The price has been bumped up, but so have the specs.
If you couldn’t stomach $800 for a new iPhone with Apple Intelligence, don’t worry: Apple just announced the iPhone 16e. At $599, it strikes a balance on specs, which is the soft and cosy way to say it doesn’t have everything.
It has a lot, though. With a 6.1-inch screen, it’s a much bigger device than the 4.7-inch iPhone SE, with a notch for FaceID (no more TouchID), USB-C (adios, Lightning) and the company’s A18 processor. There’s also an action button, which arrived with the iPhone 15 series, but no Camera Control.
Apple
That’s the same processor as the $800 iPhone 16, so you’ve got access to what seems to be the full gamut of Apple Intelligence. That includes generative AI writing tools, Genmoji, Image Playground, Visual Intelligence and ChatGPT integration. So yeah, a mixed bag.
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The notable hardware standout might be the single 48-megapixel Fusion camera, at a time when 'pro' iPhones have three. The last time I tested a single-camera smartphone was the Pixel 4a back in 2020. Oh, and the last iPhone SE.
Apple has dropped both wireless charging and MagSafe’s magnetic ring for the iPhone 16e too, which is a surprise. I’m not a huge fan of wireless charging. It’s slow, inefficient and confusing. Having said that, I hope this isn’t the beginning of the end for Apple’s wireless charging feature. I love the mag part of MagSafe, which has introduced far more elegant tripods and phone mounts that lock iPhones in place without needing a clamp or a plug. In recent years, we’ve got unofficial MagSafe cases for other smartphones, so I can do the same with my Android phones.
The iPhone 16e lands on February 28 in black and white, but don’t worry, there will be fizzy color cases. Even if they don’t have MagSafe.
(And kudos to this hilariously timed discount on the Pixel 8a, now only $399. I love a good troll deal.)
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