iPhone in 2025: The upgrades we’ve been waiting for are finally coming

Apple is diversifying its products and services more than ever, but there’s no question that iPhone is still king. No other Apple product, and perhaps not other product from any company, has a greater single cultural and economic impact.

The iPhone updates in 2024 were mostly more of the same—a new processor, improved cameras, and better battery life. The Camera Control button is maybe the biggest hardware innovation and it’s really just a new way to access the camera that isn’t always an improvement. We still think they’re great phones, but it has been years since Apple changed up the design of its flagship iPhones, and the lower-cost iPhone SE is getting really old.

In 2025, we expect both issues to be addressed. An all-new, super-slim iPhone (which many are calling “iPhone Air” in absence of an announced name) will be the biggest change to the iPhone’s look and feel in ages. And the new 4th-generation iPhone SE should address many of the missed opportunities in the 2022 model, bringing modern standards to Apple’s most affordable phone.

Here’s a look at what the latest rumors tell us to expect from Apple’s new iPhones in 2025.

iPhone SE 4

The first new iPhone of 2025 is likely to be the 4th-generation iPhone SE. (Most people call it the iPhone SE 4, and Apple may adopt that nomenclature as well it moved away from historical “generation” identifiers for most products in 2024, including the iPad and AirPods.) Apple has traditionally released the iPhone SE in the spring and we expect a similar launch next year.

The iPhone SE 3 was a bit of a disappointment when it was released in March of 2022. It had a speedy processor but stuck with the same tired iPhone 8 body, with an aging display and cameras. Three years later, it’s downright ancient and in need of a major overhaul.

In 2025 it will get one. The iPhone SE 4 will finally bring Apple’s mid-tier phone to modern standards. It should look roughly like an iPhone 14, with and edge-to-edge display and a notch. The home button will be gone in favor of Face ID (sorry Touch ID diehards, but that button takes up a LOT of space that Apple would rather use for a larger display).

It will probably have an A18 processor with 8GB of RAM so it supports Apple Intelligence. There is no firm word on storage, but we hope the base model offers 128GB, not 64GB like the iPhone SE 3. The iPhone SE 4 is also said to be the first product to use an Apple-designed 5G modem, which will support only sub-6 frequencies and perform about as well as a Qualcomm modem from two years prior.

There will be one rear camera, upgraded to a 48MP sensor, so it will probably enjoy a 12MP “optical” 2x zoom. The front camera is expected to be the same 12MP camera you find in the iPhone 16. So expect the iPhone SE 4 to be very similar to the iPhone 16, but without the ultra-wide camera, no Camera Control button, and a mute switch instead of an Action button.

Will it get a price hike as well? We think it’s very possible that Apple will raise the starting price to $449 or even $499, a slight increase from its current $429. But it’ll still be cheaper than the iPhone 14, which starts at $599.

iPhone 17 and 17 Pro/Pro Max

Next fall (in September as usual), we expect Apple to once again release four new iPhones. However, the matric will be different. There will be an iPhone 17, an iPhone 17 Pro, and an iPhone 17 Pro Max, but the current rumors suggest that the iPhone 17 Plus will be replaced in the lineup by something totally new: an ultra-slim phone many are calling iPhone 17 Air. More on that phone in a moment.

Most notably, the iPhone 17 line may include the first major change to Apple’s rear camera layout ever. Rumors point to at least some models, or maybe all of them, moving to a centered, wide camera bump that runs along the entire top back of the phone, similar in style to Google’s Pixel line. It’s also been rumored that the iPhone 17 Pro models may shift away from titanium and switch to aluminum, but that would be a surprising move just two years after Apple introduced titanium and used the new material as a main selling point.

For the standard iPhones, we expect an A19 for the regular model and A19 Pro for the Pro and Pro Max, offering better performance and perhaps a boost to 12GB of RAM. There are conflicting reports about whether or not the regular iPhone 17 will get ProMotion and an always-on display for the first time in 2025, a feature that has been exclusive to the Pro phones since 2021. Apple has always made these Pro-only features, but most competing phones that cost $800 have had equivalent features for years.

The front camera on all models is supposed to get an upgrade to 24 megapixels. The iPhone 17 Pro Max should have 48MP cameras for the wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto cameras. At least one iPhone 17 model is rumored to feature a mechanical aperture on the main camera, though we’re not sure which model yet.

iPhone 17 Air

The biggest iPhone surprise next year will probably be a new ultra-slim model we have taken to calling iPhone 17 Air (or perhaps just iPhone Air).

At around 6 mm thick, it will be the slimmest iPhone of all time, even thinner than the old iPhone 6 (6.9mm). It should be a larger phone, with a display just a little bit smaller than what you’d find on a “Plus” model—figure around 6.5 inches. It will likely support ProMotion and always-on, but that may be coming to the entire iPhone 17 line anyway.

There will have to be a few compromises to achieve this device’s thin design—the battery may not be as big as expected, there is said to be only a single speaker (where the earpiece is), and there may not be room for a SIM tray. That’s been gone from U.S. models for some time but is still required in places like China.

This model will likely have the same processor as the regular iPhone 17 (the A19 rather than the A19 Pro), and may include Apple’s own 5G modem as well, while the other iPhone 17 models to retain Qualcomm modems. Like the other iPhone 17 models, we’re told to expect a top-center-aligned camera on the back of the phone rather than over in the upper left corner. It’s rumored that it will only have a single 48MP camera like the iPhone SE, a somewhat significant downgrade from the other models.