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Apple iPhone 16e: Two-Minute Review
The iPhone 16e is a good phone. It has a pleasing design, and it feels like a true member of the iPhone 16 family. It is not a great phone, though – how could it be with a retro notch in the Super Retina XDR display and just a single 48MP camera?
There are ‘budget’ phones that cost far less and which have larger screens and multiple rear cameras. They’re not iOS handsets, and that counts for something – any new iPhone joins an expansive and well-designed ecosystem offering connective tissue between excellent Apple services and other Apple hardware. I mostly live in that world now, and I appreciate how well my iPhone 16 Pro Max works with, for instance, my Mac, and how all my cloud-connected services know it’s me on the line.
It’s been a while since I’ve had such conflicting feelings about an iPhone. I appreciate that Apple thought it was time to move away from the iPhone SE design language, one that owed most of its look and feel to 2017’s iPhone 8. I’m sure Apple couldn’t wait to do away with the Lightning port and the Home button with Touch ID (which lives on in Macs and some iPads). But instead of giving us something fresh, Apple took a bit of this and a bit of that to cobble together the iPhone 16e.
The display is almost the best Apple has to offer if you can ignore the notch, aren’t bothered by larger bezels, and don’t miss the Dynamic Island too much. The main 48MP Fusion camera is very good and shoots high-quality stills and videos, but don’t be fooled by the claims of 2x zoom, which is actually a 12MP crop on the middle of the 48MP sensor. I worry that people paying $599 / £599 / AU$999 for this phone will be a little frustrated that they’re not at least getting a dedicated ultra-wide camera at that price.
Conversely, there is one bit of this iPhone 16e that’s not only new but is, for the moment, unique among iPhone 16 devices: the C1 chip. I don’t know why Apple’s cheapest iPhone got this brand-new bit of Apple silicon, but it does a good job of delivering 5G and even satellite connectivity. Plus, it starts moving Apple out from under the yolk of Qualcomm, Apple’s cellular modem chip frenemy. That relationship has been fraught for years, and I wonder if Apple had originally hoped to put the C1 in all iPhone 16 models but the development schedule slipped.
In any case, while it’s hard to measure the connectivity benefits (it’s another good 5G modem), Apple says this is the most efficient cellular modem it’s ever put in an iPhone (that seems like a swipe at Qualcomm), and helps to deliver stellar battery life: a claimed 26 hours of video streaming. Battery life in real-world use will, naturally, be a different story.
On balance, I like this phone’s performance (courtesy of the A18 chip and 8GB of RAM), its looks, and how it feels in the hand (a matte glass back and Ceramic Shield front), and I think iOS 18 with Apple Intelligence is well-thought-out and increasingly intelligent (though Siri remains a bit of a disappointment); but if you’re shopping for a sub-$600 phone, there may be other even better choices from the likes of Google (Pixel 8a), OnePlus (OnePlus 13R) and the anticipated Samsung Galaxy S25 FE. You just have to be willing to leave the Apple bubble.
Apple iPhone 16e: Price and availability
Apple unveiled the iPhone 16e on February 19, 2025. It joins the iPhone 16 lineup, and starts at $599 / £599 / AU$999 with 128GB of storage, making it the most affordable smartphone of the bunch. It’s available in black or white.
While some might consider the iPhone 16e to be the successor to the iPhone SE 3, it has little in common with that device. In particular, that was a $429 phone. At $599, Apple might be stretching the definition of budget, but it is $200 cheaper than the base iPhone 16. The phone’s price compares somewhat less favorably outside the iOS sphere. The OnePlus 13R for instance is a 6.7-inch handset with three cameras, and the Google Pixel 8a matches the iPhone 16e’s 6.1-inch screen size (though at a lower resolution), but also includes two rear cameras.
You won’t find more affordable new phones in the iOS space. The iPhone 15 has the main and ultra-wide camera and the Dynamic Island, but it costs $699 / £699 / AU$1,249. A refurbished iPhone 14 costs $529, but neither it nor the iPhone 15 supports Apple Intelligence.
