Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup could start with the iPhone SE 4

Just as Android groupies are looking forward to August’s Pixel 9 event bringing them Google’s latest smartphone lineup, the Apple camp eagerly awaits the iPhone 16’s debut, likely just a few weeks further out. But much as we haven’t been able to avoid the occasional distraction from Pixel 10 rumors, what we’ve been hearing about next year’s iPhone 17 is the stuff that’s really been grabbing our attention. While we’ve still got a long way to go before any of that goes remotely official, our latest source attempts to sort through some of the confusion about what to expect from each of the iPhone 17 models, including a new super-slim design.

Probably the most exciting news we’ve heard about Apple smartphone hardware in a while, this so-called iPhone 17 Slim (or model D23) would be a rare departure from traditional iPhone designs, not unlike what we saw years ago when the iPhone X first arrived. But it also sounds like the price of entry could be prohibitively high, and this data shared by user Yachtsman on a South Korean forum suggests the iPhone 17 Slim could go for $1,300 when it finally launches.

Another big reason we’re looking past this year’s iPhones and ahead to 2025’s already is what we’ve been hearing about Apple upgrading screen panel tech across its lineup. The company has already used low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) displays on Pro models, and a rumor from earlier this year suggested that with the iPhone 17, Apple could finally extend LTPO to even its base models. That idea gains support here, with the clear exception that the next iPhone SE would not be invited to this party — more on that in a sec.

We’ve heard about more splits across the roster, like what Apple might be thinking for its choice of materials. One theory we checked out back in May claimed Apple could go with aluminum for the iPhone 17 Pro, albeit with a newly complex design. But here we see it sticking with the premium titanium.

As for that iPhone SE 4, seeing as it’s been two years since the last one, we’ve been hoping that Apple might drop its follow-up sometime in 2024, but that’s looking increasingly unlikely. This source attempts to narrow our launch window to March through May of 2025, which sounds pretty reasonable, given Apple’s proclivity for spring SE announcements. Sadly, pricing could be getting a very 2025 bump, starting at $500 (if not slightly higher) rather than the $430 of its predecessor. But when you consider all the upgrades in store for this generation, like the move to OLED we keep hearing about, maybe that’s not as bad as it could be.

With all this lurking in Apple’s future, will you be at all tempted by this year’s iPhone 16 family? Or are your sights already soundly on an iPhone 17?