As expected, Apple has released a new low-end iPhone into its lineup to replace the aging iPhone SE. The iPhone 16e is a 6.1-inch phone with an edge-to-edge OLED screen and a display notch, an Apple A18 processor inside (similar to, though not exactly the same as, the regular iPhone 16), a USB-C port and Action Button, and Apple’s first in-house cellular modem, dubbed the Apple C1.
The iPhone 16e starts at $599 for 128GB and will be available for preorder on February 21. The phone will be available on February 28. A 256GB version and a 512GB version will run you $699 and $899, respectively.
At $599, the iPhone 16e’s starting price is $200 less than the iPhone 16 but $170 more than the old 64GB iPhone SE and $120 more than the 128GB version of the iPhone SE. The 16e is a more direct replacement for the iPhone 14, which Apple started selling for $599 when the standard iPhone 16 was released. The iPhone 14 and 14 Plus have both been discontinued, which means that Apple is no longer selling any new phones that use Lightning ports instead of USB-C.
Almost an iPhone 16
Like the iPhone 16 series and the iPhone 15 Pro, the iPhone 16e has a programmable Action button on the side. It doesn’t have the iPhone 16’s extra Camera Control button, though.
Credit:
Apple
For most people, the iPhone 16e will offer essentially the same iPhone experience that the iPhone 16 does. It replaces the iPhone SE’s Home button and Touch ID fingerprint sensor with the same Face ID scanner as other iPhones. It also has the programmable Action button, like the iPhone 16 series and the iPhone 15 Pro. It has Emergency SOS and other satellite communication features, just like the more expensive iPhones. And the A18 chip enables support for Apple Intelligence, meaning that the phone includes the same 8GB of RAM as Apple’s pricier phones.
But Apple has omitted a handful of features to hit the lower price. For example, the phone comes in just two colors (black and white) instead of the rainbow of options you have with the iPhone 16. The OLED screen includes a notch rather than the Dynamic Island, a mostly unnecessary but nice-to-have evolution of the notch concept that first appeared in the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 15. The iPhone 16e doesn’t support MagSafe chargers or other accessories.