TL;DR Apple has launched the iPhone 16e, which succeeds the iPhone SE (2022), aka the iPhone SE3, with a starting price of $599.
The iPhone 16e features the Apple A18 processor, a front similar to the iPhone 14, an Action button, and the new Apple C1 modem.
The company has also stopped selling the iPhone 14, making the iPhone 16e the cheapest iPhone available.
After practically years of rumors, Apple has finally launched the iPhone 16e, a successor to the iPhone SE 3 (also known as the iPhone SE 2022). The iPhone 6E also succeeds the iPhone 14 in Apple’s current lineup, marking it as the cheapest iPhone you can buy right now, and giving Apple a good competitor against value-oriented Android flagships.
The iPhone 16e features a familiar front reminiscent of the iPhone 14-16. The iPhone 16e features a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display, alongside Ceramic Shield for protection. You get a display notch that houses the TrueDepth camera system. There’s no Touch ID here, so long-time Touch ID fans no longer have a choice but to adopt Face ID in their next upgrade.
On the inside, the iPhone 16e features the Apple A18 processor, the same as on the iPhone 16. The A18 chip comes with a six-core CPU, a four-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine for handling AI and machine learning tasks. Since the phone features this newer SoC, it also has access to Apple Intelligence features, which otherwise require the iPhone 15 Pro or the iPhone 16 series to work. This makes the iPhone 16e the cheapest iPhone by a long margin to come with AI features.
The iPhone 16e is also the first device to feature the Apple C1 modem, the first modem designed by Apple. The company says this is the most power-efficient modem on an iPhone and promises fast and reliable 5G cellular connectivity. The iPhone 16e also features satellite connectivity, so you can text friends and family without a cellular and Wi-Fi connection and have access to Emergency SOS.
Thankfully, all of these updates come alongside a USB-C port and wireless charging capabilities, though curiously, we couldn’t spot mentions of MagSafe capabilities. What makes the iPhone 16e even more interesting is that it comes with an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.
Further, it also sports the new Action button seen on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 series, once again making it the cheapest iPhone option to feature one.
As you’ll notice, the iPhone 16e has only one camera: a 48MP camera, which Apple is calling a 2-in-1 camera with an integrated 2x telephoto. There is no ultrawide or dedicated telephoto camera, but for most users, this is pretty much all that they use regularly. Note that the front-facing camera has autofocus, which is something several Android phones miss out on. Since this is an iPhone, there is also a good focus on video recording, with the iPhone 16e capable of 4K 60fps Dolby Vision video recording.
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