Customers experience an iPhone16 at Apple’s flagship store in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang … [+]
The upcoming mid-range iPhone SE will enter a crowded marketplace of competent and desirable Android smartphones. With generative AI a key feature in the current smartphone market and Apple going all-in with Apple Intelligence, the only way the iPhone SE can keep up is to upgrade its specifications far more than the jump made by previous SE models.
How much impact will Apple Intelligence make on the newest iPhone? And will this new iPhone SE match the longevity of the original disruptive SE?
The iPhone SE And Apple Silicon
Apple has clearly stated that Apple Intelligence is supported by a limited subset of Apple Silicon, just the various M-Series chipsets and the current A18 family. A limited set of Apple Intelligence tools run on 2023’s A17 Pro.
If the iPhone 16 had followed the strategy of previous years, it would have launched with the older A17 processor to help keep costs down and ensure a broader gap in the iPhone portfolio to help upsell to the iPhone 16 Pro. Alas, the demands of Apple Intelligence meant it would launch with the A18. I doubt Apple wants to leave the iPhone SE struggling to support the brave new world of AI when it debuts, let alone years later.
This means that the A18 will be at the heart of the iPhone SE, although Apple could work some budgetary magic and partially lower the specs to create a performance gap between the iPhone 16 and iPhone SE.
The iPhone SE Memory Requirements
It’s a similar story with memory. While Apple lists many specifications of the iPhone, it does not list RAM. Nevertheless, it is a value that is easily discovered. Typically, the iPhone has less RAM than the iPhone Pro models. Unsurprisingly, Apple Intelligence has also disrupted that, with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro coming with 8 GB of RAM.
Given the iPhone SE has traditionally matched the RAM of the iPhone, you’re likely to see 8 GB in the iPhone SE.
The iPhone SE Storage Capacity
The current iPhone SE options start at 64 GB of storage. Meanwhile, the entry-level iPhone 16 lifts that starting point to 128 GB. Will the SE follow suit?
There is an argument that Apple will lift the SE up to 128 GB to match the specifications of the iPhone 16, which would guarantee the Apple Intelligence software could offer broadly similar capabilities. The lowest variants of previous iPhone SE models have not matched the cardinal numbered iPhones; 2022’s iPhone SE offered 64 GB compared to the then-current iPhone 13’s 128 GB.
Yet there may be a stronger argument that the SE must start at 128 GB to accommodate the future.
While the first release of Apple Intelligence in October 2024 could run locally with just 4GB of storage, the second update in December 2024 upped the requirements to 7GB. The third major release, expected to be in the iOS 18.4 spring release, may demand even more.
The first wave of iPhones that support Apple Intelligence not only need to have the specifications to run the awkwardly backronymed software today but also to have the capability to run the latest versions of Apple Intelligence years into the future. The smartphone industry has moved to extended support periods, and Apple is no different. The original iPhone from 2016 only left its support window in Sept 2024, eight and a half years after its launch.
If 2025’s iPhone SE wants to have even half that lifespan, Tim Cook and his team must ensure that it supports Apple intelligence into 2029 and beyond. There’s no point short-changing the specifications today because it would deny those who buy the new iPhone SE a long and hopefully productive life with Apple’s latest phone.
Now read why the iPhone SE could be Apple’s greatest smartphone yet…
