Rumors have been surfacing recently about Apple's future MacBook, mainly that it would be one large foldable screen similar to the rumored foldable iPhone delayed until 2025. Thanks to the grapevine, we now have more details on some of the MacBook’s purported features.
Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter threw its weight behind recent rumors that Apple was exploring the possibility of a foldable MacBook with suppliers. It essentially would be a blend between a MacBook and an iPhone and boast an impressive 20-inch screen.
When folded it would feature a touchscreen keyboard and when laid flat it would become a full screen monitor that could have an external keyboard attached to it. It’s possible that this new MacBook would sport UHD/4K resolution or even higher as well.
While both possibilities were stated, Gurman specifically states he was told Apple would have “one side of the display serving as a virtual keyboard” and that it would “trade in the physical keyboard and trackpad for a fully touch-screen base”
The release date for such a device is rather far off, with a timeframe most likely 2026 or 2027. Of course this particular rumor should be approached with care, as there’s a huge difference between exploring a possible new project and actually following through with it. Especially since foldable devices are a very recent and niche market that hasn’t fully caught on yet.
Doctors performing a brain scan on an elderly patient who suffered a sudden, fatal heart attack during the procedure captured the world's first-ever look at the human brain's neural activity as it dies – and the results suggest that, as we die, we might be seeing our lives pass before our eyes.
The patient was an 87-year-old who suffered a brain injury and developed epilepsy as a result, and so Dr. Raul Vincent, of the University of Tartu, Estonia, and his team used continuous electroencephalography (EEG) to measure the patient's brain activity to detect the seizures and develop a treatment plan.
During a scan, the patient suffered a heart attack and died with the brain sensors still recording brain activity.
“We measured 900 seconds of brain activity around the time of death and set a specific focus to investigate what happened in the 30 seconds before and after the heart stopped beating,” said Dr. Ajmal Zemmar, a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, US, who organized a study about the event in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.
“Just before and after the heart stopped working, we saw changes in a specific band of neural oscillations, so-called gamma oscillations, but also in others such as delta, theta, alpha, and beta oscillations.”
Oscillations are what we usually call brain waves, and certain brain waves are associated with specific functions like memory recall, dreaming, and meditating. Gamma oscillations in particular are tied to high-cognitive functions like conscious perception, information processing, and memory retrieval.
“Through generating oscillations involved in memory retrieval, the brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die, similar to the ones reported in near-death experiences,” Zemmar said. “These findings challenge our understanding of when exactly life ends and generate important subsequent questions, such as those related to the timing of organ donation."
Analysis: how much can we take from a single case?
As intriguing as this study might be, the scan was done on a brain that had recently suffered injury and swelling which could have influenced the readings in unknown ways, something the study's authors acknowledge. Still, the data is the first of its kind, and that can't be overlooked.
"Albeit the influence of neuronal injury and swelling," the authors write, "our data provide the first evidence from the dying human brain in a non-experimental, real-life acute care clinical setting and advocate that the human brain may possess the capability to generate coordinated activity during the near-death period."
While a single brain scan performed during the process of dying is not nearly enough data to draw any definitive conclusions, it does track with other data that previous research with rats in a more controlled environment has produced.
This suggests that the gamma oscillations observed in this case, indicative of the "life recall" phenomenon experienced by those who suffer near-death events, might be a biologically coded function that crosses species. It also suggests that, if life recall exists, it might have a specific biological function that we've yet to establish.
“As a neurosurgeon, I deal with loss at times. It is indescribably difficult to deliver the news of death to distraught family members,” Zemmar said. “Something we may learn from this research is: although our loved ones have their eyes closed and are ready to leave us to rest, their brains may be replaying some of the nicest moments they experienced in their lives.”
The government is urging households across England to set up a direct debit with their local council so they can receive a £150 council tax rebate that can be used to help with rising energy costs.
Who will receive the £150 rebate?
It’s expected that around 20 million households in council tax bands A-D (which includes 95% of rented properties) will benefit from the council tax rebate, which is costing the government £3 billion. The rebate will come in the form of a one-off payment that doesn’t have to be repaid.
In addition to this, an extra £144 million is also being given directly to councils. This money will be used to provide discretionary support to vulnerable households who do not qualify for the rebate. It’s expected most of this money will be provided to families on low incomes who live in properties in council tax bands E to H.
How will the rebate be received?
People who pay their council tax via direct debit will see the £150 rebate go directly into their bank account from April. Anyone who does not pay via direct debit will be contacted by their local council and will be asked to make a claim.
As a result, those who set up a direct debit will receive their rebate far quicker than those who do not. They will also benefit from receiving the payment directly, rather than having to make a claim.
Is any other support available?
The council tax rebate is a central part of the government’s £9.1 billion support package.
From October, every household in the country will also receive a further £200 rebate on their energy bills. However, this rebate actually comes in the form of a loan. From April 2023, households will pay £40 per year in repayments for a period of five years. It’s expected that global wholesale gas prices will have started to come down by this stage, so repayments will become more affordable.
Finally, the government is also expanding the Warm Home Discount Scheme. This will mean that nearly 3 million low-income households will benefit from a £150 discount.
Why is all this help needed?
The government is stepping in to help vulnerable households because energy bills have risen sharply over the past 12 months.
On top of this, earlier this month, energy regulator Ofgem announced that it is increasing the energy price cap (which restricts how much a supplier can charge) by almost £700 from 1 April. This means the price cap will rise from £1,277 to £1,971 per year, on average.
This sharp rise in energy bills has been caused by a number of factors, including huge spikes in wholesale prices, supply issues and rising demand for gas following the pandemic.
But, even though the price cap is rising, customers are being urged to ‘do nothing’ instead of running an online energy comparison. This is because the best energy deals on the market from the UK’s best energy suppliers are still unable to beat the price cap.
Instead, it’s hoped that the government’s package of reforms will help prevent households from being plunged into fuel poverty.
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The government has announced it will make a new £6.7m fund available to 24 UK projects that are working on developing new green energy storage technologies.
Each project will be able to enjoy a share of the fund, which comes as part of the government’s continuing commitment to help reach the nation’s net zero targets.
This is also claimed to be only the first phase funding through the ‘Longer Duration Energy Storage competition’, which in total will see upwards of £68m being awarded to similar projects in the long term. In addition, any successful projects from this first round could be eligible for further financial support in phase two.
Helping to store ‘intermittent’ green energy
One of the current issues with our production of renewables is the intermittent nature of when it is created.
We can often see increased creation of green energy when it isn’t needed – such as extended periods of sunshine or stronger than expected winds. But with more effective storage, we’ll be able to hold on to this energy for longer periods to then better manage changes in supply and demand.
The additional benefits from this would be that more energy would be available for households, which in turn would bring down wholesale costs and our energy bills. This would also significantly help reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and would make the transition to a cleaner energy infrastructure much easier.
Furthermore, creation of the new energy storage technologies would boost employment in this sector and see our levels of domestically produced energy notably increased.
