The iPhone SE 3 – AKA the iPhone SE 2022 – is apparently coming out very soon. It’ll be the cheapest iPhone inside Apple’s 2022 lineup. But will the iPhone SE 3 have 5G? Let’s find out…
Say what you want about Apple, but the company REALLY knows how to drag something out. The iPhone SE 2020 was a fairly solid phone. It sold well. People seemed to like it. But let’s not forget: this phone was essentially an iPhone 8 with a new CPU. That’s not really exciting, is it? Turns out this doesn’t matter if you’re Apple.
Like an aging folk-rock band, Apple is able to shift whatever it decides to release. No questions asked. And it doesn’t seem to matter if it is a thousand-dollar iPhone that looks just like the one before it or a $400 iPhone 8 redux. People just love new Apple stuff. And they buy them by the plane-load.
Will The iPhone SE 3 Have 5G?
The phone isn’t official just yet but all current leaks seem to agree that, yes, the iPhone SE 3 will support 5G connectivity just like the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13. This will make the iPhone SE 3 a more attractive option compared to Apple’s non-5G iPhones like the iPhone 11, iPhone XS, and iPhone XR which are still popular purchases in 2022.
On top of this, rumors suggest Apple’s iPhone SE 3 will ship with the same A15 CPU as Apple’s current iPhone 13 models. This will give the phone a massive performance boost over its predecessor model which launched in 2020. It will also make the phone more powerful than the iPhone 12 and iPhone 11 – that’s significant.
The only real downside about this phone, however, is that Apple – in a bid to sell it for $400 – has REALLY cut a lot of corners. The phone will apparently use the same design as before, meaning the iPhone 8, and it will run the same low-resolution LCD panel like the iPhone 8. Meanwhile, the camera will be the same as the one used on either the iPhone X or the iPhone 11.
The iPhone SE 3 is basically a Frankenstein phone that will pull elements from Apple’s new models, its old models, and its VERY old models like the iPhone 8. The big inclusion this time around, however, will be 5G and Apple’s new A15 CPU. I don’t expect to see any big changes with the camera and/or the overall design of the phone. When Apple does cheap, it does it like Ryan Air.
Is The iPhone SE 3 Coming Out Any Time Soon?
As for when we can expect the iPhone SE 3 to get a release date. The most up-to-date leaks all agree that the phone will likely appear sometime around March 2022. A release date is expected to follow shortly thereafter, so the iPhone SE 3 could be available to buy as early as March 2022.
With pricing, Apple will definitely want to keep it nice and low, so you can expect the phone to retail for less than $400 in the USA and around £420 in the UK and Europe. We could see a price hike, of course, but given the cost of Apple’s iPhone 13 base model, it doesn’t really have much wriggle room in this regard.
Me? I’d still probably be more inclined to NOT have 5G and go with a phone like the iPhone 12 or the iPhone 11 Pro Max – they’re both now very affordable and pack in far better specs than what you’ll get on the iPhone SE 3.
The phone is powered along by Apple’s insanely powerful A14 CPU which, by 2022 standards, is still one of the fastest chips on the market. The phone has a 6.1in display, great battery life, and now, thanks to it being over 12 months old, can be had for less than $500.
The iPhone 11 Pro Max has a 6.8in OLED display, a huge battery that’ll deliver days of battery life from a single charge, and it will get iOS updates until well inside the late-2020s. For me, this is arguably the most impressive phone on this list, providing you can live without 5G.
That’s just my two cents, however. I’m sure the SE 3 will be immensely popular either way, just like its predecessor and the OG iPhone SE.
And check out what Apple may announce at its March 2022 event!