It finally happened: Apple stopped treating its affordable iPhone as a second class citizen. We expected a new iPhone SE, but we got the iPhone 16e, which sits at the same table as the other iPhone 16 models. It’s not just the name, it’s also the size, the chip that powers it, and a couple of other details that make the iPhone 16e a very interesting entrant into the iPhone 16 lineup.
However, the iPhone 16e is also significantly more expensive than the (now discontinued) iPhone SE. Is it worth it, or should you just dish the extra cash for the “real” iPhone 16? Read on.
Apple iPhone 16e price
The iPhone 16e starts at $599 with 128GB of storage space. Increase that to 256GB and the price goes up to $699, and if you opt for the 512GB variant, the price jumps to $899.
Compared to the old iPhone SE, which cost $429 when it came out in 2022, it’s a big price increase. Given that the iPhone SE has been discontinued (alongside the iPhone 15), the cheapest new iPhone is now the 16e, and it’s in a very different price range.
On the other hand, the iPhone 16e starts at 128GB of storage, which is double what you got with the last generation of the iPhone SE. And unlike the old SE, the iPhone 16e doesn’t immediately scream “old.” Instead, it looks like and performs like a modern iPhone.
The display is a 6.1-inch OLED, very similar to the one on iPhone 16.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
I reckon the pricing will incite mixed responses from potential buyers. Folks who will never pay more than five hundred bucks for a phone are now priced out. Others may be excited that they can get a “real” member of the iPhone 16 family for only $599.
Apple iPhone 16e design
When I reviewed the iPhone SE, back in 2022, it was a very different experience. That phone looked dated compared to the top iPhones of the day, with a significantly smaller display and massive bezels on top and bottom.
But the iPhone 16e looks pretty great. On the front, it’s basically an iPhone 14, with a large, 6.1-inch OLED display. There’s no Dynamic Island on top; instead, you get the notch which hides the front camera, the Face ID camera, the speaker, and various sensors.
On the back, there’s only a single camera coupled with a flash light. It’s a big unit, though, and in an odd way it looks better (cleaner, at least) than the multi-camera arrays on more expensive iPhones. Only two colors are on offer, black and white. My review unit was white, and I loved both the matte white glass on the back, and the way the white frame contrasts with the dark display bezels on the front.
The frame is made of aluminum, and just like on the iPhone 16, the iPhone 16e also gets the Action Button. It’s nice of Apple to include it; I typically set it to perform one thing and never change it again, but it’s better than the old switch.
Overall, Apple struck the right balance with the iPhone 16e’s design. It’s a no-nonsense iPhone that doesn’t look ancient, and it also doesn’t look or feel cheap in any way.
You only get one camera. But it’s a two-in-one.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
Apple also sent me a blue and a pink silicone case for the iPhone 16e. The light silicone cases are a good fit for the iPhone 16e, which, at 167 grams, is the lightest phone in the lineup. Compare it directly with any of the Pro models, and you’ll feel a pretty big difference in weight.
There’s one more thing to consider here, and that is size. At 6.1 inches, the iPhone 16e is essentially the same size as the iPhone 16 (it’s a hair shorter, but you won’t notice that). The iPhone SE was a far smaller phone, and with it out of the way, it means that Apple is no longer selling truly small phones.
Apple iPhone 16e performance and battery life
More than any other “affordable” Apple phone, the iPhone 16e strikes me as the businessman’s phone. It looks good but not flashy. It performs, however, just as well as the iPhone 16, and it even beats it in a couple of very important ways.
The iPhone 16e has Apple’s A18 chip inside; it’s the same chip you’ll find inside the iPhone 16, but it only has four GPU cores instead of five. You won’t notice the difference.
Apple doesn’t say how much RAM its phones have, but benchmarks indicate that the iPhone 16e comes with 8GB of RAM, just like the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Pro models.
Combine that with 128GB of starting storage, and it means that the iPhone 16e performs pretty much the same as the iPhone 16. This was my experience, too: Everything felt fast, no matter how many apps I had open and which apps I used. Yes, even my favorite gaming benchmark, PUBG, was snappy on its highest settings. GeekBench scores confirmed this: with a 3201 single-core, 7423 multi-core score, the iPhone 16e is just a hair slower than the iPhone 16.
You don’t get all the niceties of the Pro models, of course. The iPhone 16e doesn’t have the ProMotion, 120Hz display, or the Dynamic Island, but none of these omissions are dealbrekers for me.
Two colors are on offer, both matte: White and black.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
Here’s a big selling point for the iPhone 16e: It has excellent battery life. Apple says it can handle up to 26 hours of video playback, compared to 22 hours on the iPhone 16. I couldn’t compare the two devices directly, but during the week that I used it as my main phone, the iPhone 16e typically lasted two days after being fully charged, and that’s with very heavy use.