Speaking about the potential of the fund, Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Hands said:
"Driving forward, energy storage technologies will be vital in our transition towards cheap, clean and secure renewable energy.
"It will allow us to extract the full benefit from our home-grown renewable energy sources, drive down costs and end our reliance on volatile and expensive fossil fuels. Through this competition we are making sure the country’s most innovative scientists and thinkers have our backing to make this ambition a reality."
A variety of innovative new projects
Some of the new creations from the 24 projects includes ‘new energy storage technologies that can utilise stored energy as heat, electricity or as a low-carbon energy carrier like hydrogen’.
A few specific examples include:
Sunamp’s EXTEND project, East Lothian, Scotland – which is developing the storage duration of their thermal batteries.
Cheesecake Energy’s FlexiTanker project, Nottingham, England – which is developing their thermal and compressed air energy storage technology to integrate more renewables into the grid.
B9 Energy Storage’s Ballylumford Power-to-X project, Larne, Northern Ireland – which is looking at storing green hydrogen in underground salt caverns.
How soon will we see the effects of these projects?
The current timeline for net zero means we should expect to see developments in green energy within the next decade, but if the first phase proves successful it may well be sooner.
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Windows on Arm has had a rough go of it for the last couple of years, but Lenovo is hoping to turn that around this year with the new Lenovo ThinkPad X13s.
This isn't Lenovo's first foray into Windows on Arm, but earlier efforts were held back by issues with the OS itself, including lack of compatibility with major apps like Adobe Photoshop.
Windows on Arm has come a long way since then. With Windows 11 on Arm, it's ripe for a breakthrough – one that Lenovo is positioning itself for with its popular ThinkPad line.
Powered by the 64-bit, 5nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 compute platform and running Windows 11 Pro, the ThinkPad X13s offers a slim and light form factor (about 2.35 lbs. and 0.53 ins thick) thanks to a fanless design that only ultra-efficient Arm chips are really capable of these days.
That efficiency also promises not just all-day but multi-day battery life, rated up to 28 hours. In our experience, Windows on Arm devices regularly hit 20+ hour battery life, so 28 hours isn't at all out of the question, especially with a 49.5 WHr battery.
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You'll also get up to a 400-nit 13.3-inch WUXGA (16:10 screen ratio) display with 100% sRGB coverage, up to 32GB LPDDR4X RAM (soldered), and up to a 1TB PCIe SSD.
Throw in 5G connectivity, initially through AT&T and later this year with Verizon, and Wi-Fi 6E and we might be on the cusp of that always-on-always-connected experience that we've been promised over the years but have never quite been able to achieve.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx compute platform also features several enterprise-level security features and AI-powered acceleration. All together, the new Qualcomm platform is about 85% faster than its generational predecessor, with a 60% boost in GPU performance.
Whether these stats bear out remains to be seen once we actually get our hands on the ThinkPad X13s in a few months. Set for a May 2022 release in the US, the ThinkPad X13s will start at $1,099, with availability and pricing in other regions to come later as we get closer to launch.
Analysis: will we finally get a decent Windows-on-Arm laptop?
We have to admit, we haven't been all that impressed by Windows on Arm. The devices running what was once considered a mobile-only platform tend to be poor performers overall, with their battery life being the only real saving grace.
A lot of the compatibility issues that they've had in the past have been worked out, however, and the success of the Apple M1 chip and the M1 Pro and M1 Max has demonstrated that the problem isn't with the underlying Arm architecture, but with its implementation and the OS software that runs on it.
Hopefully, Windows 11 on Arm will prove to be a different animal than its predecessor, and we'll see that long-hoped-for all-day performance.
All of that rests on how well the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 performs.
And given the generally high-quality product that Lenovo consistently puts out with its ThinkPad line, we can't wait to get our hands on the ThinkPad X13s.
MWC (Mobile World Congress) is the world's largest showcase for the mobile industry, stuffed full of the newest phones, tablets, wearables and more. TechRadar is reporting on the show all week. Follow our MWC 2022 live blog for the very latest news as it happens and visit our dedicated MWC 2022 hub for a round-up of the biggest announcements.
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Realme’s product showcase at MWC 2022 was headlined by the arrival of the Realme GT 2 series, but another announcement caught our attention for the potential implications it could have on the future of mobile technology as a whole.
At the Barcelona-based trade show, Realme revealed that its upcoming GT Neo 3 handset – a direct successor to the GT Neo 2 – will be the first device to benefit from the brand’s new UltraDart Charging Architecture (UDCA).
We’ve seen fast charging in smartphones for some time, but Realme claims that the GT Neo 3 will be capable of reaching 50% battery capacity in just five minutes using the company’s new 150W charging technology. If accurate, that speed would make the GT Neo 3 the world's fastest charging smartphone - that's particularly surprising given that this will likely be a pretty cheap phone.
But Realme’s new charging architecture won’t just help boost charging speeds. According to the Chinese company, it’ll improve safety and battery life, too.
By introducing the world’s first 100W-200W charging devices – an almighty jump in power over the charge technology used in all prior Realme handsets (which have typically utilized between 18W and 65W charging) – phones like the GT Neo 3 will benefit from better temperature management and battery protection.
That means – on paper, at least – users will be able to play games or watch videos on their mobile devices for longer periods of time, without fear of overheating the battery. Realme says its new UDCA architecture applies lithium batteries to “retain 80% battery capacity at 1000+ Complete Charge Cycles” – which basically means they’re wrapped in a nice layer of cotton wool to protect them from harm (don’t quote us on that, though).
Realme will debut its new charging tech with the GT Neo 3, though we don’t have a release date for the device just yet. Moving forward, then, it's safe to expect the company’s future devices – both cheap and premium – to boast some of the fastest charging speeds around.
Also at MWC, both OnePlus and Oppo announced their 150W charging solutions, though no smartphones were attached.
Making moves at MWC
As we alluded to at the top of this article, burgeoning mobile brand Realme also seized the opportunity of MWC 2022 to introduce fans to its first major foray into the flagship market.
The GT 2 series, and in particular the Realme GT 2 Pro, is intended to rival high-end competitor offerings like the Oppo Find X5, OnePlus 10 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S22 while maintaining the relative affordability for which Realme has become known in recent years.
In our brief time spent with the device ahead of its MWC unveiling, the GT 2 Pro surprised us by boasting impressive visuals, seamless performance and quirky camera features – albeit alongside a few practical hiccups – that suggest this traditionally mid-range mobile brand has the chops to challenge the very top of the market with future handsets.
Perhaps, too, Realme's next flagship will benefit from the super-fast charging speeds set to arrive with the GT Neo 3? If so, the likes of Samsung and Apple could have real competition on their hands.
MWC (Mobile World Congress) is the world's largest showcase for the mobile industry, stuffed full of the newest phones, tablets, wearables and more. TechRadar is reporting on the show all week. Follow ourMWC 2022 live blogfor the very latest news as it happens and visitour dedicated MWC 2022 hubfor a round-up of the biggest announcements.
