Apple teases Feb. 19 launch as AI-ready budget iPhone looms

The iconic physical home button that defined the iPhone era for eighteen years is finally about to vanish.

Apple CEO Tim Cook posted a cryptic animation of a metallic Apple logo on X, teasing the arrival of the "newest member of the family" on Feb. 19. If you squint at the animation, the silhouette of a classic home button seems to fade away. The post was enough to nudge Apple shares up as much as 2% on Thursday.

Bloomberg confirmed that an entry-level iPhone is indeed right around the corner. Stock of the current $429 iPhone SE has been quickly draining across Apple retail stores, usually a dead giveaway that a successor is waiting in the wings. Cook's phrasing also hints that Apple might rebrand the entry-level lineup altogether, retiring the "SE" badge it has used since 2016.

Modern chassis meets flagship silicon

According to Bloomberg, the new budget device will closely resemble the iPhone 14. That means a larger edge-to-edge display, Face ID sensors, and zero physical buttons on the front chin—marking the official end of the home button introduced by Steve Jobs on the original iPhone back in 2007.

Under the hood, though, Apple is skipping several generations. Instead of stuffing it with hand-me-down silicon, the company is reportedly equipping the phone with the same A18 chip powering the iPhone 16. That horsepower will allow it to run Apple Intelligence features right on the device.

Even bigger news lies in the modem: this handset is expected to be Apple's first commercial product featuring its long-rumored, in-house cellular modem chip, kickstarting the phase-out of Qualcomm parts. Apple plans to slip that modem into a new slimmer iPhone this fall, before moving an upgraded version to Pro models in 2026. Because of the heavy hardware overhaul, the price tag is expected to climb slightly north of the current $429.

It is just the start of a busy spring for Cupertino. Bloomberg reports Apple is also prepping M4 MacBook Airs, refreshed entry-level and Air iPads, a smart home display hub, and a new AirTag tracker for the first half of 2025.

Why it matters

Apple needs this phone badly. In the crucial holiday quarter, iPhone revenue unexpectedly dipped 1%, weighed down by an 11% sales drop in China. Pitching an outdated four-year-old shell with thick bezels against cutthroat mid-range Android competition simply was not cutting it anymore.

Putting the A18 chip and Apple Intelligence on a budget device is a calculated move. AI models are useless if nobody is running them. Keeping Apple Intelligence locked inside expensive flagship devices limits adoption; democratizing it on a lower-priced model immediately broadens the active user base and forces developers to build for it.

Rolling out its own modem here is equally clever. Testing proprietary silicon on an entry-level tier allows Apple to validate real-world carrier performance before rolling it out to its high-stakes Pro lines. For budget-conscious buyers waiting to try Apple’s AI features without spending flagship money, this phone looks like the easiest ticket in—even if it comes with a modest price bump.