With around five months to go until Apple unveils the next version of the iPhone SE, we’re starting to get a strong idea of what to expect. Rumors have been coming thick and fast since the launch of the iPhone 16 last month and a new case leak this weekend appears to have revealed the fundamentals of the new phone’s design.
On Saturday the reputable leaker Sonny Dickson posted to Twitter/X a photo of what he labels as a case for the (as yet unannounced) iPhone SE 4. It looks like the standard silicone case design Apple makes for its phones, in plain black.
If the case is genuine–and based on the iPhone SE 4’s final design, rather than a prototype that could change before launch–it gives away some important details. There’s a cutout, for example, for the mute switch, which means the handset won’t have an Action button. (The official silicone case for the iPhone 16 Plus doesn’t have a cutout there: you just press the Action button through a raised section of silicone.)
It’s less clear-cut, but the photos also suggest that the next SE won’t gain the Camera Control that was introduced last month with the 16-series iPhones. The Camera Control doesn’t get a full cutout on the 16 Plus case, admittedly, but it does have a separate thinner section above it that you press through; this would probably be noticeable in the photos.
Finally, as 9to5Mac points out, the cutout for the rear-facing camera points to a single lens, as was the case in 2022, rather than twin lenses to match the iPhone 14 which the new SE is expected to be based on. That might seem counterintuitive–the cutout is bigger than a single lens, and could plausibly accommodate a pair of lenses in a horizontal alignment–but that’s how cases for the 2022 iPhone SE are made at the moment, with an opening for the flash next to the single lens. Whereas the iPhone 14 has its twin lenses arranged diagonally in a larger square camera module, and this case design would not accommodate that.
Lots of negatives, then: no Camera Control, no Action button, and no second rear-facing camera lens. But there’s still time for plans to change, and Apple may yet surprise us in the spring.
To keep up with the latest news and rumors, check out our regularly updated iPhone SE 4 superguide. If you can’t wait until the spring, find the lowest prices on the current models with our roundup of the best iPhone deals.
Author: David Price, Editor, Macworld
David has been writing about technology for well over two decades, and got on board the Apple hype train when covering the original iPhone launch in 2007. He is an enthusiastic Apple Watch evangelist and feels that the HomePod is misunderstood.