The web is now crawling with rumours about a smaller 4-inch iPhone, likely to be called the 5se. We rounded up a few of the more believable ones a couple of days ago for you. Today we have more news on the mini iPhone.
While the smaller smartphone looks like a splitting image of the iPhone 6s, it is in fact, named the iPhone 5se and is reported to be an upgrade to the 5s. The “se” suffix has been described in two ways by Apple employees: as a “special edition” variation of the vintage 4-inch iPhone screen size and as an “enhanced” version of the iPhone 5s. While the internals are quite similar to the 2013 flagship iPhone, there are a few bumps that make this new smartphone a significant upgrade.
According to 9to5Mac, sources have provided the following list of “iPhone 5se” upgrades over the 5s:
- The chamfered, shiny edges have been replaced with curved glass like on the iPhone 6 and 6s lines
- The same 8 megapixel rear camera and 1.2 megapixel front camera systems from the iPhone 6
- Support for larger panoramas and autofocus for video recording
- Barometer for tracking elevation in the Health app
- An NFC chip for Apple Pay
- The A8 and M8 chips from the iPhone 6
- Bluetooth 4.2, VoLTE, and 802.11ac WiFi chips from the iPhone 6s
- Live Photos from the iPhone 6s
- Same Silver, Space Gray, Gold, & Rose Gold color options as the 6s line
The smartphone is set to be released in mid-March this year. The release will most likely be an event and if not, an online announcement.
Another set of rumours states that the new iPhone currently has two prototypes moving around inside Apple. One design is based on the A8 and M8 chips while the other utilizes the A9 and M9.
There are two reasons why Apple will most likely go with the A9 and M9: the company will not want to reintroduce a two-generation old chipset in a new smartphone and the M9 chip will enable your phone to be always-on Siri enabled. The smartphone will also come in 16 and 64 GB variants. Apple will most likely drop the mid-band, 32 gig device.