Apple iPhone 16: Specs
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
iPhone 16 |
|---|---|
|
Dimensions: |
146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8mm |
|
Weight: |
167g |
|
Display: |
6.1-inch OLED |
|
Resolution: |
2532 x 1170 pixels |
|
Refresh rate: |
60Hz |
|
Chipset: |
A18 |
|
Rear cameras: |
48MP main (26mm, f/1.6) |
|
Front camera: |
12MP (f/1.9) |
|
Storage: |
128GB, 256GB, 512GB |
Apple iPhone 16e: Design
- No trace of the iPhone SE design remains
- Hybrid iPhone 14/15 design
- Sharper edges than the current iPhone 16 design
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There’s no question that the iPhone 16e is a part of the iPhone 16 family. At a glance, especially when the screen is off, it’s almost a dead ringer for the base model; the aerospace aluminum fame is only slightly smaller.
Upon closer examination, those similarities recede, and I can see the myriad differences that make this a true hybrid design. This is now the only iPhone with a single camera, which almost looks a little lonely on the matte glass back. The edges of the metal band that wraps around the body are noticeably sharper than those of any other iPhone 16, but the phone still feels good in the hand.
The button configuration is essentially what you’d find on an iPhone 15. There’s the power / sleep / Siri button on the right, and on the left are the two volume buttons and the Action button. Unlike the rest of the iPhone 16 lineup the 16e doesn’t get the Camera Control, but at least the Action button is configurable, so you can set it to activate the camera or toggle the Flashlight, Silent Mode, Voice Memo, and more. I set mine to launch Visual Intelligence, an Apple Intelligence feature: you press and hold the Action button once to open it, and press again to grab a photo, and then you can select on-screen if you want ChatGPT or Google Search to handle the query. Apple Intelligence can also analyze the image directly and identify the subject.
The phone is iP68 rated to handle water and dust, including a dunk in six meters of water for 30 minutes. The screen is protected with a Ceramic Shield to better protect it from drops, though I’m not sure it does much to prevent scratches.
I put a case on the phone, never dropped it, and handled it gingerly, and yet within a day I noticed a long scratch on the screen, although I have no recollection of brushing the display against anything. I had a similar situation with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra; I await the phone that can handle life in my pocket (empty other than the phone) without sustaining a scratch.
Overall, if you like the looks of the iPhone 16 lineup (or even the iPhone 14 and 15 lineups) the iPhone 16e will not disappoint.
Apple iPhone 16e: Display
- Almost Apple’s best smartphone display
- The notch is back
- The bezels are a little bigger
If you’re coming from the iPhone SE to the iPhone 16E, you’re in for quite a shock. This 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED screen is nothing like the 4.7-inch LCD display on that now-retired design.
The iPhone 16e features a lovely edge-to-edge design – with slightly larger bezels than you’ll find on other iPhone 16 phones – that leaves no room for the dearly departed Touch ID Home button. Instead, this phone adopts the Face ID biometric security, which is, as far as I’m concerned, probably the best smartphone face recognition in the business. Face ID lives in the TrueDepth camera system notch, which also accommodates, among other things, the 12MP front-facing camera, microphone, and proximity sensor.
While I never had a big problem with the notch, I can’t say I’m thrilled to see it return here. The rest of the iPhone 16 lineup features the versatile Dynamic Island, which I think most would agree is preferable to this cutout.
Image 1 of 3
The iPhone 16e shares the iPhone 16’s 460ppi resolution, but it does lose a few pixels (2532 x 1170 versus 2556 x 1179 for the iPhone 16). It still supports True Tone, Wide color (P3), and a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The only area where it loses a bit of oomph is on the brightness front. Peak brightness for HDR content is 1,200 nits, and all other content is 800nits. The iPhone 16’s peak outdoor brightness is 2,000 nits. As with other non-pro models, the refresh rate on the iPhone 16e sits at a fixed 60Hz.
Even so, I had no trouble viewing the iPhone 16e screen in a wide variety of lighting situations, and any shortcomings are only evident in the brightest, direct sunlight.
In day-to-day use, everything from photos and video to AAA games, apps, and websites looks great on this display. Colors are bright and punchy, and the blacks are inky. I’m not distracted by the notch on games, where it can cut a bit into the gameplay view, and most video streaming defaults to a letterbox format that steers clear of it, with black bars on the left and right sides of the screen.