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Project Cambria was first announced at the Meta Connect conference in October 2021. It’s thought to be what many have previously assumed to be the Oculus Quest Pro, which is a high-end virtual reality and augmented reality hybrid headset. This would make it distinct from the Oculus Quest 2 (and eventual Oculus Quest 3) in being a device aimed at and priced for the pro and enthusiast end of the mixed-reality market.
Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg described it as “a completely new advanced and high-end product,” which will sit “at the higher end of the price spectrum.”
(Image credit: Oculus)
Project Cambria is likely to represent the cutting edge of what’s currently possible in wireless virtual reality, unrestricted by the affordability constraints that other Oculus headsets were penned in by as Facebook / Meta looked to prove interest in widespread VR adoption.
With Apple said to also be working on high-end virtual and augmented reality devices, not to mention the imminent launch of the PlayStation VR 2 headset from Sony, Meta will be looking to shore up its position right across the spectrum of all things VR.
Interested? You should be. Here’s everything you need to know about Project Cambria so far.
Project Cambria price and release date
Despite much of what Project Cambria has to offer being shrouded in secrecy, we surprisingly have a window for when the device will be available. Meta has committed to a 2022 release for the headset.
When precisely that launch will take place is hard to pin down. The original Oculus Quest launched in May of 2019, with the Oculus Quest 2 following in October 2020. That’s roughly 18 months apart; by that reckoning, May of 2022 would seem an appropriate guess.
However, development timelines between products can be different, and with the ongoing pandemic and supply chain issues that have plagued all kinds of consumer tech products, we wouldn’t bet the house on any date.
What is guaranteed, by Zuckerberg’s own admission, is that this will be a more expensive device than the $299 / £299.99 Oculus Quest 2. Don’t be surprised if the headset lands above the $500 / £500 mark – if not significantly more.
Project Cambria specs and features
Meta has been pretty candid already about what to expect from the Project Cambria hardware, and it’s looking to be markedly more advanced than any Oculus headset that has come before it.
For starters, we know it’ll be a standalone, wireless headset. That’s not to say it won’t be able to connect to a PC for PC VR experiences (or even connect wirelessly to a powerful host PC, like the Oculus Link feature), but since the end of the Oculus Rift line in 2021, Meta’s focus has purely been on cable-free (out of the box, at least) VR hardware. This will also set it apart from the upcoming PlayStation VR 2, which will not only be more of an entry-level device, but will also still need a wire to connect it to the PS5 console.
(Image credit: Meta)
One much-requested feature will finally be getting its moment in the spotlight – eye tracking. It’s an important aspect of the way humans interact with the world, and a readily-exploitable tool for developers of advanced virtual reality applications. With eye-tracking, devs have another form of user input to play with, not only letting them better understand where a user’s gaze is focused (and tailor interactive experiences appropriately), but also to take full advantage of foveated rendering.
In short, foveated rendering makes sure that the area of the display a user is focused on is displayed in the greatest possible detail, while the surrounding areas of a virtual environment aren’t shown in such high fidelity - much like how the human eye masks peripheral vision. It can be used to maximize device resource usage – pumping processing power only onto the fidelity of objects and areas that a user’s gaze is interacting with. It’s a hugely exciting part of the future-VR puzzle.
Likewise, face tracking will be on board Project Cambria. This will allow in-game avatars to mimic your facial expressions in real time, potentially even opening up accessibility functions such as lip reading. So far however, both eye tracking and facial tracking are mainly expected to be used for avatar-based features – but their potential usage could go way beyond that.
Many of these features can be seen in action in the video below – what is believed to be an orientation video for new users of the Project Cambria headset, which leaked ahead of the announcement for Project Cambria:
Project Cambria will go beyond virtual reality experiences however, and will lean ever more into the augmented reality features that are increasingly becoming available to Oculus Quest users.
Supporting this will be the introduction of high resolution color passthrough features. The Oculus Quest 2 uses an array of head-mounted cameras to present the world outside of your headset on the internal displays – primarily for safely tracking your real-world play space, in real time. But the current Quest devices can only offer a black and white view, at a relatively low resolution.
Project Cambria will make this sharper and in color, expanding the potential for augmented reality experiences. It’s not quite the same as having transparent lenses, as seen in HoloLens or the hibernating Magic Leap headsets, but Cambria's augmented reality will also benefit from the expanded field of view that internal VR lenses can currently offer over transparent alternatives.
One other Project Cambria-related rumor we've heard is that Meta has hit pause on the development of its combined AR/VR operating system, so the upcoming headset may not have a completely new software platform arriving along with it.
Project Cambria design
Project Cambria, while remaining a head-mounted unit, will look rather different to existing hardware from Meta, thanks to the use of new lens types.
(Image credit: Meta)
These “pancake” lenses have a thinner profile, reportedly resulting from their use of mini LED panels. Sharper and cooler to run, this is expected to allow Project Cambria’s front area to be much less bulky than that of the Oculus Quest 2, boosting both comfort and resolution.
With a new industrial design afforded by the new lenses, VR data miners have been able to reconstruct what they believe Project Cambria will look like by creating 3D models from render textures. You can find them in the video above and tweet below:
If the sleuthing here points to the real product, the headset will be returning to the darker outer shell design of older Oculus devices, with considerable shaving of the depth off the frontmost element of the headset.
A more pronounced padded forehead rest could be in the cards too, as well as more padding on the rear part of the strap. In conjunction with the apparent reduced weight, these features could lead to a much more comfortable headset than the Oculus Quest 2, taking cues from the Rift S and PlayStation VR, whose front forehead rests lead to very ergonomic fits.
So what about the controllers in those renders…
Project Cambria controllers
Project Cambria’s motion controllers look significantly different too. While retaining the disc-on-a-wand design the Quest controllers have popularized, you’ll note that Cambria controllers appear to be lacking the tracking ring earlier models have.
This seems to be afforded by the inclusion of infrared tracking cameras on the controllers themselves. You can see this in both the above renders and the below apparent leaked controller photos, all said to be from a Facebook / Meta Workplace video conference. (Workplace is Meta’s internal Slack / Teams solution).
(Image credit: Imgur)
Whether a prototype, or a fake, there’s definitely a correlation between the texture renders and this controller – which also suggests a white colorway may be in the cards for Project Cambria. Dropping the tracking rings would presumably lead to a lighter controller, and reduce the friction between user and VR experience. Previous firmware leaks have suggested that some form of laser-tracking system between the controllers and headset will ensure the two remain in sync and in communication.
Expect hand tracking to increasingly be the norm in VR and AR too; the tracking and processing improvements expected to be found in Project Cambria should help to make the device more accurate and comfortable in day to day use.
What about Oculus Quest 3?
Rest assured that the Oculus Quest 3, now more likely to be known as the Meta Quest 3, will still likely launch as a separate offering from Project Cambria.
