Apple Announces Its Latest Budget Phone, the iPhone 16e

On Wednesday, Apple unveiled the iPhone 16e, its newest budget-friendly model. Replacing the 2022 iPhone SE, the iPhone 16e starts at $599, significantly narrowing the price gap with the $799 iPhone 16. Available for pre-order starting Friday, February 21st, with a release date of February 28th, it marks a shift from the substantial discounts offered by previous SE models.

The iPhone 16e is also the first phone to feature Apple's C1 cellular modem. Following the success of its M-series and A-series chips, Apple's foray into in-house cellular modems is a significant step. The performance of the C1 will be crucial, and Apple will hopefully avoid connectivity issues reminiscent of the iPhone 4's "Antennagate" scandal.

iPhone 16e

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From the front, the iPhone 16e closely resembles the iPhone 14, boasting an identical 6.1-inch OLED display with a 2532x1170 resolution and 1200-nit peak brightness. While not as sharp or bright as the iPhone 16, it includes the Action button and a USB-C port, omitting the Camera Control feature.

The rear design is more distinct, featuring a single 48MP camera, similar to the iPhone SE. While sharing similarities with the iPhone 16's main camera, it lacks sensor-shift stabilization, the latest Photographic Styles, and adjustable portrait mode focus. The selfie camera, however, appears identical, retaining Face ID functionality.

The phone's construction utilizes aluminum, a glass back, and Apple's Ceramic Shield on the front. While Apple continues to market this Ceramic Shield as "tougher than any smartphone glass," it's worth noting that a newer, supposedly "two times tougher" version exists, raising questions about the iPhone 16e's durability.

Internally, the iPhone 16e showcases product stratification. While equipped with an "A18" chip, it differs from the iPhone 16's A18, featuring a 4-core GPU compared to the iPhone 16's 5-core GPU, despite having the same number of CPU cores. Performance is expected to be a step down from the iPhone 16, though the Neural Engine remains, enabling Apple Intelligence features.

The iPhone 16e's lower price point necessitates compromises. While not overly compromised, the discount is less significant than previous iPhone SE models. At $599, it's Apple's cheapest offering, but the 2022 iPhone SE launched at $429, offering a nearly 50% discount compared to the then-$799 iPhone 13. The iPhone 16e, however, uses a more current design, albeit with minor yearly tweaks since 2018.

The iPhone 16e's performance remains to be seen. With compelling Android alternatives around $600, such as the OnePlus 13R, Apple may face challenges attracting buyers outside its existing ecosystem.