This is partly thanks to Apple’s C1 cellular chip, which made its debut in the iPhone 16e. The chip worked as intended for me; I never had problems with connectivity, calls or messages. If it can do that whilst adding a couple hours of battery life to the phone, it’s a huge win.
Apple wouldn’t be Apple, however, if it didn’t throw a curveball at prospective buyers by removing MagSafe from the iPhone 16e. If you’ve never used it, you won’t care. To me, it’s a big deal; I use a bunch of MagSafe accessories, including Apple Wallet and wireless charging. The iPhone 16e does support wireless charging, though, so you should be able to get a decent experience with MagSafe accessories by using a MagSafe case. I couldn’t get a sample case fast enough for this text, but once I get it, I’ll definitely try it out and let you know how it works.
Apple iPhone 16e: Apple Intelligence
Being in Europe, I don’t get to experience Apple Intelligence on an iPhone yet (it’s coming in April). I’ve played with Apple Intelligence on the Mac, and while nothing seemed essential, the tools are fun and helpful and they’ll probably become better over time.
AI is extremely important for Apple (and, frankly, any other phone maker these days), so it actually makes sense that Apple made its “cheap” iPhone a bit more powerful than expected in order to give it full Apple Intelligence support.
Lightning port is out, USB-C is in.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
I don’t believe people are buying (or even should be buying) phones based on what type of AI features they support, at least not right now. I do suspect that, over time, these features will become as indispensable as having access to search or basic photo editing. In that sense, even if you’re in Europe and don’t have a good idea what AI on an iPhone is like, it’s good to know that the iPhone 16e is fully future-proof when it comes to Apple Intelligence.
Apple iPhone 16e camera
You only get one, 48-megapixel camera on the back of the iPhone 16e. On paper, it’s very similar to the one you get on the iPhone 16, though Apple calls this one a 2-in-1 camera system. That’s because it can produce 24-megapixel or 48-megapixel wide photos, or 12-megapixel 2x zoom photos.
Sharp (perhaps overly so), detailed, with accurate colors: A typical iPhone photo.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
It’s not quite the same as having two cameras, and low light performance can be sketchy. But what you need to know is that the iPhone 16e’s camera is not an afterthought like it was on the iPhone SE. Most of the time, you’ll get sharp, vibrant photos, and the default, 24-megapixel resolution will give you plenty of detail.
By default, the iPhone 16e takes 24-megapixel photos. But if the conditions are good, you can turn it up to 48 megapixels for those extra details.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
Is it even worth zooming in if there’s no dedicated telephoto camera? Yes, it actually is. Zooming into the same scene I typically got a better, smoother photo, even in moderately low light. If there’s a detail you want to focus on, you should use that 2x button.
Left:
On 1x magnification, you get a 24-megapixel photo. The iPhone 16e handles multiple light sources admirably; colors are accurate, and the photo is very sharp, though some of the details get smudgy when you zoom in.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
Right:
With 2x magnification, you only get a 12-megapixel image, which is a bit more noisy, but it’s smoother, with better background details.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
In low light, the results were alright, though you can’t expect Pro-level performance here. I took an evening stroll on the island Rab in Croatia, and managed to take some fairly sharp and detailed photos of the historic Romanic buildings.
The iPhone 16e handles low light scenes well, but don’t expect miracles.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
But pointing the camera onto the fishing boats in the night’s distance yielded very blurry results.
Selfies are pretty great, and you can tune them to your liking by using Photographic Styles, which are somewhat unfairly hidden in the camera settings.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
The selfie camera appears to be unchanged from iPhone 16, so there’s not much to write about. It takes great selfies, and yes, Photographic Styles are supported, so you can go to the camera settings and tune them to your liking.
Apple iPhone 16e: Should you buy?
The Apple logo on the back has never been this subtle.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
The iPhone 16e marks a big change in direction for Apple. The company does not sell any phones cheaper than $599 right now, making the barrier to entry for its ecosystem a lot higher than before.
That said, the iPhone 16e is an excellent phone. It looks good, has all the niceties of a modern iPhone, including a big, OLED display and a modern, 48-megapixel camera. It actually beats other phones in the lineup in several ways; it’s the lightest new iPhone you can buy, and it has excellent battery life. It performs just as well as the iPhone 16, and fully supports Apple Intelligence. It doesn’t have MagSafe, which is a shame, but not everyone will care. Most people who want a no-nonsense iPhone for the least amount of money won’t mind the other omissions, either, such as the lack of Dynamic Island. Finally, it’s future-proof; since it has Apple’s super-fast A18 chip, it’ll probably be fast enough in three, four, or even five years.
All of this makes the iPhone 16e good value for money. But this is not the iPhone SE, and it’s not a cheap Apple phone; those things are gone for now. It’s just a cheaper iPhone 16.
