When will Apple release its new budget smartphone?

Apple has delayed for three years, until 2025, the production of a new version of its fourth-generation budget iPhone SE smartphone. The reason for the delay is the problems related to the supply of OLED screens.

Chinese company BOE was supposed to supply screens for the iPhone SE 4, but failed to meet Apple's quality requirements, South Korean website The Elec reports, citing UBI Research analyst Yun Dae-jung.

BOE is one of three OLED display manufacturers, along with Samsung and LG, for the iPhone. However, South Korean companies are not interested in supplying screens for the iPhone SE 4, as they use a different technology, the LTPO, which enables manufacturing more advanced and expensive screens for the flagship iPhone models.

The iPhone SE 4 is considered a budget smartphone based on LTPS technology with an OLED screen, which is less energy efficient and less functional than the LTPO. 

According to analysts, Apple will not be able to find an alternative supplier of OLED screens for the iPhone SE 4 in the near future, and therefore the release of this device has been postponed to 2025.

According to reports, the iPhone SE 4 will have a 6.1-inch OLED screen, Face ID, and a body with smooth edges in the style of the company's latest smartphones. In addition, this device will be equipped with its own 5G modem.

Apple has been working on its own communications module since 2018, and in 2019 it bought most of Intel's smartphone modem division. According to preliminary data, Apple's development will not be ready before 2025, and therefore Qualcomm solutions will be used in iPhone 15 and iPhone 16.

The current iPhone SE model was introduced in March 2022 and became Apple's cheapest smartphone; its price starts at $429. This device got the "outdated" design of the iPhone 8: a 4.7-inch LCD screen, a Touch ID scanner, a single 12 MP main camera, and an Apple A15 Bionic chip.