Apple updates its cheapest smartphone every couple of years, and since there was an iPhone SE release in 2022, the next one was slated for 2024. Today a report by reputable all things Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo lets us think the IF experiment is over.
According to Kuo, Apple has informed its supply chain partners that manufacturing and shipping plans for the 2024 iPhone SE have been canceled and not simply delayed. Oddly, this decision has reverberations reaching to Apple’s internal baseband chip, which continues to be “just around the corner” in rumors even though it has held that position for years.
Perhaps the last iPhone SE ever: the 2022 model
The baseband chip was expected to be adopted by the upcoming iPhone SE first. Apple wanted to use that device as a kind of guinea pig: if things go wrong, at least they do it on the cheapest smartphone it sells, not on one of the more profitable models. If all went well, the chip could have made it into the iPhone 16 series later in 2024.
Now, however, with the cancellation of the iPhone SE 2024, questions remain as to whether the performance of Apple’s baseband chip will be on par with Qualcomm’s offerings. And because of these concerns, the chances of Qualcomm supplying baseband chips for the iPhone 16 generation have greatly increased. This would go against the “market consensus” so far, which is that Qualcomm will start dropping iPhone orders in 2024.
With this development, Qualcomm will continue to supply Apple through at least 2025. Therefore, it is expected to continue to dominate the global high-end mobile baseband chip market this year and next, leading to much higher profit margins than to its (few) competitors.
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