Apple iPhone 16e: Software and Apple Intelligence
- iOS 18 is a rich and well-thought-out platform
- Apple Intelligence has some impressive features, but we await the Siri of our dreams
- Mail and photo redesigns leave something to be desired
iOS 18 is now smarter, more proactive, and more customizable than ever before. I can transform every app icon from ‘Light’ to ‘Tinted’ (monochromatic), fill my home screen with widgets, and expand them until they almost fill the screen. This customizability carries through to the Control Center, which is now a multi-page affair that I can leave alone, or completely reorganize so the tools I care about are available with a quick swipe down from the upper-right corner.
Image 1 of 2
Apple Intelligence, which Apple unveiled last June, is growing in prominence and utility. It lives across apps like Messages and Email in Writing Tools, which is a bit buried so I often forget it exists. It’s in notification summaries that can be useful for at-a-glance action but which are sometimes a bit confusing, and in image-generation tools like Image Playground and Genmojis.
It’s also in Visual intelligence, which, as have it set up, gives me one-button access to ChatGPT and Google Search.
Image 1 of 2
I think I prefer the more utilitarian features of Apple Intelligence like Clean Up. It lets you quickly remove people and objects from photos as if they were never there in the first place.
I’m also a fan of Audio Mix, which is not a part of Apple Intelligence, but uses machine learning to clean up the messiest audio to make it usable in social media, podcasts, or just for sharing with friends.
iOS 18 also features updated Photos and Mail apps with Apple Intelligence. I’ve struggled a bit with how Photos reorganized my images, and I’ve had similar issues with how Mail is now reorganizing my emails. I hope Apple takes another run at these apps in iOS 19.
Siri is smarter and more aware of iPhone features than before. It can handle my vocal missteps, and still knows what I want, but remains mostly unaware of my on-device information, and feels far less conversational and powerful as a chatbot than Google Gemini and ChatGPT.
Apple iPhone 16e: Camera
- 48MP Fusion is a good camera
- The front-facing camera shines as well
- A single rear camera at this price is disappointing
With a more powerful CPU, a bigger screen, and the new C1 chip, I can almost understand why Apple set the iPhone 16e price as high as it did. Almost… until I consider the single, rear 48MP Fusion camera. Most smartphones in this price range feature at least two lenses, and usually the second one is an ultra-wide – without that lens you miss out on not only dramatic ultra-wide shots but also macro photography capabilities. Had Apple priced this camera at $499, I might understand.
Image 1 of 4
Still, I like this camera. It defaults to shooting in 24MP, which is a bin of the 48MP available on the sensor (two pixels for each single image pixel to double the image information). There’s a 2x zoom option, which is useful, but it’s only shooting at 12MP because it’s only using the central 12 megapixels from the full 48MP frame. These images are still good, but just not the same resolution as the default or what you could get shooting full-frame.
Overall, the camera shoots lovely photos with exquisite detail and the kind of color fidelity I appreciate (in people and skies especially) in a wide variety of scenarios. I captured excellent still lifes, portraits, and night-mode shots. I was also impressed with the front camera, which is especially good for portrait-mode selfies. Much of this image quality is thanks to the work Apple has done on its Photonic Engine. Apple’s computational image pipeline pulls out extraordinary detail and nuance in most photographic situations, even if it is for just these two cameras.
iPhone 16 camera samples
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Apple iPhone 16e: Performance
- The A18 is an excellent and powerful CPU
- It’s ready for Apple Intelligence
- C1, Apple’s first cellular modem, is effective for 5G and satellite connectivity
If you’re wondering why the successor to the iPhone SE is not a $429 smartphone, you might look at the processing combo of the powerful A18 and the new C1.
The A18 is the same chip you’ll find in the iPhone 16, with the exception of one fewer GPU core. I promise you’ll never notice the difference.
Performance scores are excellent, and in line with the numbers we got for other A18 chips (and slightly lower than what you get from the A18 Pro in the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max).
