After much speculation about a new iPhone SE, Apple has officially announced the iPhone 16e, which is more of an addition to the iPhone 16 family than a replacement for the 2022 iPhone SE. The name makes sense, as the iPhone 16e is closer in design, features, and specs to the iPhone 16 lineup than it is to Apple’s previous entry-level offering. It isn’t as affordable, however. Starting at $599 for 128GB, it’s $170 more than the $429 iPhone SE. Even so, the iPhone 16e looks to be a promising alternative to the $799 iPhone 16.
Design: A Modern Look and a Better Screen
Apple ditches the old-school design of the 2022 iPhone SE in favor of a look more consistent with the company’s most recent devices. The iPhone 16e has an aluminum frame and the company’s Ceramic Shield glass on the front (it doesn’t specify what type of glass is on the back). Apple says the phone has an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, which matches most flagship phones across the industry. The iPhone 16e comes in Matte Black or Matte White and Apple says five new silicon cases will be available in Black, Fuchsia, Lake Green, White, or Winter Blue.
Gone is the small 4.7-inch, 16:9 screen flanked by huge bezels and the Home button. Instead, the phone has a larger 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display that stretches from top to bottom and side to side, though it has a notch at the top like the iPhone 14 rather than the Dynamic Island of the latest iPhones. The screen gains pixels in addition to size. Apple says it has the same pixel density of 460ppi as the other 6.1-inch iPhones with a resolution of 2,532 by 1,170 pixels. The screen supports HDR, True Tone, and Wide Color (P3). It puts out up to 1,200 nits at peak brightness, which is far brighter than the iPhone SE.
(Credit: Apple)
The new design means there is no longer a Home button with Touch ID. This is sure to aggravate some people who prefer the button, which can be a more discreet way to unlock your phone rather than holding it up to your face. Apple’s premiere iPhones have featured Face ID since the 2017 iPhone X.
The iPhone 16e gains the Action Button of the iPhone 16 family but not the dedicated Camera Control.
As expected, the iPhone 16e drops the Lighting port in favor of USB-C. This puts the phone in compliance with the latest regulations from the European Union, which mandate all small electronics use USB-C. The idea is to make life easier for you to find a compatible cable. Most of Apple’s product lineup has already adopted USB-C. The iPhone 16e sticks to USB 2.0 speeds up to 480Mbps.
Performance: A Faster Chip
Reports leading up to today’s big reveal suggested the iPhone 16e would get the A18 processor, and they were right. Apple gives the new phone the same chip it uses across its iPhone 16 lineup and the latest iPad mini. It’s based on a 3nm process and has a six-core CPU, a four-core GPU, and a 16-core NPU (Neural Engine). That’s good news for multiple reasons.
It gives the iPhone 16e a fighting chance against the iPhone 16 lineup, which can run Apple Intelligence. Apple’s AI features aren’t necessarily a home run in usability, but they do give the iPhone additional features, like the ability to alter the tone of emails with Writing Tools, create custom graphics with Image Playground, and perform image-based searches.
It also means the phone will be able to run the latest OS and the latest apps. Often, silicon is the biggest factor limiting operating system upgrades for older devices. The iPhone SE relied on the A15, which is many generations out of date and simply not able to keep up anymore. The A18 ensures that the iPhone 16e will be relevant for at least four or five years.
(Credit: Apple )
Last, newer processors are more efficient than older ones. One of the iPhone SE’s biggest weaknesses was battery life. Paired with the larger battery, the iPhone 16e should get you through a bigger portion of the day. Apple claims the 16e has the best battery life of any 6.1-inch iPhone, with up to 26 hours of video playback—6 hours more than the iPhone 11, and 12 hours more than any iPhone SE. Apple says using a 20W wired adapter, the phone can charge up to 50% in 30 minutes. Also, the phone supports wireless charging.
Connectivity: A Custom Modem
Along with the iPhone 16e, Apple debuted its first modem, which it calls the C1. Apple has, until now, relied on modems from Intel and Qualcomm for the iPhone’s cellular connectivity. This marks the first iPhone with a modem designed by Apple. While it may not seem like a big deal, it’s probably the most important change for this and future iPhones. It allows Apple to control more of how the iPhone connects and uses other system resources, like power.
While Apple didn’t immediately provide too many details, we at least have a basic spec sheet for the modem. The A3212 model supports 5G New Radio, including most low- and mid-band spectrum used in North America. This includes Bands n77 and n78 for C-band. The phone doesn’t support mmWave, which isn’t a big surprise. (Neither does the newer iPad mini.) The phone also includes support for legacy LTE 4G, 3G, and 2G networks.
Importantly, the 5G radio supports 4×4 MIMO. The old iPhone SE, for example, supported only 2×2 MIMO. More antennas mean better connectivity in more places. The iPhone 16e also supports Wi-Fi 6 with 2×2 MIMO), Bluetooth 5.3, and NFC radio for tap-and-go mobile payments, and Express Cards with power reserve. Last, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDu and iBeacon microlocation are on board for assistance with location and maps.
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Photography and Video: Fusion Camera for All
More pixels don’t always lead to better pictures, but we’re pretty sure the iPhone 16e has the iPhone SE beat in the camera department. The new phone has the Apple 48MP Fusion Camera from the other iPhone 16 models, which carries four times the resolution as the 12MP sensor of the 2022 iPhone SE. It also has a faster aperture of f/1.6, making it able to take better snaps in lower light. Apple says the camera can operate in several different modes, allowing for full-resolution shots as well as binned shots at 24MP or 2x shots at 12MP.
It can capture 4K resolution video at up to 60 frames per second and has several advanced video features, such as Dolby Vision, Video Mix, Spatial Audio, and Cinematic capture.
Apple has also improved the selfie camera. The sensor jumps from 7MP on the SE to Apple’s 12MP TrueDepth camera—the same camera found on the iPhone 16. This camera can also capture video at up to 4K60.
Price: Lower Than the iPhone 16, Higher Than the iPhone SE
Apple has priced the iPhone 16e at $599, which is far more than the relatively affordable iPhone SE at $429. This puts the iPhone 16e in league with entry-level Android flagships such as the $649.99 Samsung Galaxy S24 FE and the $499 Google Pixel 8a.
The Apple iPhone 16e will be available for pre-order starting Friday, February 21, and will reach retail stores on Friday, February 28. It comes in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB models for $599, $699, and $899, respectively.
We plan to review the phone as soon as we can, so stay tuned for more details.
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About Eric Zeman
Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics
