Tim Cook Teases ‘Newest Member of the Family’ Debuting Feb 19
In an unusual move, Apple CEO Tim Cook has posted a teaser telling fans to “get ready to meet the newest member of the family” on Wednesday, February 19.
The post on X doesn’t give us much insight into what to expect. It features a shimmering Apple logo in a faded circle against a gray background accompanied by a fairly generic soundtrack of the type we typically hear during Apple event lead-ins.
Folks have already begun deconstructing the logo for hidden meanings, but it’s probably not hard to make an educated guess as to what Cook is getting at.
Apple has several new products in its spring pipeline, but the most prominent is the iPhone SE, which is right around the corner, says Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. He initially believed it was coming this week but revised that prediction on Tuesday, saying it should be “announced by next week.”
That would align with February 19 since Monday is a holiday, making an earlier announcement less likely. Gurman also re-tweeted Cook’s teaser to confidently add that it’s the new iPhone SE that Apple’s chief exec is talking about.
Cook’s reference to a “member of the family” suggests that he’s referring to a single product and not an event where we’ll see multiple new products released. Apple is expected to unveil its M4 MacBook Air lineup in the near future, as well as an M3 or M4 iPad Air and second-generation AirTags, but none of these seem to fit as well as the iPhone SE.
While some have suggested that the circular design hints at a new AirTag, there’s no way that’s a big enough product to justify Cook posting a teaser. Similarly, the metallic sheen feels representative of a MacBook, but the M4 MacBook Air isn’t expected to be groundbreaking; by all reports, it will be the same design as the previous two year’s models, with an M4 chip replacing the M3.
By comparison, the next-generation iPhone SE is a very big deal. Apple last refreshed the design of its budget iPhone in 2020, when its inspiration came from the 2017 iPhone 8. The 2022 model was a spec bump to bring it into the 5G era and add the then-latest A13 chip, but it saw no other meaningful changes. Today, that iPhone SE is an anachronism, a holdover from an era of bezelled LCD screens, home buttons, and Lightning ports.
In the past five years, the rest of Apple’s iPhone lineup has moved ahead in leaps and bounds. Edge-to-edge OLED screens, Face ID, and USB-C ports are now the norm. It’s time for the iPhone SE to get with the program, making it a massive upgrade for Apple’s most affordable iPhone.
By all reports, the next iPhone SE will resemble the iPhone 14 in every way except for the USB-C port on the bottom and a single camera on the back. A few rumors have suggested it could get the Action button from the iPhone 16 and possibly even the Dynamic Island, but the consensus is that it will stick much closer to the iPhone 14 design, retaining the notch and the ring/silent switch. Leaked photos purporting to show dummy units of the new iPhone SE seemingly confirm this.
Nevertheless, none of these photos are guaranteed to reflect the actual iPhone SE design. Accessory makers create dummy units so they can prepare molds for cases. For that reason, they’re usually pretty accurate, produced based on either leaked or even Apple-supplied specifications (for official Made-for-iPhone partners). Still, mistakes are sometimes made, especially when using leaked specs.
The one piece of intrigue here is a report that Apple will use the name “iPhone 16E” for the new model. That would make almost perfect sense in a world where the low-end iPhone received an Action button and Dynamic Island, but it’s a bit more dubious if it will visually resemble an iPhone 14. Not impossible, of course, as Apple might consider the A18 chip and support for Apple Intelligence to justify putting it into the “iPhone 16 generation,” regardless of its physical appearance. It’s also possible the less common rumors are correct, and we will see either or both the Action button and Dynamic Island make an appearance.
Gurman certainly seems to believe that the “newest member of the family” implies a rebrand.
“Newest member of the family” does imply a rebrand as well.
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) February 13, 2025
He doesn’t comment on the “iPhone 16E” name, so it’s unclear what he means by this. The iPhone 16 is a “family,” but he could also be focusing on “newest” to suggest that Apple might go with something completely different to mark the next-generation model as an entirely new entry. For example, we heard the name “iPhone XE” bandied about years ago for a more advanced iPhone SE featuring an OLED screen and Face ID. It would be quite a lark if those turned out to be true — just five years late.
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