Apple iPhone 16e Review: Questionable Value

The iPhone 16e isn't for me. If you're an avid tech enthusiast and Apple fan, it's probably not for you either. It's for the person holding on to an iPhone 8 Plus or iPhone X, ready to upgrade because their more than seven-year-old smartphone isn't working too well nowadays. They want a new phone, and it just needs to be an iPhone. A part of my brain won't stop thinking about whether this nearly once-in-a-decade upgrade for these folks wouldn't be better served if Apple had included its nice-to-have amenities, like MagSafe or the ultra-wideband chip for improved AirTags tracking. Even lacking these features, the price of the iPhone 16e feels $100 too high considering the many excellent competing phones in this bracket. It also makes the iPhone lineup confusing—it's $170 more than Apple's previous iPhone SE that's no longer available. I have spent much of my time this past week using the iPhone 16e and thinking about its $599 MSRP, which naturally must mean that something is awry. Thi ... Read full article.