Apple releases the next iPhone SE, the fourth-generation of its most affordable phone, there will be some big changes. It could feature an all-new naming system, and it will have a new design. But it now looks like there could be a stinging price rise, too.
It’s thought the phone will land this spring, and my guess would be some time in March. Unlike previous iPhone SE handsets, it won’t take an earlier design and update the innards. Instead it will have a completely fresh design, perhaps based on the iPhone 14.
And, “you can bet that Apple will raise the price a bit,” says Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his latest Power On newsletter, when the writer asks if the new phone will be good value.
Gurman points out, and I agree, that the next model will have a slew of new features, including “Face ID and Apple Intelligence,” he says. He could also have mentioned that it will be the first SE to have an OLED screen and the first that won’t be a compact fit in the pocket.
But the price is something he hones in on, saying the current $429 price will be hiked, “perhaps to something closer to $500,” he claims. This is probably the first time Gurman has pinned down the price so precisely. And I agree, even though the ethos of the iPhone SE has always been a low price. This time, there are too many improvements to keep the price down.
All of which offers excellent value even at this higher price ticket. Gurman goes on, "It also should be a popular upgrade for people with much older iPhones. But I can’t help but feel that something a little cheaper and lower-end would do wonders for expanding Apple’s market share in places like India and other parts of South Asia.”
I can’t agree with that: Apple has often been about being good value but rarely about being bargain-basement. The Apple cachet comes at a price.