Wednesday, February 19th 2025
Apple iPhone 16e Launched With A18 SoC, Apple Intelligence, And $599 Price Tag
The wait is finally over - Apple has lifted the curtains off its widely anticipated budget iPhone, the iPhone 16e. The smartphone was previously rumored to arrive with the SE 4 moniker, but it appears that Apple wanted to give its entry-level budget smartphone a fresh naming scheme. This is not the first time that Apple has introduced a new name for a budget iPhone - the company famously introduced the iPhone XR in 2018, and never bothered to give it a refresh. With a starting price of $599, the iPhone 16e will start reaching customers on the 28th of February.
For those keeping up with the rumor mill, a major portion of the leaked information turned out to be accurate after all. For instance, the iPhone 16e is indeed called, well, the iPhone 16e, and boasts a binned A18 SoC with four GPU cores instead of five - likely paired with 8 GB of memory - to allow for Apple Intelligence support. As expected, the design is identical to the iPhone 13-era in many ways. At the front, a 6.1-inch OLED display with a pixel density of 460 sits beneath a 12 MP TrueDepth camera that brings FaceID support. The mute toggle switch is abandoned in favor of the Action Button. Moreover, the device also boasts Apple's first-ever 5G modem, the C1, which is said to bring substantial efficiency improvements.
The infamous notch is here to stay, however, clearly indicating that Apple considers the dynamic island a premium feature. At the rear, a single 48 MP camera is present. Other features, or updates, include USB-C (USB 2.0), 26-hour video playback (vs 22 on the iPhone 16), IP68 rating, emergency SOS (satellite), and a starting price of $599 for the 128 GB variant. The now-discontinued iPhone SE 3 commanded a $429 price tag for the 64 GB variant. Therefore, the price premium for the iPhone 16e does make sense considering the plethora of modern features and upgraded base storage.
Source:
Apple
For those keeping up with the rumor mill, a major portion of the leaked information turned out to be accurate after all. For instance, the iPhone 16e is indeed called, well, the iPhone 16e, and boasts a binned A18 SoC with four GPU cores instead of five - likely paired with 8 GB of memory - to allow for Apple Intelligence support. As expected, the design is identical to the iPhone 13-era in many ways. At the front, a 6.1-inch OLED display with a pixel density of 460 sits beneath a 12 MP TrueDepth camera that brings FaceID support. The mute toggle switch is abandoned in favor of the Action Button. Moreover, the device also boasts Apple's first-ever 5G modem, the C1, which is said to bring substantial efficiency improvements.
29 Comments on Apple iPhone 16e Launched With A18 SoC, Apple Intelligence, And $599 Price Tag
Apple is guaranteeing a lot less then they used to. All the while they have gotten less and less innovative and their designs are falling flat. Like their obsession with putting charging ports on the bottom of their Mouse and the power button on the bottom of the Mac Mini. Their design choices are just weird at times.
Yet you can get a CMF Phone 1 for $240 dual camera's with Sony Camera sensors and 120hz OLED display. Though not sure on CMF or Nothing Phone their parent company software support lifetime is.
I've had android phones and iphones in the past and although the hardware is good on both sides the QA from apple on ios was just ahead compared to android.
On my pixel phone (so straight from google) the apps wouldn't auto update no matter what, i had to do it manually regularly, and that was really frustrating.
On the iphone SE 2nd gen i've bought i've never had any issues, never had to reset it in 4 years, OS and apps updating seaminglessly.
Plus when you compare the support lifespan, android phones get 3 years of official security updates after they are released while iphones get 8. Of couse you can expand the android one with custom roms, but they break functionalities that use proprietary TPM drivers, so important apps like banking dont work anymore. Which means on average an iphone will last twice as long as an android phone.
It seems more worth to me to buy a $600 phone that last 6 years than 2 x $400 phones over the same time.
I'm wondering if google fixed their app updating system since then.