Speaking with The Information, Zuckerberg stressed that the Oculus Quest line has a long life ahead of it. "We have product teams spun up now working on the next few generations of virtual reality and what Quest 3 and 4 are gonna look like," Zuckerberg stated on the podcast.
Consulting CTO John Carmack also reinforced the idea that Project Cambria represents an expansion of the line, rather than a replacement to existing devices whose price point gives them wider appeal.
“An important point here is that the ‘project Cambria’ product will *NOT* replace Quest 2; it will be sold alongside it,” Carmack said. “Quest 2 will have a long life.”
What will likely happen is that, going forward, Project Cambria will debut the most bleeding-edge VR features for enthusiasts, with those features being implemented later down the line in cheaper, successive Quest devices.
(Image credit: Beat Games)
Backwards compatibility with Quest titles
There are now thought to be as many as 10 million Oculus Quest headsets in homes around the world, and it appears Meta has no intention of alienating its existing userbase by encouraging them to re-buy their VR libraries for any eventual Project Cambria headset.
Just as Oculus Quest titles were compatible with Oculus Quest 2, Project Cambria is said to have “compatibility” with the Quest. While Meta hasn’t explicitly referred to this as “backwards compatibility,” it’s hard to understand this any other way. Certainly, the aforementioned orientation video explicitly references Beat Saber in its visuals – perhaps the most popular existing Oculus Quest title of all.
How many of the newer headset’s new features will be taken advantage of by the older software remains to be seen however, though even a more ergonomic form factor could breathe new life into old titles.
A lot has changed for Facebook and Oculus recently: Facebook as a company is now called Meta, as you might have heard; and its upcoming VR headset, dubbed Project Cambria, isn't actually a Quest device at all.
Project Cambria is, instead, a completely new headset IP, designed to introduce users to groundbreaking VR technology that will help Facebook – sorry, Meta – establish the earliest days of its aptly-named (but potentially overambitious) metaverse project.
So, where does that leave the Oculus Quest 3?
Well, Meta has clarified that development is still underway on the next generation of its more budget-friendly VR headsets, which spells good news for those worried that Project Cambria might have condemned the Quest 3 to the grave.
At an earnings call for the company back in 2021, company CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors that Meta has been working on "new hardware [that] will fit the same platform [as the Quest 2]" for some time.
We're still not certain whether those comments were made in reference to an Oculus Quest 3 headset, a newer version of the Oculus Quest 2 (which is now on shelves) or indeed this newly-announced Project Cambria, but we're nonetheless intrigued to see what new Quest products Meta may have up its sleeve – in addition to the more expensive Project Cambria – over the next year or so.
Importantly, though, Meta has decided to drop the 'Oculus' moniker for upcoming (and, we think, existing) Quest hardware. Moving forward, Meta's VR devices will instead be branded with the 'Meta Quest' label. We're not crazy about the decision, and it also means any Oculus Quest 3 headset is likely to be called the Meta Quest 3.
For simplicity, though, we'll be referring to the Oculus Quest 3 in the below guide without the Meta prefix – at least until the term becomes more widespread among the gaming community. So, read on for all the latest news, rumors and predictions for the most anticipated product in the world of VR.
Oculus Quest 3 release date
With Project Cambria supposedly launching next year (though no set date has been given yet), Meta's next Quest headset isn't likely to hit shelves until 2023.
It's certainly disappointing to expect the Quest 3 to launch as late as that, given Meta's clear appetite to establish itself as the home of mainstream VR gaming, but with the potential for clashes between its own hardware releases now a genuine reality, the company will likely put some distance between the two products.
That 2023 prediction was recently corroborated by analyst Brad Lynch, who tweeted (below) that the Oculus Quest 3 will be shown off during a 2023 Meta Connect event. If the company sticks to its annual event timetable, that means we could be playing the Quest 3 by October 2023.
Meta Cambria (Q2 2022) will include MiniLED screens. Targeting to sell 3 million HMD units in its first year.Quest 3 is planned to include uOLED. Meta signed deal to build production lines for these displays with Changxin TechnologyConnect 2023 announce/release soon afterJanuary 4, 2022
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Still, with the Quest 2 launching in October 2020, only a year and a half after the original, there's a chance that the Quest 3 could follow a similar timeline – and analyst predictions should always be taken with a hefty pinch of salt.
The signs are promising, too, and more information is being revealed about the next Quest device as the months roll on. In a 2021 interview with The Information, Zuckerberg not only confirmed that the Quest 3 is definitely in the works, but that the company is already in the early stages of work on the Quest 4.
“Because of how hardware gets developed, you kind of need to know what your next three products are going to look like all at the same time," Zuckerberg said.
"It’s not like software, where we’re changing it every couple of weeks. We have product teams spun up now working on the next few generations of virtual reality and what Quest 3 and 4 are gonna look like.“
Although there's a big difference between actually creating these products and defining what they're "gonna look like", this is good news for those who are keen to find out more about the Quest 3.
(Image credit: Future)
It's not all sunshine and rainbows, though. In April 2021, details were shared of a recent online chat between two key Oculus executives who suggested its next device is more likely to be an incremental Oculus Quest 2 Pro upgrade rather than a full-on Oculus Quest 3 follow-up – but again, this may have been in reference to the aforementioned upgraded Quest 2, or indeed the recently-announced Project Cambria. Meta hasn't been super clear, either way.
All things considered, then, our best guess for an accurate Oculus Quest 3 release date is late 2023.
Oculus Quest 3 specs and features
Given the improvements made by the Quest 2 over its predecessor, we’d expect the Quest 3 to remain a standalone VR headset with customary improvements to battery life, processing power and resolution.
The Quest 2 boasts a 50% sharper picture than the original device, which sets an impressive benchmark for the Quest 3 to follow. The Quest 2 also upped the refresh rate to 90Hz from the original Quest’s default 72Hz, and increased that figure again to 120Hz in 2021.
It would follow, then, that the Quest 3 will come equipped with a minimum refresh rate of 120Hz, although time will tell whether upcoming VR titles can take full advantage of the upgrade, given that most games still don’t yet support that higher refresh rate.
Interestingly, the aforementioned tweet from analyst Brad Lynch suggests the Quest 3 will include uOLED displays (an upgraded version of OLED). So, while nothing is official just yet, Meta's next Quest headset is almost certain to push the boundaries of visual fidelity.
What's more, a Swiss VR tech manufacturer, CREAL, last year demonstrated its breakthrough in light-field display technology, showing off a headset capable of focusing at long distances and rendering high resolution imagery up close. This hardware is capable of generating imagery that accurately represents how we see light from the real world, and though not yet available for the mass-market, we may see something similar arrive with the Quest 3.
CREAL also says its display is capable of running at 240Hz – double the 120Hz refresh established by the Quest 2 update – though this does seem a little too big of a jump for the Quest 3 to make.