The A18 has more than enough power not just for day-to-day tasks like email and web browsing, but for 4K video editing (which I did in CapCut) and AAA gaming (game mode turns on automatically to divert more resources toward gaming). I played Asphalt 9 United, Resident Evil 4, and Call of Duty Mobile, and made things easier for myself by connecting my Xbox controller. My only criticism would be that a 6.1-inch screen is a little tight for these games. The audio from the stereo speakers, by the way, is excellent – I get an impressive spatial audio experience with Resident Evil 4.
Image 1 of 3
There’s also the new C1 chip, which is notable because it’s Apple’s first custom cellular mobile chip. Previously Apple relied on, among other partners, Qualcomm for this silicon. I didn’t notice any difference in connectivity with the new chip, which is a good thing – and I was impressed that I could use text via satellite.
I didn’t think I’d get to test this feature, but AT&T connectivity is so bad in my New York neighborhood that the SOS icon appeared at the top of my iPhone 16e screen, and next to it I noticed the satellite icon. I opened messages, and the phone asked if I wanted to use the Satellite texting feature. I held the phone near my screen door to get a clear view of the sky, and followed the on-display guide that told me which way to point the phone. I got a ‘Connected’ notification, and then sent a few SMS texts over satellite. It’s a nifty feature, and it was a nice little test of the C1’s capabilities.
Apple iPhone 16e: Battery
- Long lasting
- Wireless charging
- No MagSafe
It’s clear that Apple has prioritized battery life on the iPhone 16e over some other features. That would likely explain, for instance, why we have wireless charging but not MagSafe support – adding that magnetic ring might have eaten into battery space. The C1 chip is apparently smaller than the modem chip in other iPhone 16 models, and even the decision to include one camera instead of two probably helped make room for what is a larger battery than even the one in the iPhone 16.
Apple rates the iPhone 16e for 26 hours of video-rundown battery life – that’s about four hours more than the iPhone 16. In my real-world testing the battery life has been very good, but varied use can run the battery down in far fewer than 26 hours.
On one day when I did everything from email and web browsing to social media consumption and then a lot of gaming, battery life was about 12 hours – gaming in particular really chewed through the battery and made the phone pretty warm.
My own video rundown test (I played through episodes of Better Call Saul on Netflix) returned about 24 hours of battery life.
I used a 65W USB-C charger to charge the phone to 57% in 30 minutes, with a full charge taking about one hour and 50 minutes. I also tried a 20W charger, which charged the phone to 50% in 30 minutes.
Should you buy the Apple iPhone 16e?
iPhone 16e score card
|
Attributes |
Notes |
Rating |
|
Value |
Since this is now Apple’s new budget phone you might expect either a lower price, or more for its considerably higher price. You might be disappointed |
4/5 |
|
Design |
This is now clearly part of the iPhone 16 family, but a couple of omissions and the return of the notch might not be for everyone. |
4.5 / 5 |
|
Display |
Super Retina XDR is Apple’s best iPhone screen technology, but the return of the notch is not a welcome development. |
4 / 5 |
|
Performance |
The A18 is a powerful, fast chip that brings Apple Intelligence to the ‘budget’ realm. And the C1 chip does the comms trick. |
5 / 5 |
|
Camera |
One camera at this price might frustrate some, but it is an excellent one. The 2x zoom is useful even if it’s not full frame. |
4 / 5 |
|
Software |
iOS 18 is a rich, smart, customizable and useful platform. Apple Intelligence continues to improve. but Siri needs to catch up. |
4 / 5 |
|
Battery |
Battery life for video might be the best among iPhones, but real-world use brings it back to earth. |
4.5 / 5 |
Buy it if..
Don’t buy it if…
Apple iPhone 16: Also consider
Apple iPhone 16: How I tested
I’ve reviewed countless smartphones ranging from the most affordable models to flagships and foldables. I put every phone through as many rigorous tests and everyday tasks as possible.
I had the iPhone 16e for just under a week, and after receiving it I immediately started taking photos, running benchmarks, and using it as an everyday device for photos, videos, email, social media, messaging, streaming video, and gaming.
Correction 2-27-2025: A previous version of this review listed Audio Mix as part of Apple Intelligence.
First reviewed February 26, 2025
