Apple Might Be Working On A New, Super Affordable iPhone

It's rare to hear or see the words "Apple" and "cheap" in the same sentence — and trust me, it gives me no pleasure to say that. No matter how much I wish I could be one of the cool kids working to close my daily activity rings on the Apple Watch or unlocking my device with a quick facial scan, the tech company's bright and shiny gadgets are always ever so slightly out of reach. And I know I'm not the only one who feels that way! I do, however, have some promising — if not extremely preliminary — news for all of my Apple aspiring friends out there. There are some rumors about cheaper Apple iPhones being in development, though for now they're just that: rumors. (Bustle has reached out to Apple for more information on these reports, but has not yet heard back.)

On Apr. 18, French Web site Consomac released the first report of Russian-language regulatory filings submitted with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) by Apple. Gizmodo broke down the meaning of said filings — in English — shortly after. The major takeaway? There are rumors that a new iPhone SE — aka, Apple's cheaper version of an iPhone that is about the size of an old iPhone 5S but includes the inner hardware of an iPhone 6 — might be announced at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2018. If your iPhone screen has shattered beyond readability and you've been holding off on getting a new one until you were fully downloaded on the tech giant's new offerings, this could be great, affordable news.

In order to understand why this seemingly dull regulatory paperwork might just be the bearer of very exciting news for Apple users, it's necessary to take a step back and consider the way that similar paperwork has predicted product launches in the past. According to Gizmodo, a 2017 EEC filing about new MacBook models came just before those models were actually introduced to consumers. The same thing happened again in March 2018, when two inexpensive 9.7-inch iPad models rolled out one month after the same type of paperwork was discovered for, well, two inexpensive 9.7-inch iPad models. If history really does repeat itself, it's certainly possible that the iPhone-related filings reported more recently by Consomac are, in fact, an early tip-off to the announcement that's to come at the June conference.

Per Gizomodo, the EEC filings tease to Apple's registration of 11 new iOS 11-friendly iPhones: A1920, A1921, A1984, A2097, A2098, A2099, A2101, A2103, A2104, A2105 and A2106. Information is limited, so it's hard to say if each one of those model numbers matches a unique model or simply multiple sizes and carriers for one or two models.

For the budget shopper, the most exciting speculations out there are the ones about a potential refresh of the iPhone SE. First announced in March 2016, the iPhone SE is a smaller, cheaper version of Apple's increasingly more advanced (and thus, expensive) devices. Gizmodo reports that this would be the SE's first reboot to date.

On Mar. 28 — prior even to Consomac's report on the EEC filings – Macworld also shared speculations about the potential launch of an iPhone SE in June 2018. According to Macworld, the SE2 may have a design similar to that of the current iPhone SE, with a slightly larger 4.2-inch display screen. Apple may also streamline the color options for this model. The original iPhone SE is available in silver, gold, space grey, and rose gold, but Macworld predicts that the updated version may only come in silver, gold, and space grey, similar to the iPhone 8.

Regardless of the color options (or lack thereof), the SE 2 should be a lot kinder to your wallet than other iPhone models — especially if there are flashier, higher-tech versions added to the lineup come June. Macworld expects that it will carry a similar price point to the original SE, which is available for $399 and $449 for the 32GB and 128G models, respectively.

Only time will tell if the predictions about the WWDC launches actually come to fruition. In the meantime, though, if you're open to a more straightforward SE model, I would recommend holding off on buying a replacement phone until June.