(Image credit: Oculus)
We could also see changes to form factor, possibly decreasing the headset's weight further or focusing on comfort-related alterations. As per recent rumors, we've seen multiple clips showing a device dubbed 'Seacliff' – the supposed codename for a new Oculus (now Meta) VR headset – which could indicate some of the design changes coming to Meta's next device.
In these videos, one of which you can find below, we see a new VR headset (that seems to be wireless like the Oculus Quest 2) sporting a much less bulky front visor, with the weight instead distributed across the front and with a pack at the back.
Quest Pro / Seacliff [thread]found by Samulia in the Seacliff firmware pic.twitter.com/0pGODx2HCpOctober 24, 2021
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After the cryptic announcement of Project Cambria, though, we're fairly confident that Seacliff is instead codename for, well, Project Cambria – though the video nonetheless hints at potential form changes we could still yet see in a new Quest headset.
We're sure the software of any new Oculus device will be updated to improve hand tracking, too – especially as the kind of haptic feedback we're seeing in the PS5 DualSense controller seems like it could elevate VR experiences if it came to the Quest's pair of controllers in a meaningful way.
An almost inevitable feature of the Quest 3, though, will be its integration with the Meta ecosystem, meaning you’ll likely need a Meta account to access the platform. This prerequisite means you’ll again be subject to Meta’s data monitoring practices – so if you’re morally against the Quest 2’s data-harvesting methods, you’ll be out of luck once more.
The company has made a conscious effort to distance itself from its previous business model, mind, with its VR division now wholly separate from its Facebook platform – suggesting you may not need the latter to enjoy the products developed by the former.
One other tidbit we've heard from the software side is that Meta may have abandoned development on its combined AR/VR operating system, at least for now, so the software on board the new headset is likely to be similar to what's running on the Oculus Quest 2.
Oculus Quest 3 price
How much would an Oculus Quest 3 model cost? Well, the Oculus Quest 2 comes in two variants: a model with 128GB of storage, priced at £299 / $299 / AU$479, and a 256GB version for £399 / $399 / AU$639.
That’s a significant saving over the initial price of the original, entry-level Oculus Quest. We don't expect a Quest 3 to get too much cheaper, though, and we've seen Oculus adopt a 'same price, but better specs' strategy when upgrading the Oculus Rift to the Rift S.
Having said that, knowing Meta's plans to see its hardware become the go-to mainstream VR platform, it could either opt to make the Quest 3 more accessible to all (i.e. cheaper than the Quest 2) or, instead, adopt an Apple-esque model of making its products seem more appealing (read: exclusive) by hiking their price.
We've already heard mutterings that the upcoming Project Cambria headset will be on the expensive side, so it follows that the Quest 3 could be even pricier – if it does indeed end up being the superior device, that is.
(Image credit: Oculus / Facebook)
Oculus Quest 3 predictions
In our review of the Oculus Quest 2, it was hard to find fault with a VR headset that proved immersive, comfortable and easy to use. And yet, while it clearly leads the pack in the VR market, it still falls foul of some of the pitfalls that the technology as a whole suffers from. Here’s a list of updates we want to see on the Oculus Quest 3:
Improved motion sickness prevention
One of those technological pitfalls, and perhaps an unavoidable one, is the motion sickness that can often ensue when using any VR headset. Depending on your tolerance for whirring and blurring, the Quest 2 can be one helluva dizziness-inducer. While there isn’t yet a clear path to making any VR headset immune to user dizziness, it’s nonetheless something we’d like to see improved on the Oculus Quest 3.
A better fit
The same goes for the fit of the device. While the Quest 2 is indeed a comfortable weight when on the head, it can still be a little claustrophobic to achieve a good, tight fit. Again, it’s a problem encountered by almost all VR headsets, and a base-level issue that the next generation of hardware should at least attempt to better address. Those aforementioned design rumors suggest the new Oculus device could solve some of these issues.
Improved Oculus Store
Other improvements we’d like to see include a more effective in-VR Oculus Store. While the equivalent store on browser and in the app makes it easy to discover new releases and search for upcoming games, the store inside the headset itself seems to roll the dice on what apps are shown with no way to quickly navigate to new content. This makes it difficult to pre-order games and discover new titles to purchase when using the device, which is a pivotal part of ensuring the headset maintains replayability.
(Image credit: Oculus / Facebook)
A neighbourhood-like social space
While the Quest 2 has a competent party invitation system to get you game-to-game with your friends, there isn’t a social space to engage with others in-between. It would be interesting to see the Quest 3 introduce a virtual social space, in the same vein as NBA 2K’s neighbourhood area, to share some downtime with others. What’s with the multi-person furniture in the current home environment if there’s nobody to share it with? Luckily, Meta's new metaverse project – ambitious as it seems – suggests virtual social spaces will be at the forefront of all future Quest headsets.
Improved media sharing
Sharing screenshots and videos on Oculus devices has never been easy, and it’s an issue that the Quest 2 tried to address with little success. You still need to jump through several hoops before you’re able to share your VR content, which is often captured haphazardly anyway, so we’d like to see the Oculus 3 make the whole deal more accessible. 1080p video, app integration, proper audio syncing – that’d all be nice, too.
The road ahead for Oculus Quest 3
While VR gaming is a medium that has certainly gained popularity in recent years – the Quest 2 reportedly received five times as many pre-orders as its predecessor – it's still not considered to have cracked the mainstream market.
At least, that’s the opinion of Mark Zuckerberg, who reportedly said in 2018 that 10 million VR users were needed to ensure that the Oculus platform was "sustainable and profitable for all kinds of developers.” He did add, though, that “once we get across this threshold, we think that the content and the ecosystem are just going to explode" (as reported by RoadtoVR).
There’s also a gaping hole in the market right now that the Quest 3 could aim to fill. The Valve Index is one of the best VR headsets we've tested so far, but transistor shortages have effectively shut down manufacturing of the device for the past year, making it very difficult to get hold of one. A new Qust device, then, could learn from the successes of Valve’s headset and achieve a real foothold in the VR industry.
Rumours, of course, are also swirling that an Apple VR headset is in the works (along with an Apple car, Apple glasses, an Apple television and so on…) which could mean heavy competition for Meta in the years to come. Multiple tech heavyweights fighting for the top spot can only be a good thing for VR gaming, though, so we await with bated breath to see what the Oculus (Meta!) Quest 3 can bring to the table.
The iPhone 14 is coming in 2022 - almost certainly in September - and will arrive as a follow up to the impressive iPhone 13 range. And while it's a way off yet, leakers have already begun revealing possible specs, and there are even unofficial renders of the phone online.
Rumored iPhone 14 features
- Likely to land in September
- A new iPhone 14 Max in place of an iPhone 14 mini
- No notch for the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max
- Similar designs to the iPhone 13 range for the basic models
- Two roughly 6.1-inch phones and two 6.7-inch phones
- 48MP cameras on Pro models
- Bigger batteries
- A powerful A16 Bionic chipset
As such, we have a surprisingly clear picture of the form the iPhone 14 range might take – though this far from launch we’d be extra skeptical, as there’s plenty of time for things to change.
