Cheap iPhone 2022, just a little further: it will be so

The arrival of iPhone SE 3 now seems imminent and we may already know many features of the cheapest smartphone from Apple

The wait for iPhone SE 2022 (which could be called iPhone SE 3) has now become spasmodic and numerous rumors suggest that Apple's next budget smartphone could make its debut right in the early months of the new year. As the days go by, new rumors are emerging about its appearance, features and price.

What is certainly creating a lot of expectations is the adoption of 5G connectivity that, together with the extremely aggressive price, should allow the new low cost iPhone to put many mid-range Android phones to the test. Although this is only speculation, it seems now outlined the main features of this third generation, which will most likely follow in the footsteps of iPhone SE 2 in terms of design, and not only.

iPhone SE 3: how it will be

The design of the new iPhone should draw inspiration from the iPhone 8: according to the Japanese blog Macotakara, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and Ross Young, consultant for the display industry, iPhone SE 2022 will sport a 4.7-inch LCD panel.

This would imply the retention of the fingerprint unlock sensor in the Home button, again postponing any evolutions to the next model. As for the colors, the most quoted variants are Starlight and Midnight.

The same sources state that the new iPhone SE 3 will rely on Apple's A15 Bionic chipset, the same currently mounted on the iPhone 13 series devices. This assumption comes from the fact that each iPhone SE has adopted the processor of the main models of that generation.

Another speculation concerns the internal memory: with the possible abandonment of the 64 GB denomination, available on the iPhone SE 2020, the base variant could be the one with 128 GB capacity.

If the similarity with iPhone 8 were to be confirmed, we could expect a single sensor for the main camera, although ideas are still very vague about its type.

iPhone SE 3: launch date and price

A report from TrendForce suggests that the third-generation iPhone SE should make its debut in the first quarter of 2022, through a special event around March. The recurring idea is that it won't be later than the first half of next year, however. Suffice it to say that the first model debuted in March 2016 and the second in April 2020, so the assumption doesn't seem too far from reality.

The price could be around €494 for the first two versions but, as JP Morgan pointed out, Apple's trade-in (or Trade-In) service could allow Android users to save a hundred euros or more, depending on the smartphone they own.