It’s official: the next big Apple launch is happening on September 7. The company has sent out invites for an event on that day, and while it hasn’t said what we’ll see, all signs point to the iPhone 14 line.
That line is expected to include the iPhone 14, the iPhone 14 Pro, the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and the iPhone 14 Max, and we might see other things there too, but will a new cheap iPhone be among them?
While nothing will be known for certain until the event has taken place, we’re quite confident that a cheap iPhone won’t be in attendance, with this instead set to be a venue for Apple’s high-end handsets. Below, we’ll look at the four reasons we’re so sure of that.
1. The latest iPhone SE landed this year
The iPhone SE line features the cheapest iPhones you can buy, so when we talk about a cheap iPhone, it’s really these that we’re talking about, and the most recent model – the iPhone SE (2022) – landed back in March of this year.
So Apple wouldn’t be releasing a new model yet. There’s sure to be at least a year’s gap between them, and the gap might be even longer, as the previous model was around two years before this one. In other words, it’s likely to be a while before we get a new iPhone SE.
2. Apple doesn’t launch new SE models alongside numbered models
Not only is it too soon for a new iPhone SE, but Apple has never launched these phones alongside its numbered iPhones. So even if the timing made sense, we’d still be surprised to see a new iPhone SE alongside the iPhone 14. But as mentioned above, the timing doesn’t work anyway.
3. There aren’t any rumors of one
While the iPhone 14 line is strongly rumored to land in September – and that timing makes sense for it – there are no such rumors for the iPhone SE 4.
We have heard a few rumors about when that might launch, but they point to 2023 or later. Ross Young for example – a leaker with a good track record – tweeted a while back that the phone might launch in 2023, which is an update on an earlier estimate where he’d said 2024.
We also haven’t heard a huge amount about any aspect of the next iPhone SE, which in itself suggests we won’t see it anytime soon.
4. There probably won’t even be an iPhone 14 mini
Not only can we safely rule out an iPhone SE 4 at the iPhone 14 launch, but there probably won’t even be an iPhone 14 mini.
That’s relevant because while the iPhone 13 mini is hardly cheap, it is the lowest cost option in the iPhone 13 line, so even the cheapest iPhone 14 model might be more expensive than we’ve seen in previous years.
Indeed, leaks suggest the iPhone 14 will start at roughly the same price as the iPhone 13 did, meaning $799 / £779 / AU$1,349. So that could be the minimum amount you’ll have to spend to get one of these new phones.
That’s a fair bit more than the $699 / £679 / AU$1,199 iPhone 13 mini, and way more than the $429 / £419 / AU$719 iPhone SE (2022).
So if you’re hoping to buy one of the best cheap phones, you’re almost certainly not going to find it among the upcoming iPhones.
