After months of rumors and speculation, the iPhone 16e has arrived to replace the iPhone SE (2022) as Apple’s cheapest smartphone. Pre-orders are live now, and the phone itself will begin shipping on February 28.
As the new name suggests, the iPhone 16e isn’t exactly a direct follow-up to the iPhone SE, but it does have the same spirit. It’s got the internals of the iPhone 16 packaged in an older design with a single-camera setup and fewer bells and whistles than its more expensive contemporaries. That’s the iPhone SE MO if ever there was one.
However, there’s more than just a name separating the iPhone 16e from its predecessor. At $599 / £599 / AU$999, the iPhone 16e is far more expensive than the iPhone SE (2022) ever was. Up until February 19, Apple sold the latter for just $429 / £429 / AU$719, which is an absolute steal in comparison.
Off the top of my head, that’s the largest price jump between two iPhone ‘generations’ in recent memory. To me, this price hike echoes the reveal of the iPhone X at $999 / £999 / AU$1,579 way back in 2017, which marked a sizeable increase over the iPhone 7’s $649 / £599 / AU$1,079 launch price.
Though the iPhone 16e won’t have nearly as much impact as the then-flagship iPhone X, it still suggests that Apple is feeling braver about its smartphone pricing than in recent years, during which time things have stayed pretty stable across the company’s mobile portfolio.
Just recently, I wrote that I’d struggle to recommend an iPhone SE 4 that cost in excess of $500 / £500 / AU$800, but as mentioned, the iPhone 16e seems to be starting a new product line. So, in the spirit of fairness, let’s take a look at what you get for your money.
As expected, the iPhone 16e has effectively the same internal makeup as the baseline iPhone 16, with the powerful A18 chipset, 128GB of storage, and presumably 8GB of RAM as the phone supports Apple Intelligence. The iPhone 16e also debuts Apple’s new C1 modem for 5G and cell service connectivity.
The real differences come with the camera and design. The iPhone 16e sports the same 48MP main camera as the iPhone 16, but that’s it – there’s no ultra-wide camera, no telephoto lens, and fewer shooting modes. Design-wise, the iPhone 16e borrows the display of the iPhone 14 – notch and all – and the body of the iPhone 15, including the handy Action button.
With five models in the iPhone 16 series, and the iPhone 15 still kicking about, Apple’s mobile pricing ladder has never made less sense.
Older display aside, it’s a modern-looking phone that doesn’t look particularly out of place alongside the rest of the iPhone lineup. It’s clearly not aiming for the same combination of nostalgia and familiarity as the iPhone SE, which in its final incarnation sported the internals of the iPhone 13 and the chassis of an iPhone 8, complete with a Lightning port, massive bezels, and even a Touch ID-enabled Home button.
The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus have also been discontinued, replaced by the iPhone 16e. The iPhone 14, with its A15 chipset, 6GB of RAM, and 12MP camera, was previously sold by Apple at a price of $599 / £599 / AU$999, and when you put it next to the iPhone 16e, the latter definitely seems like better value for money.
That said, I think the takeaway here is that the iPhone 14 was overpriced, rather than the iPhone 16e being particularly good value for money. For a better read, we need to look over the fence at what Android phone makers are up to in the same price bracket.
Simpler stratification
As I mentioned in my previous op-ed, for $100 / £100 / AU$150 less than the cost of the iPhone 16e you can pick up the Google Pixel 8a, which offers pretty much all the same functionality as Apple’s mid-ranger, albeit via Android and Google Gemini rather than iOS and Apple Intelligence – you also get an ultra-wide camera and a 120Hz display with a punch-hole selfie camera.
Google’s phone lineup is also well-stratified while offering real value at every step, because the company takes an additive approach to value, adding features to justify higher price points. It also helps that Google keeps the lineup neat at just four phones.
It’s my suspicion that Apple is more subtractive with the way it decides value, seemingly starting with the top-end Pro Max and taking away features to justify cheaper price points. But with five models in the iPhone 16 series, and the iPhone 15 still kicking about despite being outclassed in hardware power and AI support by the new iPhone 16e, Apple’s mobile pricing ladder has never made less sense.
Furthermore, the iPhone 16e is oddly positioned as a gateway device to Apple’s AI suite. As the cheapest iPhone you can buy from Apple directly, this will be the choice for people who want something cost-effective and simple. I’m unconvinced that this is the same audience that cares much about Apple Intelligence.
Even with all the confusion, my gut tells me that the iPhone 16e is just too expensive for what it is. Apple has missed the mark with a phone marketed to AI lovers, built for digital minimalists, and sold at a price that can’t claim to be budget-friendly but also prevents a truly premium feature set. I’m still looking forward to our iPhone 16e review, but I’m not sure I’ll be convinced that the iPhone 16e is worth the money.
What do you think of the iPhone 16e? Should it find a place on our list of the best cheap phones? Might it surprise us and turn out to be one of the best iPhones in recent years? Let us know in the comments below.
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