Photo reveals Apple iPhone 9 name, 4.7-inch screen; sorry, no 5G for the SE sequel

The Apple iPhone SE was a "budget-priced" iPhone model that was introduced in March 2016. Borrowing the design of the then two-and-a-half-years-old iPhone 5s, the iPhone SE was created to solve two pressing issues of the times. The starting price was $399 making it the "more-affordable" or "low-priced" iPhone. And as Apple started to follow Android manufacturers to the land of the larger screens, some iPhone users were longing for the older days when they could touch the top of the display using their thumbs. So instead of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s or 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus, one could buy the 4-inch iPhone SE.

Needless to say, the iPhone SE was a hit and Apple eventually listed the phone as being sold out in January 2019. Apple eventually sold refurbished units from its online store at a huge discount. And being no dummy, CEO Tim Cook had the company embark on a sequel, the iPhone SE2. There is speculation that the device features hardware specs belonging to the iPhone 8; thus the handset is dubbed the iPhone 9. And a new leak shared on Twitter by tipster Jon Prosser reveals that the iPhone 9 moniker does seem likely.

A Target employee leaked a photo to Jon that shows an image from one of those handheld inventory checkers that Target employees carry around with them. The image shows that the discount retailer will be selling a ZAGG InvisibleShield screen protector for the iPhone 9, priced at $29.99. Yes, that is the price that current ZAGG screen protectors sell for. The listing shows that the new phone will indeed be called the iPhone 9, and also reveals that it should look like the iPhone 8-at least when it comes to the screen.

This means that we should see the iPhone 9 feature a 4.7-inch LCD display with a resolution of 750 x 1334. Face ID? Not a chance; this model will sport the old Touch ID fingerprint reader that doubles as a home button. Home button? But what about gesture navigation? Forget it. There is no TrueDepth Camera in front (which means no notch) and you can expect an old-school 16:9 aspect ratio. What it will have is the A13 Bionic SoC under the hood; this is the 7nm chipset powering the 2019 iPhone units and with 8.5 billion transistors inside, it should take you wherever you need to go. Apple is also putting a little more meat on the memory bones hiking the amount of RAM that the device is equipped with by 50% (from 2GB to 3GB).

Thanks to hidden code discovered in the recently released iOS 13.4.5 beta, it appears that the iPhone 9 will support Apple's upcoming CarKey feature that will debut in iOS 14. CarKey will allow an iPhone user to remotely open and start a vehicle using his or her iPhone. And now would be as good a time as any to tell you that the iPhone 9 will not support 5G connectivity. The first iPhone models to do so will be the next flagship iPhone 12 line. The company that assembles the majority of iPhone units every year, Foxconn, said yesterday that there is still a good chance that the first 5G iPhones will be in the stores during the holiday shopping season.

Today's leak follows one we passed along last Monday. A Best Buy employee took a photo of an Urban Armor Gear case that was made (according to the label) for a 4.7-inch 2020 iPhone. If today's leak is legit, we can call the handset the Apple iPhone 9.

Rumored to be priced starting at $399 for the 64GB model, we could see the iPhone 9 introduced online on April 15th and released exactly one week later.