as the current model, or will see an increase of around 10%. Either way, Apple’s intention is to keep the price below $500.

Last week, The Information reported that Apple plans to release a redesigned iPhone SE in the spring of 2025 that will remain the “cheaper” option in Apple’s iPhone lineup. The design is said to be similar to the standard iPhone 14, which means Touch ID and the Home button will be replaced by Face ID and a display notch.

Along the same lines, the iPhone SE 4 could have an OLED display rather than LCD, and the display size will increase from 4.7 inches to 6.1 inches. Other rumored features for the next iPhone SE include a USB-C port and an Action button.

The panel prices for the iPhone SE 4 are said to be a lot lower than suppliers charge for the OLED displays used in the iPhone 15, since the panels for the SE will use legacy parts identical to those used in the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14, so the suppliers won’t need to make new investments in R&D. Display manufacturers are believed to have been bidding to supply the panels since at least last August.

The third-generation iPhone SE was released in March 2022, so there is likely to be pent-up demand for a new model that includes some of the latest features of Apple’s flagship iPhone models. For everything else we know about the iPhone SE 4, check our dedicated roundup.

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Originally captured by Korean website gamma0burst and shared on X (Twitter) by the leaker Revegnus (@Tech_Reve), the information appears in a heavily redacted slide said to list the employee’s work on past and current projects at Apple.

A non-redacted part of the slide reads “TS5nm, TS3nm, working on TS2nm,” terms believed to reference the different fabrication processes Apple has chosen for past, current, and future chips. Terms like “3nm” and “2nm” refer to the specific architecture and design rules TSMC is using for a family of chips. Decreases in node size correspond to a smaller transistor size, so more transistors can fit on a processor, leading to boosts in speed and more efficient power consumption.

Rumors suggest that TSMC is already starting work on more advanced 1.4-nanometer chips, which are expected to come out as soon as 2027. Apple is said to be looking to reserve TSMC’s initial manufacturing capabilities for both 1.4nm and 1nm technologies. To get a sense of the nanometer scale, a strand of human hair is about 80,000 to 100,000nm wide.

Last year, Apple adopted 3nm chips for its iPhones and Macs, an upgrade over the prior 5nm mode. The switch to 3nm technology brought 20 percent faster GPU speeds, 10 percent faster CPU speed, and a 2x faster Neural Engine to the iPhone, and similar improvements on Macs.

Apple is believed to be the first company that will receive chips built on TSMC’s future 2nm process, which is expected to go into production in the second half of 2025. The 2nm fabrication process, also known simply as “N2,” is expected to offer a 10 to 15 percent speed improvement at the same power or a 25 to 30 percent power reduction at the same speed compared to chips made with the supplier’s ‌3nm‌ technology.

TSMC is building two new facilities to accommodate 2nm chip production, and is waiting on approval for a third. The Taiwanese fab giant is spending billions on the change, and Apple will also need to make chip design changes to accommodate the new technology. Apple is TSMC’s main client, and it is typically the first to get TSMC’s new chips. Apple acquired all of TSMC’s 3-nanometer chips in 2023 for iPhones, iPads, and Macs, for example.

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Last month, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman revealed that Apple is developing a large array of features that use generative AI, including a “smarter version of Siri” and new LLM-based AI features that will be baked into iOS 18 and iPadOS 18.

Gurman said Apple was still debating whether to limit generative AI to on-device processing, deploy it via the cloud, or adopt a hybrid approach combining the two. It was not mentioned either way whether some AI features would require specific hardware architecture or trickle down to all models capable of running iOS 18.

However, according to new information independently shared by the leaker @Tech_Reve, iOS 18 will bring the company’s new LLM to millions of existing devices by using cloud-based AI, while new on-device AI features will likely remain exclusive to the iPhone 16.

In terms of iOS 18 features, Gurman’s sources mention a revamped interaction between ‌Siri‌ and the Messages app, enabling users to field complex questions and auto-complete sentences more effectively. We may also see auto-generated Apple Music playlists and integration with productivity apps like Pages and Keynote, such as AI-assisted writing and slide deck creation. Where this patina of AI integration crosses over into new hardware requirements is still unknown.

