Why this is important: The iPhone SE 3 was released just last year, but it looks old because of the thick bezels, small screen and old design. The iPhone SE 4 will be a much-needed upgrade that will hopefully give Apple’s entry-level iPhone the modern touch it so desperately needs.
Apple’s iPhone SE 4 may use OLED screens from a Chinese supplier instead of Samsung or LG. The report comes from South Korean publication The Elec, which says that BOE (Beijing Oriental Electronics) is likely to supply the display panels for Apple’s next entry-level iPhone which is expected to debut in 2024. .
The Chinese supplier was also expected to provide display panels for the iPhone 15 but reportedly failed to deliver the initial batch of screens according to Apple’s specifications, resulting in a mass order cancellation. The company is now expected to provide screens for the iPhone SE 4; iPhone 15 orders are likely to be passed on to Samsung and LG.
The report added that the iPhone SE 4 is expected to have a 6.1-inch OLED screen that could cost Apple around $40 a pop. If that’s accurate, it’s less than half the $100 price Apple paid for the LTPO OLED panels used in the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
The total number of shipped OLED panels for the iPhone SE 4 is estimated to be around 20 million.
Apple uses OLED panels in all of its mainstream iPhones, with the iPhone SE (2022) being the only one that still uses an LCD screen. That’s expected to change this year, with Apple set to switch to OLED for its entire iPhone lineup, including the budget model. However, to save costs, the iPhone SE 4 is said to get the same panels used in the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14.
If that statement holds, it means that the device will get a 6.1-inch OLED screen with a resolution of 2,532 x 1,170 pixels and a refresh rate of 60Hz. This is in line with analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s recent suggestion that the new iPhone SE will be the same as the iPhone 14. Additionally, the iPhone SE 4 is also tipped to sport an in-house 5G baseband chip of Apple as Apple tries to reduce its reliance on third-party suppliers.