There are many challenges that Apple has had to face in China in recent years, although the biggest is undoubtedly the one it has been facing since the beginning of the year due to the drop in iPhone sales that leave the firm led by Tim Cook in a delicate situation. The new iPhone 16 seem to be already giving Californians a slight joy in this territory, although perhaps not enough. For now.
Apple still has one last bullet to save furniture in China and that involves the launch of the iPhone SE 4. It is an open secret that this terminal will be launched in 2025 and more after its entry into production is leaked. Already knowing many of its characteristics, there are certain incentives that make Cupertino hopeful that it will be enough to recover the ground lost in China.
A “cheap” iPhone with Apple Intelligence
At the price that the iPhone 15 is sold (about 959 euros for the ‘Plus’ version in Spain), it is surprising to see that these terminals do not have the great news from Apple in recent years in terms of software: Apple Intelligence. The set of artificial intelligence models from the firm led by Tim Cook is only compatible with the iPhone 15 Pro, as well as the entire series of new iPhone 16 (including the iPhone 16 Pro).
That’s why The iPhone SE 4 seems like a very desirable terminal. Firstly because it will bring a new design. Not strictly new, since it will recycle part of the chassis of the iPhone 14, but enough to look more like a phone from these times unlike an iPhone SE 3 which, despite being launched in 2022, looks like one from 2017 , since it continued to recycle the now extinct design of the iPhone 8 with a home button and pronounced bezels around an LCD screen of just 4.7 inches.
Design, Apple Intelligence and price will be the keys to the new iPhone SE in 2025
Thus, the iPhone SE 4 will not only have a renewed design with a 6.1-inch OLED panel, but it will also bring a one of the most powerful processors along with 8 GB of RAM. It is not known if it will be the A17 Pro or the A18, but it will be one of the two in order to guarantee full power with the new Apple Intelligence functions.
To all this would be added a price that, although presumably higher than the current ‘SE’, will always be lower than the rest of the iPhones that Apple has in the catalog. And this, according to experts consulted by Business Insider, could mean a considerable increase in sales.
A hurdle that Apple still needs to solve in China
The front of the iPhone SE 4 will look very similar to that of this iPhone 14
Apple still has one minor problem before bringing Apple Intelligence to China. It is the same one that it had a few months ago and that it also has in Europe: the law. In the case of China, Apple has no a priori problems integrating such a service, as long as partner with a local company. And this is a hard step for Californians.
It is not so much negotiating with companies, but rather finding someone who adapts to what Apple demands. There is always that fear of industrial espionage by the Chinese government and finding a company that guarantees reliability in this sense is not easy. Even more so if we know Apple’s work philosophy, which prioritizes working alone whenever possible and in the case of software it has not required anyone external.
Apple Intelligence will be available in Chinese in 2025, but this does not guarantee that it will arrive in China. We will have to see how it is finally resolved, but if they manage to find a partner like the one Samsung found with Baiduaks Ernie LLM, they will have many options to recover a good part of sales share thanks to the iPhone SE 4.
In Applesfera | iPhone SE 4: release date, price, models and everything we think we know about them
In Applesfera | Apple passwords: what it is, what it is for and how secure the new iOS 18 and macOS 15 app is