New iPhone SE with Apple 5G modem said to launch in 2025

According to analyst Jeff Pu, Apple plans to release an iPhone SE equipped with a custom-designed 5G modem in 2025. The modem will be manufactured by Apple's chipmaking partner TSMC, he said in a research note with Haitong International Securities on Tuesday.

The information comes two months after analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple had restarted development of the fourth-generation iPhone SE, which features a 6.1-inch OLED display and an Apple-designed 5G modulator. He said the modem will be manufactured using TSMC's 4nm process and will only support sub-6GHz bands, meaning millimeter waves will not be supported initially.

Mass production of the fourth-generation iPhone SE will begin in the first half of 2024. Qualcomm CEO also expects Apple's modem to be launched in 2024, but Pu believes that the launch of the device has been postponed to 2025.

The current iPhone SE was released in March 2022 and is equipped with Qualcomm’s customized Snapdragon X57 chip, which can also only be used for 5G below the 6GHz frequency band. The 4.7-inch device is Apple's last iPhone with a home button and Touch ID, but Face ID is likely to appear on the new model, as the device will have a similar body design to the standard iPhone 14 model.

Apple acquired most of Intel's smartphone modem business in 2019 to leverage efforts to design its own 5G modems, a move that will reduce its reliance on Qualcomm. It's unclear whether Apple's modem will offer any customer-facing benefits compared to Qualcomm's modem, such as faster 5G performance or greater power efficiency.