New iPhone SE ‘entering production process’

The evidence for an imminent iPhone SE launch continues to pile up, with analyst Ross Young now claiming that production of the third-gen SE’s display panels begins this month.

Given that Young has a lot of contacts in the supply chain, it’s reasonable to believe his claim. Indeed, he has an astonishing 100% accuracy rating on AppleTrack, albeit from a relatively small sample, and has made some big calls in the past.

Apple 5G SE model starting panel production this month. Phone production likely from March. This means a launch is likely for 2H April/early May with shipments from late April or early May.

— Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) January 19, 2022

With production of the panels underway, Young predicts that the phone itself will enter production in March, with a launch announcement in the second half of April or early May, and shipments in late April at the earliest.

The mention of May is mildly surprising, since we’d previously been led to expect the new iPhone SE to be announced at Apple’s customary spring event, which most commonly takes place in March and is occasionally pushed back to April. For it to happen in May would be unusual, to say the least.

The update to the SE has been in the news a lot lately. Only this week Young claimed that the new handset would be called the “iPhone SE+ 5G”, in order to distinguish it from the current model and, fairly obviously, advertise its new 5G support. And on the same day we covered the news that Apple has registered a raft of new iOS devices with the Eurasian Economic Commission, which very likely includes the new SE.

There is every indication that Apple will stick with the old design in this year’s model, with the bump to a ‘Plus’ 5.7in screen size delayed until 2023 or 2024. We should however get a more powerful processor (the A14 or A15) as well as the addition of 5G, and there is talk of improved cameras.

You can keep up with the latest leaks and rumours with our new iPhone SE hub. If you don’t want to wait until May, pick up a bargain on the current range with our roundup of the best iPhone deals.

This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation (using DeepL) and additional reporting by David Price.