But the rumors so far are promising, pointing to a completely new design for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, a totally new model dubbed the iPhone 14 Max, and some significant camera upgrades.
Here you’ll find everything we’ve heard so far, including details about the potential release date and price. And as soon as we hear anything else about the iPhone 14 we’ll add it to this article, so make sure to check back here soon, as leaks are rolling in at a surprisingly rapid rate already.
Latest iPhone 14 news
Feb. 27: A look at the pill and punch hole replacement for the notch on the Pro models comes courtesy of a leaked schematic.
Feb, 21: Production has apparently started! A report claims that Apple has begun trial production of the iPhone 14 range already.
Feb. 7: Is an iPhone SE 3 coming first? Before we get an iPhone 14, the popular budget SE line will be refreshed in March alongside a new iPad Air 5, Bloomberg predicted recently. We wouldn't be at all surprised.
Jan. 27: eSim only? An analyst predicts that Apple might launch a version of the iPhone 14 that only has an eSIM - meaning no removable SIM card. They claim that the company would release versions with physical SIM cards too, so buyers have a choice.
Jan. 15: 120Hz all the way round! Every edition of the iPhone 14 will come with a 120Hz ProMotion display, one analyst believes – a feature that is currently an exclusive on the Pro and Pro Max models when it comes to the iPhone 13.
* More of the latest iPhone tidbits ▼
Jan. 15: 120Hz all the way round! Every edition of the iPhone 14 will come with a 120Hz ProMotion display, one analyst believes – a feature that is currently an exclusive on the Pro and Pro Max models when it comes to the iPhone 13.
Jan. 13: The notch is dead. Long live cutouts. Apple will incorporate both a circular and pill-shaped camera cutout on the front display of the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max handsets, says a supply-chain expert. And "the smaller hole will not be invisible."
Jan. 11: Hold onto your wallet. If you can believe the rumors, the iPhone 14 will cost $799 in the US - the same price the iPhone 13 started at. And the Pro and Pro Max will get even more expensive.
**
iPhone 14: what you need to know
iPhone 14 release date: There aren't any release date rumors yet, but Apple almost always unveils new iPhone models in September.
iPhone 14 price: Pricing is unknown, but for reference the iPhone 13 started at $799 / £779 / AU$1,349, and prices may be similar for the next models.
Design: The iPhone 14 will probably look a lot like the iPhone 13, but the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max could get a punch-hole camera instead of a notch. There might also be a big-screen iPhone 14 Max in place of an iPhone 14 mini.
Display: The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro could have 6.1-inch (or 6.06-inch) 1170 x 2532 OLED screens, while the iPhone 14 Max and iPhone 14 Pro Max could have 6.7-inch (or 6.68-inch) 1284 x 2778 OLED screens. Expect a 120Hz refresh rate on the Pro models and a 60Hz refresh rate on the others.
Camera: The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max could have 48MP main cameras (up from 12MP on the current models). Other specs are unclear, but a triple-lens snapper on all but the standard iPhone 14 is likely, with the basic phone instead having two rear lenses.
Specs: Every iPhone 14 model is expected to have a powerful A16 Bionic chipset, but the Pro models could additionally have 8GB of RAM (up from a maximum of 6GB currently) and up to 2TB of storage (up from a current maximum of 1TB).
Battery: Little is known about the battery yet, but there are claims that the capacity could increase, with the phones getting thicker to house their larger batteries.
iPhone 14 release date
There’s no news on when the iPhone 14 will be released yet, but we can take a very good guess at this, as Apple tends to announce new models around the same time each year, usually at a special event.
The iPhone 13 was unveiled on September 14, 2021, and it shipped on September 24. While we probably won’t see the iPhone 14 on those exact dates in 2022, Apple tends to unveil the new models on either the first or second Tuesday in September, which would mean either September 6 or September 13.
Then they usually go up for pre-order the Friday of that week, meaning September 9 or 16, and ship the following Friday, so September 16 or 23.
Occasionally Apple will announce the phones on the first or second Wednesday instead, but around those dates seems very likely anyway. The iPhone 12 range was an exception to this, landing in October 2020, but that was thanks to delays and supply issues caused by Covid-19.
So far it doesn't look like there will be delays this year, with trial production apparently having already started (as of late February), which is on schedule.
iPhone 14 price
We've heard one iPhone 14 price leak which detailed four members of the new range - with a Max included, but no Mini.
Apparently the base phone will start at $799 - the iPhone 13 starts at $799 / £779 / AU$1,349, so that fits - with the iPhone 14 Max going for $100 more than that.
The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are said to go for $1,099 and $1,199 respectively, which would mean each would be $100 more than the starting price of their predecessors.
The price could be similar to the iPhone 13's(Image credit: Apple)
iPhone 14 design
The biggest news on the iPhone 14’s design comes from one big leak, which includes unofficial renders of the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
You can see one of these below, and it includes a punch-hole camera instead of a notch, with the Face ID components presumably being under the screen. It also doesn’t really have a camera bump, with the lenses sitting almost flat on the back – a thing that is apparently achieved by making the phone thicker.
The back is a semi-glossy glass, the volume buttons are shown to be round, and it apparently has titanium sides, in place of stainless steel on the iPhone 13 Pro Max. You can also see that there’s still a triple-lens camera and a Lightning port.
The colors shown here aren’t official (though the source claims to have seen a rose gold model), and it’s worth also noting that this design is thought to only apply to the Pro models, with the iPhone 14 (and iPhone 14 Max if there is one) likely to still have a notch. It’s not currently clear which if any of the other design details here could make it to the standard models.
(Image credit: Jon Prosser / RendersByIan)
We would of course take this with a huge helping of salt, especially as it comes from Jon Prosser, who has a mixed track record, and as another source has said the iPhone 14 Pro range will still have a notch (albeit a smaller one) - possibly as well as a punch-hole.
But Prosser is often right, and both Mark Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo (two leakers with excellent track records for Apple information) have since said that the notch will be replaced with a punch-hole camera, as more recently has The Elec.
Another leaker has chimed in to say the same too, though they claim that the camera cut-out will be pill-shaped, suggesting that it might be bigger than most punch-hole cameras.
Ross Young - a supply-chain expert in the world of smartphone displays - has said he believes the company will adopt a "hole + pill" design of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. That will mean a pill-shaped cutout, as well as a smaller hole that will still be visible – a theory backed up with a leaked schematic cut out.
All that said, Gurman has recently said the iPhone 14 range will include “a hole-punch-sized notch”, and it's not clear from that whether he means a small notch or an actual punch-hole, so there's still some uncertainty.
We’ve also heard similar about the design from another source (Ross Young). Young has been talking about there being under-display Face ID in the iPhone 14 Pro range since June 2021, but doesn’t seem as sure it will happen as Prosser, adding in September 2021 that under-display Face ID is still being worked on and isn’t final yet – though saying that it’s apparently easier to achieve than an in-screen camera.
