Apple’s next iPhone may arrive as soon as next month.
A new report out of Germany this week claims that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company is planning on hosting an event March 31 where it is expected to unveil the successor to the lower-priced iPhone SE.
The new phone is expected to have a body similar to that of the iPhone 8, but with the processing power of the iPhone 11, and could sell for as little as $399 according to highly-regarded Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
The German blog iPhone-Ticker cites sources close to Apple. The March date would line up with similar March events that Apple has held in recent years.
Apple is expected to release the new iPhone — which could be called the iPhone SE2 or iPhone 9 — as well as an updated version of its popular iPad Pro. The tech giant may also introduce a new product, dubbed AirTag, at the event.
AirTag would be a quarter-sized, wallet-friendly device for tracking possessions. The trackers would help users find lost items thanks to the signal they beam to the user’s phone. They could be slipped into a wallet, pocket of a bag or attached to any item that might be regularly misplaced.
Kuo said in a recent research note that he expects Apple will produce tens of millions of AirTags this year.
Also this week, Bloomberg reported that Apple is considering opening its famously restrictive ecosystem to third-party apps. The company is having internal discussions about whether it should allow users to set non-Apple email and web browsing apps as their default.
Apple has been criticized by competitors and lawmakers for potential antitrust violations due to its habit of not allowing users to opt out of using pre-installed Apple apps as the default.