The iPhone 16e launch has simplified Apple’s iPhone lineup somewhat. Here’s which iPhone is best for you in early 2025, depending on your budget.
When Apple updates its main iPhone releases, it causes massive changes to the overall catalog, with model pricing shifts and older models disappearing from view. In the spring of 2025, another launch affected the product range in a different way.
Apple’s introduction of the iPhone 16e did away with the iPhone SE line in favor of something closer to the main iPhone releases. It also made it tougher for those in the market for an iPhone to go for the cheapest option, as the pricing is now much closer between the variants.
Even so, how much money you have available to spend is the first question. The second is what features are a must-have for you.
Here are AppleInsider’s recommendations for the iPhone you should strongly consider buying, based on your budget.
iPhone buyer’s guide – Price ranges
Apple’s iPhone lineup starts from $599 for the cheapest, rising up to $1,599 for the most expensive. The cheapest model is the newest iPhone 16e, while the most expensive configuration is the iPhone 16 Pro Max with the highest amount of storage.
There’s a price range of $1,000 between the cheapest and most expensive models. When the iPhone 15 lineup came out, that price variance was $1,170, larger due to the cheaper third-gen iPhone SE that has been discontinued.
The full range of iPhone pricing as of early 2025
The vast majority of models stem from the iPhone 16 family, with two exceptions. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are survivors from the previous generation, taking the place in the range previously occupied by the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus.
The inclusion of these previous-gen models had offered consumers a few more price points to consider in previous years. With the now more-expensive entry-level iPhone 16e in the list, the iPhone 15’s appearance is more to offer more variations of features for your budget.
At the lower end of the scale, it’s now a bit more condensed, so selecting based on budget alone is a bit harder.
For the purposes of this article, we will be splitting up the range into two sub-ranges: Under $1,000, and Above $1,000.
iPhone buyer’s guide – The cost of storage
A big thing to consider when looking at which iPhone to buy is storage capacity. Sure, you could get away with the basic storage option for a particular model, but you may run into problems eventually surrounding storage of apps, videos, and photos on the device.
Depending on the model, consumers have between three and four storage options available. For most models, that’s a choice between 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB of storage.
Storage upgrade costs for iPhones, as of early 2025
The exceptions to this range are at the more expensive end of the scale. The iPhone 16 Pro adds a 1TB option, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max adds 1TB but removes 128GB.
As for the actual cost of the upgrades, here’s the charges to go between the levels:
- Upgrading from 128GB to 256GB costs $100 more.
- Upgrading from 256GB to 512GB costs $200 more.
- Upgrading from 512GB to 1TB costs $200 more.
iPhone buyer’s guide for under $1,000
The cheapest model is the $599 iPhone 16e with 128GB of storage. It’s the only option available, but you do get a lot for your money. Packing the A18 chip, you get the 6.1-inch display, a 48MP Fusion camera with the fake telephoto zoom, and a massive 26 hours of battery life for video playback.
You gain an edge-to-edge display with Face ID, which is a massive step up from the iPhone SE. But you do have to live with the Notch instead of Dynamic Island.
iPhone pricing below $1,000
At $699, you could get the 256GB iPhone 16e, or you could get the 128GB model of iPhone 15. It’s the older A16 chip here, so less performance and no Apple Intelligence, but there are two physical cameras including an Ultra Wide option, but the iPhone 16e is probably better here.
Going to $799, things get very interesting, as there are two more variants to consider, along the 256GB versions of iPhone 16e and iPhone 15. The iPhone 15 Plus turns up with its 6.7-inch display, but there’s the iPhone 16 to consider.
The iPhone 16 has a 6.1-inch screen, a slightly graphically better A18 variant, dual cameras including Ultra Wide, the Camera Control button, and MagSafe. Battery is marginally less useful at 22 hours, but it is best buy of the group at this price.
Rising to $899, there are now a total of five options to seriously consider. There’s the 512GB iPhone 16e, the 256GB iPhone 15 with a $100 saving, the 256GB iPhone 15 Plus, the 256GB iPhone 16, and the 128GB iPhone 16 Plus.
Again, it’s really best to consider the iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Plus here, unless you desperately need higher levels of storage but less performance.
Hitting $999, the choice shifts up one step again. The iPhone 15 reaches its maximum capacity of 512GB, the iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 16 stay at 256GB with a $100 saving, and the 256GB iPhone 16 Plus is joined by the 128GB iPhone 16 Pro.
The Pro models offer a bit more than the non-Pro, with the iPhone 16 including a larger 6.3-inch display, titanium frame, a better A18 Pro chip, and more battery life. Even more importantly, there’s the triple-camera system on the rear, with 48MP Fusion and Ultra Wide joined by a proper Telephoto camera, complete with the Tetraprism lens.