Elsewhere, we’ve heard that the Pro models could use a titanium alloy for their frame. This would likely be stronger than the materials used in current models, and this source also claims there will be an iPhone 14 Max in place of an iPhone 14 mini.
iPhone 14 display
Reputable leaker Ming-Chi Kuo claims that there will be two 6.1-inch iPhone 14 models (a standard one and a Pro), and two 6.7-inch ones (a Pro Max and a Max).
We’ve also heard more detailed screen specs from Ross Young (another leaker with a good track record). Young claims that the iPhone 14 will have a 6.06-inch 1170 x 2532 OLED screen with a 60Hz refresh rate and 460 pixels per inch. The iPhone 14 Pro will apparently have similar screen specs, but with a 120Hz variable refresh rate.
Then the iPhone 14 Pro Max is said to have a 6.68-inch 1284 x 2778 OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and 458 pixels per inch. There’s also apparently going to be an iPhone 14 Max (taking the place of the mini) with basically the same screen specs but a 60Hz refresh rate.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max(Image credit: TechRadar)
Another source has also suggested that the two cheaper models will be stuck with 60Hz screens, just like in the current range. That said, we've more recently heard that Apple is considering a 120Hz screen for the iPhone 14 Max, but that the decision hasn't yet been made.
A leak has also suggested that all four iPhone 14 models could have 120Hz screens. This is quite an old leak and is at odds with one above, but this claim has been made again more recently, so we're not sure what's right here.
And there’s also a patent for a technology that could make the iPhone screen stronger, without making it any thicker. That would be a nice addition, but patents often don’t turn into anything, so don’t count on seeing this.
iPhone 14 camera
On the camera front, the unofficial renders above show the iPhone 14 Pro Max with a triple-lens camera, and indeed another source also points to that phone (and the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Max) having a triple-lens camera. The iPhone 14 meanwhile will apparently stick with two lenses.
So that doesn’t sound like much change from the iPhone 13 range, though the specifications of the lenses and sensors may well differ.
Indeed, Ming-Chi Kuo (an analyst with a great track record for Apple information) has claimed that the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max will each have a 48MP main camera, up from 12MP on the current models. This would apparently be capable of recording 8K video, and it's something he's more recently reiterated, and in December 2021 reiterated again, so he seems very sure of this.
Plus, another analyst has also joined Kuo in that claim saying that they expect both the Pro models in 2022 to feature 48MP cameras. That isn't confirmation, but it certainly helps Kuo's original claim.
The iPhone 13 Pro(Image credit: Apple)
There are also rumors of a periscope camera in the works (for long range optical zoom), and we’ve even seen a patent supporting these claims. However, most sources suggest this is further out – probably landing on the iPhone 15 or later.
iPhone 14 specs and features
One thing we’re almost certain of is that the iPhone 14 range will have a new chipset, probably called the A16 or the A16 Bionic. According to Ross Young, this would be made on a 4nm process, which suggests it could be a reasonable boost on the 5nm A15 Bionic in the iPhone 13 range.
In fact, the process could even be moved down to 3nm, according to DigiTimes (via MacRumors).
That said, we've more recently heard that a 5nm process could be used once again, as TSMC (the company that's producing the chipset) is apparently struggling to switch to a 3nm (or 4nm) process.
Another leak also suggests both the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will feature 8GB of RAM. 6GB of RAM is the most we've seen on an iPhone, so far. Though we've elsewhere heard that every model will have 6GB of RAM, which would be an upgrade for the cheaper ones, but not for the Pro handsets.
On the storage front, the Pro models of the iPhone 13 increased the maximum amount of internal storage you could buy from 512MB to 1TB, and we're hearing that the iPhone 14 Pro phones could double that again – all the way to 2TB.
Beyond that, some sources reckon we could see under-display Touch ID on the iPhone 14, though Mark Gurman (a leaker with a great track record for Apple information) has said that while Apple apparently tested this, the company is now all-in on Face ID, so it sounds like this probably won’t happen – and if it does, it’s likely to be as well as Face ID rather than instead.
Another rumored but unlikely feature is a switch from a Lightning port to USB-C. Apple is reportedly considering this for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, but as yet only one source has pointed in this direction, so we're skeptical.
What the iPhone 14 range is sure to include though is 5G support, while a patent suggests it might also have a new form of 3D Touch, which would use haptic feedback to make interactions more intuitive. But as with all patents we wouldn’t count on anything coming of this one.
There's also talk that Apple could switch from a physical SIM card to an eSIM (which you wouldn't be able to remove). The iPhone 13 range already has this but it's in addition to a physical one, not instead. However, if Apple does go eSIM-only with any iPhone 14, it will probably also offer models that have both kinds.
iPhone 14 battery
In terms of the battery, it sounds like there could be improvements there, with one source saying it will be larger in the next models, and another saying the phones will be thicker – which could leave room for a larger one.
When it comes time to charge, you might be making use of a MagSafe charger rather than the Lightning port based on one patent, though notably early unofficial renders show the Lightning port intact.
We'd surprised if Apple did ditch the Lightning port on the iPhone 14, but a new EU plan could mean that its days are numbered.
We're likely to see an iPhone SE 3 come out at some point, as it's a phone convention Apple seems to be continuing with, and reports suggest it could arrive as soon as March 8.
Rumored iPhone SE 3 features
- Might land on March 8
- 5G could be the main addition
- A similar design to the last model is likely
- The screen could either stay the same or grow
- A powerful A15 Bionic chipset
- A 12MP camera with a new sensor
Whenever it comes out, the iPhone SE 3 probably won't be called that, and it'll likely follow the iPhone SE (2020)'s naming convention with the year of release in the title, so perhaps we'll actually see the iPhone SE (2022). Then again, a recent leak suggests it could actually be called the iPhone SE Plus 5G.
But while the name is slightly unclear, some of the specs and features are starting to become more so, as there are various leaks and rumors about this upcoming phone, with more rolling in all the time. We've collected them all below, and we'll update this article whenever we hear anything new.
Latest iPhone SE 3 news
Feb. 27: A cheaper price? One analyst suggests the starting price of the iPhone SE 3 could drop as low as $300 in the US.
Feb. 5: A March launch? We weren't expecting the iPhone SE 3 until April or May 2022, but according to Bloomberg the device will be unveiled alongside the iPad Air 5 on Tuesday, March 8.
iPhone SE 3 price: Pricing is unknown, but the iPhone SE (2020) started at $399 / £419 / AU$749. Prices could well be similar for the upcoming phone, although there have been whispers that it could get even cheaper.
Design: The iPhone SE 3 is rumored to look much like its predecessor, with big bezels and a home button, housing a Touch ID fingerprint scanner.
Display: The iPhone SE 3 will likely have a 4.7-inch LCD screen, just like the last model. That said, some reports point to it launching as the iPhone SE Plus 5G and having a larger 5.7-6.1-inch display.
