Could these CAD-based renderings of what is supposedly the upcoming Apple iPhone SE 3 match up to the reality, or do they represent a too-improbable departure from everything else we have heard reported about the updated device so far? The Internet has delivered a mixed verdict.
Let’s begin with the source. The renders you see here were publicized by tech leaker @xleaks7 in collaboration with the TenTechReview website, where you can see further images.
In TenTechReview’s words, the device’s “overall design remains pretty similar to its predecessor iPhone SE 2020. The back still have [sic] a single lens camera and a flash light next to it. Also, a standard Apple logo takes the middle of back cover.”
The website added that the dimensions of the next iPhone SE will be identical to those of the previous model – 138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3mm (8.2mm with the camera bump) – but that the device will not have a massive forehead, chin and Touch ID button. The front strongly resembles the iPhone XR.
The online response, though, has included a fair amount of skepticism. While one respondent to the original tweet declared that “if this turns out to be true, then I will definitely buy this!”, another – MacRumors editor Hartley Charlton – described the renders as “pretty much nonsense. We’re not expecting the iPhone XR-like design for the iPhone SE until 2024.”
Those sentiments were mirrored by 9to5Mac’s Ben Lovejoy, who described the leaker as having a “mixed track record”, and said the TenTechReview article “contradicts virtually all previous reports about the upcoming 2022 iPhone SE, which say that the design will be essentially unchanged from the existing model, which is itself based on the iPhone 8.”
Lovejoy also cited analysts Ming-Chi Kuo and Ross Young as stating that fans shouldn’t expect any significant external design change to the iPhone SE in 2022. His conclusion: “It’s extremely unlikely these new renders are correct.”
Whatever the accuracy or otherwise of the leak, with speculation suggesting an iPhone SE 3 could break cover around the March-to-April period this year, we might not have much longer to wait for the real thing.