In his latest report for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman writes that the iPhone SE 4 could arrive as soon as next week. The cheaper handset will apparently debut with little fanfare, without the anticipated Apple Spring event to introduce it to the world, and the report indicates that the company may also introduce other products at the same time or shortly afterward.
First up is something that the report explicitly says could be introduced as “early as Feb. 11”: PowerBeats Pro 2 earbuds. This isn’t the first time Gurman has tipped the earbuds for an imminent reveal, but this time he goes slightly further, predicting them to be “the first from an Apple brand with a built-in heart rate monitor”. That’s interesting, as the feature has long been expected for AirPods Pro, and it seems that Apple may be using its Beats brand as a test bed for the fitness-focussed extra.
The next additions to Apple’s 2025 hardware catalogue are more exciting, but packing a less firm release date. Gurman states that the company is “planning to launch a MacBook Air with the speedier M4 chip, fresh low-end iPads and updated iPad Air models during the first half of 2025.”
While that could mean any time up to June 31, Gurman hints that something could arrive far sooner, noting that stock of both the iPad Air and MacBook Air has been “dwindling at Apple retail stores.” He doesn’t explicitly make the link, but that’s usually a tell-tale sign that a replacement is imminent, as Apple no longer actively seeks to replace existing inventory.
The M4 MacBook Air sounds like it will be a fairly minor upgrade, given Apple launched an M3 version just last year. We’re certainly not expecting any major changes in the design stakes, with the displays analyst Ross Young stating as recently as last September that Apple will persist with 13- and 15-inch versions of its ultralight laptop.
While also predicted to look pretty similar in the design department, the refresh of the iPad Air is interesting as it could be a more significant upgrade. The current 2024 iPad Air features Apple’s M2 chipset, and while it’s possible that the upcoming refresh could only up this to M3 (something a post from Evan Blass on X indicated last month), Gurman himself wrote that he “wouldn’t be terribly surprised if the 2025 models get bumped up to the M4”. Either way, we’re expecting 11- and 13-inch models once again.
The regular iPad isn’t mentioned as having dwindling stock, though it could be on the same trajectory, just with weaker sales keeping inventory artificially high. In any case, Gurman has previously said that it may be fitted with the same A17 chipset seen in the iPhone 15 Pro and last year’s iPad mini 7. A bump to 8GB RAM is also predicted, giving it access to Apple Intelligence.
If these do appear within the next month as seems likely, it will be a busy start to 2025 for Apple. But while the iPhone SE 4 may well earn a place on our list of the best cheap smartphones, we’re not expecting the high-end iPhone 17 to arrive until September.
