Apple’s new budget 5G phone is called the iPhone SE+, but it isn’t what you think it is

The iPhone SE has always been a fan-favourite for being a great way to enter the Apple ecosystem. With the last one being released in 2020, it’s long overdue for a refresh. The new SE phone was rumoured to be launched this year, but with the same design. Now, we know even more details about what Apple has planned in the near future.

According to Display Supply Chain Consultants CEO Ross Young, the new iPhone SE will be called iPhone SE+ 5G. This will be the first SE phone with 5G connectivity, but the naming seems peculiar. Apple usually doesn’t put ‘5G’ in their product names, but this very well might change in 2022.

Another thing that’s curious about the naming is the plus symbol, despite having the same screen. Usually, a ‘Plus’ means the device is bigger, such as the iPhone 8 to the 8 Plus. This iPhone SE+ might give an impression of a bigger iPhone SE, which might be borderline misleading. From what we know about the iPhone SE+, the plus symbol just represents an upgrade, as the ‘S’ did in the iPhone 6S. Speaking of naming conventions, there’s also the M1 Pro and M1 Max naming which was a little confusing for some people.

Does this mean that Apple is switching up their naming conventions for other devices as well? Will we see an iPhone 13+ Pro Max Plus in the future? I sure hope not.

As we covered previously, the design of this phone won’t be very far off from the 2020 version of the SE. It will look the same, have the same 4.7-inch LCD and Touch ID home button, but with some updated internals like the A15 Bionic chip and 5G connectivity. The same source tells us that there will be a new iPhone SE generation coming in 2023 or 2024 with a larger OLED 5.7-inch display.

Another source, a Russian EEC (Eurasian Economic Commission) regulator, confirms the SE+ 5G and a fifth-generation Apple iPad Air. This 2022 iPad Air will also have the A15 Bionic chip as well as a 12MP ultrawide front camera with Center Stage support and a 5G version. This year’s model is rumoured to use rigid OLED panels while the 2023 iPad Air could be getting flexible OLED panels. Apple has been using flexible OLED in their iPhones since 2017, so it would be cool to see it in the iPad Air so it could have even thinner bezels. This would also be the first time Apple puts an OLED panel in something bigger than an iPhone.

The iPhone SE+ 5G and iPad Air are expected to come in Spring this year. The pricing for these devices is unknown, but the current prices for an iPhone SE range from RM1,999 to RM2,199 and for the iPad Air it ranges from RM2,599 to RM 3,799.

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