At this level, the decision is whether consumers should go for the much better camera or enjoy most of the performance but higher storage capacities. If you’re into videography or photography, then the Pro is the better option, otherwise you may stick to the iPhone 16 or Plus models here.
iPhone buyer’s guide for over $1,000
After $1,000, the decision-making process largely boils down to two questions at each price point, beside capacity concerns. First, the previously-mentioned camera situation, which is quite important for some users.
The other is size, as sometimes having a larger display can be more desirable.
iPhone pricing above $1,000
At $1,099, the choice is either the iPhone 15 Plus or iPhone 16 at 512GB of storage, the iPhone 16 Plus at 256GB and a $100 saving, or the iPhone 16 Pro at 256GB. Really speaking, 256GB of storage is a decent amount, so the Pro is the best choice here.
When we get to the $1,199 level, we have the last addition to the list. The iPhone 16 Pro Max steps in, complete with its 6.9-inch screen and skipping 128GB to start at 256GB.
Speaking frankly here, your main choices at these price levels are going to revolve around which Pro model you’ll get. It’s doubtful that many users will really capitalize on using 512GB of storage on the iPhone 16 Plus, and those who do will probably benefit from the USB 3 speeds of the Pro models against USB 2 for cable-based data transfers.
At $1,299, you’re either going for the 512GB iPhone 16 Pro or the 256GB Pro Max and saving $100. It’s a question of screen size versus storage at this point forward, as there’s only two options available.
This carries on to $1,399 with 512GB of storage for both, but you’d save $100 on the Pro against the Pro Max. At $1,499, you could get a 1TB Pro, or save $100 on the 512GB Pro Max.
Lastly, at the highest point of the range, $1,599 gets you the iPhone 16 Pro Max with 1TB of storage. You should ask yourself if you really need so much storage, and if you could get away with saving a bit of money.
iPhone buyer’s guide – Storage or features?
While less of a concern lower down the range, the choice between storage and features is a big one at the higher end. But, it is still a factor that should be considered throughout the range.
Remember that a $100 or $200 capacity change can mean the difference between models or generations of iPhone available to you. In many places in the range, you could get a newer iPhone with better features for lower capacity, or you could secure more capacity for a lower specification elsewhere.
A lot of the time, this can be seen with the cameras, with the Pro going for three physical sensors, and the iPhone 16e going for just one. If storage is important, you could feasibly get the iPhone 16e with the single camera and 512GB of storage for $899, saving $100 versus the iPhone 16 Pro with three cameras.
There is the temptation to avoid the iPhone 16e for the iPhone 15 line, just so you don’t go for the dreaded “e” model or to avoid the display notch. However, the chip performance of the iPhone 15 means you will miss out on Apple Intelligence, which the cheaper model actually benefits from.
It’s also arguable that storage is less of a concern now than it was before. In previous generations, consumers could get iPhones with 64GB of storage, or even less going further back.
Starting with 128GB of storage puts even entry level users in a good position capacity-wise, with less of a need to consider external storage or cloud storage options.
With that line of thinking in mind, storage is less of a concern in 2025, and features should be more of a priority for you.
iPhone buyer’s guide – Paying for it all
The information above is based on buying the models brand new and paying for them outright. While you can use third-party retailers with various offers to take advantage of, we have used the relatively standard pricing as if you were to buy from Apple directly.
If you can afford it, buying the handset outright is a great way to upgrade an iPhone. However, there are other ways if that’s not an option.
Installment plans with carriers continue to be popular, but you can also do similar things with Apple directly.
There are options to buy from Apple and to finance the purchase over time. There’s also the iPhone Upgrade Program, which lets you get a new iPhone every year and get coverage from AppleCare+ too.
If you have an existing iPhone that you’re replacing, or another device, you can usually trade it in for credit towards your new model’s purchase. Apple operates its own program for trade-ins, but you can still shop around to find the best trade-in value.
Where to buy Apple’s iPhone
The best way to save on a new iPhone is to check out wireless carrier deals, with the service providers offering incentives via bill credits and trade-in promotions that can sometimes bring the device down to free (applicable taxes do still apply).
You can hop straight to the carrier offers below. We also cover the best iPhone deals in our dedicated roundup.
Save on iPhones at wireless carriers
- AT&T Wireless: Grab an iPhone for as low as $0 per month* with bill credits and trade-in offers
- Verizon: iPhones start at $0 per month* with incentives
- T-Mobile: Get up to 50% off* iPhones
*Terms and conditions pertaining to each offer can be found on the specific carrier’s site.
And if you want to pick up a new case for your iPhone, check out our roundup of the best iPhone 16e cases that add back MagSafe.