Camera: There might not be many camera changes, with the iPhone SE 3 thought to have the same 12MP snapper as the iPhone SE (2020). However, the actual sensor might be new.
Specs: 5G support is likely to be the big addition with the iPhone SE 3. Beyond that, leaks point to an A15 Bionic chipset - the same as the iPhone 13 range.
Battery: We don't know anything about the iPhone SE 3's battery yet, but it's likely to be similar to the 1,821mAh one in the iPhone SE (2020).
iPhone SE 3 release date
We thought the iPhone SE 3 might land at Apple's Spring Loaded event in April 2021 - after all, that would be a year after the iPhone SE (2020) launched, but it was a no-show. Nor did it appear at the iPhone 13 launch in September.
But there may well be one in 2022 at least, because it's also rumored that there won't be an iPhone 14 mini - meaning Apple might rely on the SE line for fans of smaller phones.
Trial production is also apparently about to start (as of December 2021), further suggesting it's coming soon.
That said, we've elsewhere heard that the iPhone SE 3 might have been delayed until 2024, so there could be a long wait.
And there’s also the iPhone SE Plus to consider. This was rumored to land sometime after the iPhone SE (2020), and while we haven’t heard much about it lately, Ming-Chi Kuo (an analyst with a good track record when it comes to Apple) claimed back in April 2020 that the iPhone SE Plus might not land until 2022.
So this might land instead of the iPhone SE 3 – or maybe we’ll get an iPhone SE 3 and an iPhone SE 3 Plus. It's hard to say at this point.
iPhone SE 3 price
As for the price, the iPhone SE (2020) starts at $399 / £419 / AU$749, so the iPhone SE 3 is likely to have a similar price – Apple tends not to change around its pricing too much between versions.
One analyst has suggested the iPhone SE 3 could come in at $300 in the US, a drop of 25%, but that hasn't been verified yet. It would certainly help the upcoming handset compete better against cheap Android phones.
The iPhone SE 3 might have a similar price to its predecessor (above)(Image credit: Future)
iPhone SE 3 design and display
The biggest iPhone SE 3 leak so far has revealed a number of the possible specs, including that it might be visually similar to its predecessor, with the same bezel-heavy design and 4.7-inch LCD screen.
We've also previously heard that it might have a 4.7-inch LCD screen, so that aspect is looking likely. More recently a third source has weighed in to say the design and screen size won't change with the next refresh.
That said, another source claims that actually it will have a 5.7-6.1-inch LCD screen. This is something we've now heard more than once, and it could be accompanied by a name change to the iPhone SE Plus 5G. So we're not sure which of these is right. It's possible that eventually we'll get both phones.
Elsewhere we've heard that Apple could bring Face ID to a future iPhone SE model. That would likely mean a substantial change to the design, with no more home button and a notch instead. However, given that the leaks above suggest a similar design for the iPhone SE 3, this change might be further out (if it happens at all).
In fact, one source said an iPhone 11-like design was on the cards but then backtracked and said that Apple had decided to stick with the iPhone 8-like look for 2022. The source also said that the company plans to use the iPhone 11-like look on the iPhone SE (2024).
iPhone SE 3 specs and features
According to a big leak, the iPhone SE 3 will have an A15 Bionic chipset (the same as in the iPhone 13 range) and support 5G, while another leak says it will also have 3GB of RAM like its predecessor.
Another source agrees, saying that an A15 chipset and 5G will be added, with a third source also pointing to 5G - so that upgrade looks very likely.
Elsewhere, a leak says it will also have 3GB of RAM, like its predecessor. So that aspect might not be upgraded.
There's also another report that echoes all of the above, but adds that the iPhone SE 3 might stick with a 12MP camera like the iPhone SE (2020), but with a new sensor.
What we want to see
As good as the iPhone SE (2020) is, there’s always room for improvement, so here’s what we want from the iPhone SE 3.
1. A modern design
The iPhone SE (2020) has a rather old fashioned design, and certainly an older design than the rest of the current iPhone range. So we’d like to see things brought up to date for the iPhone SE 3.
By that we mean get rid of the home button and the big bezels above and below the screen, for a more modern look. Doing this would also allow Apple to increase the screen size without increasing the overall size of the handset - or alternatively keep the screen the same size and shrink the phone even smaller.
2. An OLED screen with a higher resolution
The SE (2020)'s screen doesn't overly impress(Image credit: Future)
The iPhone SE (2020) has an IPS LCD screen with a 750 x 1334 resolution, neither of which are exactly cutting edge.
Now, there are of course limits to what can be done with a mid-range phone, but when you consider that the similarly priced OnePlus Nord and Google Pixel 4a both manage a higher resolution and OLED technology (which typically delivers better contrast and other improvements versus LCD), it’s hard to see how Apple could justify omitting these things from the next iPhone SE model.
That said, we wouldn’t count on getting either – Apple rarely competes with Android phones on pure specs.
3. Better battery life
The iPhone SE (2020) has a small 1,821mAh, which might seem reasonable given the phone’s compact size, but we found it didn’t go far, lasting around a day.
That’s not terrible, but it’s certainly not impressive, so we’d like much more from the battery in the iPhone SE 3, whether that’s achieved through increasing the size or making things more efficient.
4. Keep it small and affordable
The iPhone SE (2020) stands out through both its small size and its relatively affordable price, and we want both of those things to remain for the iPhone SE 3.
There aren’t many compact phones anymore – certainly not ones with good specs, and nor are iPhones known for being affordable, so the two things make for a great combination.
5. More cameras
The iPhone SE (2020) has just one rear camera, which isn't really enough(Image credit: TechRadar)
The iPhone SE (2020) has just one camera on the back and one on the front, and while they perform reasonably well, they don’t give you the versatility that you can get with more lenses.
Of course, with even the iPhone 13 only having a dual-lens snapper we don’t expect too much more from the iPhone SE 3, but when you consider that rivals like the OnePlus Nord and Moto G 5G Plus have four cameras on the back and two on the front, you’d think an extra lens or two wouldn’t be too much to ask for.
6. 5G
Apple has now embraced 5G on its flagship range, and we really hope the company lets the tech filter down to the iPhone SE 3, as it’s already available on some of the SE (2020)’s key rivals, notably the aforementioned OnePlus Nord and Moto G 5G Plus, among others.
7. A higher refresh rate
Another feature offered by a number of rivals now is a high refresh rate. The iPhone SE (2020) has a 60Hz refresh rate, which until relatively recently was what all handsets other than gaming phones offered, but now numerous mainstream phones have refresh rates of 90Hz or 120Hz.
It’s a feature that the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max offer, but we’re not optimistic that Apple will bring it to the iPhone SE 3, since it's only on Pro models so far, so Apple is likely to keep the tech as a premium feature for a while.
But it would be great if the company did start including this as a standard feature – it could still differentiate by giving its flagships a 120Hz (or higher) rate, and the iPhone SE 3 a refresh rate of 90Hz.
