Apple iPhone 16e: An "affordable" iPhone with a questionable price

At one time, Apple had a line of more affordable SE smartphones. It had, in addition to obvious technical compromises compared to current iPhones, the design of older models. The SE line was not updated very often and the last model was released in 2022. Finally, on February 19, 2025, Apple introduced a kind of follower, which has already received a different marking and is now called the Apple iPhone 16e and is positioned as the company's most affordable smartphone. Although, compared to the starting prices of the latest SE, it no longer looks so "affordable". The starting price for the younger version of the SE was $429, the iPhone 16e - from $599. Today we will tell you how successful the most affordable iPhone turned out to be and how justified its purchase is.

The editorial team would like to thank the official Apple reseller, Stylus store, for kindly providing us with the Apple iPhone 16e smartphone for review.

Specifications

Package contents

iPhone delivery packages have never been anything special. And so is the case with the Apple iPhone 16e. A typical thin white cardboard box with an image of the smartphone itself.

Inside is the actual Apple iPhone 16e, a Type-C to Type-C cable with fabric braiding, a tray removal tool, and documentation.

Design and ergonomics

The Apple iPhone 16e, of course, has nothing in common with the latest SE in terms of design. Except for a single camera on the back. The front panel of the smartphone is closer to the iPhone 14 (not the Pro version) than to the current line.

So, on the front we have a display with relatively thin bezels around the perimeter and a wide "fringe" at the top, which houses the front camera and Face ID sensor. The rest of the iPhone models of the last generations have already received the Dynamic Island tablet. The screen is protected by Ceramic Shield glass.

The back panel is also glass, it has a matte finish in both color options. So far, only classic white and black are available. Although it is possible that additional, more original options will appear later. In the upper left corner is the only rear camera, next to which there is a microphone and a flash. In the middle is the traditional logo.

The Apple iPhone 16e's frame is made of brushed aluminum. It's flat, like other models have been for years. On the right edge is a large, flat power button.

On the opposite side, there are separate volume control buttons, as well as the so-called Action Button. By default, it switches the smartphone between loud and silent modes. But in the settings, you can assign a different action.

Below is the SIM card tray. There are versions of the smartphone without it, only with eSIM support.

There is nothing on the top edge. On the bottom there is a Type-C port version 2.0, the main speaker and a microphone.

Apple iPhone 16e turned out to be relatively compact. Dimensions are 146.7x71.5x7.8 mm, weight - 167 g. The smartphone is convenient to use, although a little slippery. But a protective bumper will fix this. There is protection against dirt and water according to the IP68 standard. Officially, the company promises that the smartphone will withstand immersion to a depth of up to 6 m for 30 minutes.

Display

The Apple iPhone 16e is equipped with a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with a resolution of 2532x1170 pixels, an aspect ratio of 19.5:9, and a pixel density of about 460 PPI. The maximum brightness is declared at 800 cd/m² and a peak brightness of 1200 cd/m², and there is HDR10 support. DCI-P3 color gamut is promised. The refresh rate is 60 Hz.

The screen is high-quality, the picture is clear, high-quality and saturated, the colors are pleasant. The viewing angles are maximum. As for the brightness, it's hard to say: there have been few sunny days recently. The main problem with the display is the 60 Hz refresh rate. After prolonged use, 120 Hz is a bit difficult to get used to. Even considering the smoothness of the iOS interface, it looks a bit like a slideshow. A less significant complaint is the lack of Always on Display support. The function is not critical, but convenient. The display settings have a completely standard set: light and dark themes (or automatic switching), the scale of interface elements, True Tone, Night Shift night mode (warmer shades in the dark), etc.

Hardware measurements showed that the maximum brightness is 771.6 cd/m², which is close to the declared value. The color gamut is indeed wider than sRGB, and the color reproduction is quite accurate.

Security

Apple has long since abandoned fingerprint scanners. The last iPhone with a scanner was the 2022 SE. For many years, the company's smartphones have used Face ID — facial recognition using the TrueDepth camera. The Apple iPhone 16e is no exception.

There's nothing much to say: everything has been working properly for a long time: fast and accurate. Of course, when switching from Android, it's a bit unusual: on the first day of use, I subconsciously poked my thumb at the display.

