It looks like LCD phone screens could soon be a thing of the past, at least on all but the lowest-end models. Android phone makers largely moved away from the technology a long time ago, and while Apple has stayed away for longer with some of its phones, a report suggests that the last LCD iPhone, the iPhone SE (2022), could soon be replaced by an OLED model.
This is reported by Nikkei Asia, which claims that Apple has begun taking orders for OLED displays for the upcoming iPhone SE 4.
OLED displays can offer a higher contrast between blacks and whites than LCDs, and often show more vibrant colors, so in most respects they are an improvement, which is why so few phones now use LCDs.
This would be a desirable change then, and it's one we've heard about before, with several different previous sources pointing to an OLED display on the iPhone SE 4.
The iPhone SE 4 could arrive in 2025
But this latest leak not only adds credence to those claims, but also makes us think that the iPhone SE 4 will likely arrive next year, as if Apple has just started taking orders for panels, it’s unlikely to be ready in the next month or two, meaning a launch alongside the iPhone 16 on September 9 is highly unlikely. But equally, that would mean the phone is in production, so we shouldn’t expect it beyond 2025.
A late 2024 launch could also be possible, but we haven’t heard any leaks suggesting that, so our best guess is 2025, as we’ve previously heard that the iPhone SE 4 could arrive in 2025. That said, another leak suggested that the SE 4 wouldn’t launch before 2026, so there’s still some uncertainty. We can only hope that the long wait for this phone is over soon.
In the meantime, we're likely to see the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max on Monday, September 9. TechRadar will be covering the launch in full, so check back here on Monday for all the news and announcements.