Forget Apple Intelligence – I want the next iPhone SE to be a bastion of privacy
Way back in 2024 – I’m talking a whole six days ago at the time of writing this – freelance technology journalist Gareth Beavis wrote an article for Ny Breaking outlining why he thinks the iPhone SE 4 could break new ground for Apple. Hall’s thesis was that Apple could use a next-generation budget iPhone as a way to get Apple Intelligence AI tools to a broader market.
It’s a good idea, which I agree with. But as I stomped across the frost-covered ground of a frozen London park and pondered the state of the smartphone market, I came up with the idea that the iPhone SE 4 would be an anti-artificial intelligence phone.
Now machine learning is almost inescapable in phones, as many use clever algorithms to balance battery life and process images. However, the rise of so-called AI phones is a fairly new aspect of the mobile world, led by the Google Pixel 8.
We now have phones with smart tools to rewrite emails for you in the tone you want, help you transform a photo into almost an entirely new image, take notes, and do all kinds of other smart things. Some of these tools are very useful, but in my time with the iPhone 16 Pro Max – a phone I really like – I haven’t found Apple’s take on using generative AI to be particularly great or compelling. And I’m not the only one, because my colleague Philip Berne thinks the same way.
There’s also the concern about privacy: smartphones already suck up a lot of personal data if you let them; Add AI to the mix and you have a device that can almost feel like it’s watching you. But like Thanos in the MCU, generative AI in phones is inevitable, at least in flagships like the coveted Samsung Galaxy S25 series, which I expect to be packed with AI tools. And if these tools are useful and intuitive, I’m all for them.
It also makes me think there’s an opportunity for phones, especially budget models, to eschew the AI smarts and embrace pure tool-like functionality with privacy at its core. Add to that the intuitiveness and ecosystem of iOS and Apple’s tendency to tout privacy, and your mind’s eye can imagine a next-generation iPhone SE. At least mine did that when I was wandering around.
An anti-AI phone
With an increased desire to detox digitally and limit time on the phone screen to disconnect and remove yourself from the constant stream of notifications and influx of online content, I think there could be a truly renewed market for phones that avoid all the fancy AI bits and just work as a phone, camera, web browser and casual games machine (it’s strange to get nostalgic for the phones of the 2010s, but here we are).
Add to that a phone that comes out of the box with a slew of privacy-focused settings enabled, and you could be looking at a device that appeals to people who don’t want to bark at a phone to express a Van Gogh style paint their dog or create a new emoji by smashing two others together.
I could totally imagine Apple taking this approach with the iPhone SE 4, if it is indeed in the works. Still, I think Cupertino will likely use the next SE as an entry-level model for Apple Intelligence, as it seems like the tech world is embracing AI whether we like it or not.
I hope that if Apple goes into this, it makes sure that Apple Intelligence is fully loaded and ready to deliver some pretty useful AI tools instead of drip feed features like it did with the iPhone 16.