Productivity and software

The Apple iPhone 16e has a slightly truncated version of the Apple A18 processor installed in older models. This is a 3 nm six-core processor, which includes two cores with a frequency of up to 4.04 GHz and four cores up to 2.2 GHz. The difference with the "older" version of the processor is in the graphics accelerator: in the Apple iPhone 16e it is quad-core, in older models it is penta-core. RAM is 8 GB, NVMe storage can be 128, 256 or 512 GB.

Of course, the processor is inferior in performance to older models. But it is still enough for all applications and games. And you don't have to worry that the smartphone will start to feel bad in the coming years with iOS updates.

But under prolonged loads, the smartphone noticeably heats up. A stress test showed that performance can drop by up to 70%:

The smartphone copes with modern games without any problems. Call of Duty Mobile runs at maximum graphics settings without a noticeable drop in FPS. PC ports of games also work. Performance in Resident Evil 4 Remake and Assassin's Creed Mirage is quite acceptable. Of course, the picture is blurry and the graphics settings are minimal. But with this screen size, this is not critical. More critical is the touch control: it is difficult to get used to, it is better to use a gamepad.

The set of wireless interfaces of the Apple iPhone 16e is not the most modern, but everything you need is there: dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, Bluetooth 5.3, as well as NFC. Global positioning systems GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, QZSS and NavIC are supported. There is eSIM support.

Apple iPhone 16e has already received an update to iOS 18.4. The main improvements in this update concern Apple Intelligence, which is still in beta. And it works so far only in the English (US) interface language, as is also written on the official Ukrainian Apple website. There are no significant changes in the interface, everything is familiar to iPhone users. Desktops with applications and widgets, the usual control center, a separate application library, where all installed applications are collected and ungrouped, etc.

Of course, it was interesting to try Apple Intelligence, at least at a basic level. After switching to English interface and loading the relevant data, some things became available.

Image generation is not working very well yet. Instead of a post-apocalyptic landscape, I got quality fantasy landscapes. With a cyberpunk city, the generator had an easier time and it turned out a little better.

The integration of Apple Intelligence and Siri allows you to make requests simply by voice without any additional actions. However, ChatGPT is used for generation and each time after a request, you have to confirm permission to use it.

Sound and vibration

Stereo sound in the Apple iPhone 16e is implemented in a completely standard way: the main and conversational speakers. Dolby Atmos virtual surround sound is supported. The speakers were very pleased: they are well balanced with each other, sound very high quality, have a certain amount of bass and a very good volume margin.

As always, the Taptic Engine is responsible for the vibration feedback. The vibration feedback is very pleasant when interacting with the smartphone and is powerful enough not to miss a call when the smartphone is in your pocket.

Cameras

The Apple iPhone 16e has only one rear camera. It is a 48-megapixel so-called Fusion camera with 26 mm optics, ƒ/1.6 aperture, optical image stabilization and phase detection autofocus. The physical sensor size is 1/2.55", the pixel size is 0.7µm. It is also used for 2x zoom, although, of course, it is a crop. The front camera is 12 MP, f/1.9, 23 mm, 1/3.6", 1.0µm, PDAF. The main camera can shoot video with a resolution of 4K 60 FPS.

Of course, an ultra-wide-angle camera would be very appropriate. But the only camera that is available shoots great. Good detail, wide dynamic range and relatively natural color reproduction during the day. At night, the processing algorithms add a little extra yellowish and orange hues.

Zoom 2x:

4K 60 FPS video:

Battery life

Apple iPhone 16e has a larger battery than the iPhone 16. Its capacity is 4005 mAh, compared to 3561 mAh in the older model. Apple promises that the smartphone will be charged by 50% in 30 minutes with a 20W power adapter. In fact, it charges about 55% in half an hour. A full charge takes a little less than two hours. There is support for 7.5W wireless charging, but MagSafe is not supported.

The smartphone turned out to be quite durable. Even at the beginning of use, with all the settings, installing applications and running performance tests. So with everyday use in standard mode (calls, mail, social networks, browser, YouTube and camera), you can expect up to 1.5 days of work. Of course, if you add games to this, this figure will decrease significantly.

The editorial team would like to thank the official Apple reseller, Stylus store, for kindly providing us with the Apple iPhone 16e smartphone for review.