Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple restarted work on an iPhone SE 4 with a 6.1" OLED screen and an Apple-designed 5G modem; Ross Young says China's BOE will supply the display
Context & Ripple Effects
Kuo's SE reporting has been a running clock on Apple's low-cost line: he called the iPhone SE 2 for Q1 2020 with an iPhone 8-like design, then flagged an SE with 5G for H1 2022. The new wrinkle is that the rumored SE 4 pairs its 6.1-inch OLED with Apple's own 5G modem — hardware Kuo was already forecasting back in 2019, when he said Apple's 5G modem would be ready by 2022 or 2023.
Ross Young's claim that China's BOE will supply the display matters because it makes this a two-supplier story at once: Apple testing its in-house modem and giving a Chinese panel maker an OLED slot in the same budget device.
First-order effects
- If Kuo's report holds, the iPhone SE 4 becomes the first shipping iPhone built around Apple's designed-in-house 5G modem, ending that model's dependence on outside cellular silicon.
- BOE moves up Apple's display ladder: an OLED order for a mass-market iPhone is a bigger, more strategic socket than the LCD work the SE line previously implied.
Second-order effects
- A working Apple modem in one model creates the template to extend it across more of the lineup, putting pressure on the incumbent modem supplier's Apple volume wherever the in-house part qualifies.
- BOE landing the SE 4 OLED raises the bar for rival panel makers competing for Apple's remaining OLED slots, since Apple now has a qualified Chinese source for budget-model screens.
Third-order effects
- If the SE 4 ships as described, Apple's vertical integration playbook — designing its own silicon — extends to radios, making modem sourcing a phased transition rather than a single switch.
- The pairing of an in-house modem with a BOE panel points toward an Apple supply chain that deliberately mixes self-built components with qualified Chinese suppliers in its cheapest devices.
The trend: Apple's years-long in-house 5G modem project is converging with its supplier-diversification push, using the low-cost SE line as the proving ground for both.