Apple is designing new A-series chips for the iPhone 16 lineup, built on TSMC’s latest N3E 3-nanometer node. Efficiency and performance improvements are of course expected, but there could be other benefits that feed into Apple’s AI intentions. Notably, TSMC is the sole manufacturer for Nvidia’s powerful H100 and A100 AI processors, the hardware that powers AI tools like ChatGPT and which also comprises the majority of AI data centers.

All models in the iPhone 16 series are also rumored to have an extra button that we don’t know the purpose of yet. Internal versions of the iPhone 16 that Apple is working on include an extra capacitive button, known internally as the “Capture Button.”

The button is located on the same side as the Power button, and is a capacitive button that is able to detect pressure and touch, providing haptic feedback when pressed. There has been no word yet on what this button might be used for, but it could conceivably have unforeseen practical AI applications.

Apple is said to be on course to spend $1 billion per year on AI research, with some of the company’s biggest executive names overseeing development, including senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi, senior vice president of machine learning and AI strategy John Giannandrea, and senior vice president of services Eddy Cue.

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Previous methods to check an iPhone‘s battery cycle count were unofficial (via third-party apps) or complicated, such as copying and pasting analytics into Notes and searching for “last_value_CycleCount.” According to a screenshot shared by @Tech_Reve, battery cycle information is visible on ‌iPhone 15‌ models by navigating through Settings, General, and About. A new “Battery” section is present toward the bottom of the page. In addition to the number of battery cycles, it also lists production date and the date of its first use.

While battery health has been visible on the ‌iPhone‌ for several years in the form of “Maximum Capacity,” the ability to see its specific number of cycles is a valuable additional metric to determine its condition. A charge cycle is registered every time you deplete all of the battery’s capacity. Battery cycle information can easily be accessed on MacBooks by navigating to System Information. From Apple’s battery information webpage:

Apple lithium-ion batteries work in charge cycles. You complete one charge cycle when you’ve used (discharged) an amount that equals 100% of your battery’s capacity — but not necessarily all from one charge. For instance, you might use 75% of your battery’s capacity one day, then recharge it fully overnight. If you use 25% the next day, you will have discharged a total of 100%, and the two days will add up to one charge cycle. It could take several days to complete a cycle. The capacity of any type of battery will diminish after a certain amount of recharging. With lithium-ion batteries, the capacity diminishes slightly with each complete charge cycle.

Yesterday, it emerged that all of the ‌iPhone 15‌ and iPhone 15 Pro models feature a new battery health setting that prevents the devices from charging beyond 80% at all times when enabled. Apple says all of the ‌iPhone 15‌ models have the same battery life as their iPhone 14 predecessors. The devices launch this Friday.

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According to news aggregator account “yeux1122” on the Korean Naver blog (via @Tech_Reve), Apple will double the storage capacity of the next-generation iPad Pro models compared to its current 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which both max out at 2TB of storage. The rumor is said to come from a parts company in Apple’s supply chain, but otherwise no other information is given.

The Naver blog account has a mixed track record when it comes to accurate rumors, therefore we are filing this particular claim under “questionable.” That said, the idea that Apple will up the storage for its next-generation iPad Pros is not out of the question. Apple first offered a 2TB storage option with the previous fifth-generation iPad Pro, but the current sixth-generation iPad Pro models additionally support ProRes video recording up to 4K at 30fps (1080p at 30fps on models with 128GB storage).

If Apple upped the max storage of its forthcoming OLED iPad Pro models to 4TB, it would likely also increase the base storage to 256GB to maintain five capacity categories, making all seventh-generation models capable of recording ProRes in 4K at 30fps.

It’s also worth noting that iPad Pro RAM is variable based on storage capacity, so iPad Pro models with 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB of storage come with 8GB of RAM, while iPad Pro models with 1TB or 2TB of storage feature 16GB of RAM. Whether that means a 4TB iPad Pro would feature 24GB or 32GB of RAM is unknown, but not improbable.

As it stands, we’re expecting to see the first OLED iPad Pro models in 2024, and Apple is rumored to be planning to start mass production at the beginning of 2024. The revamped iPad Pro models will be accompanied by a refreshed version of the Magic Keyboard that includes a larger trackpad and an aluminum top case to make the iPad Pro look more like a laptop than the current model.

The new iPad Pros will be the first major update to the product since 2018, adding the M3 Apple silicon chip, OLED displays, and slightly larger 11- and 13-inch size options.

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