iPhone 16e Review: No Man's Land
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iPhone 16e Intro
Apple ends the era of the SE and ushers in the era of the "e" series with the new iPhone 16e.
What does the "e" stand for? As typical with Apple, there is no official explanation, but at a press briefing, an Apple rep actually said it the "e" does not stand for anything specifically, except that the phone is built for everyone. Whatever that means.
One thing is clear, though: the for-everyone iPhone 16e is a lot better than previous SE models, but with that increased power comes an unexpected bump in price to $600. This might be the cheapest iPhone available now, but it's not a cheap phone. At $600, it's too expensive to be considered a budget phone and it lacks the features that make a premium phone. It's in no man's land.
In our PhoneArena rating system, the iPhone 16e gets a score just slightly below the average for its price point. While the iPhone beats rivals in pure performance power, the lack of an ultra-wide camera affects its camera scores significantly and the lack of features like a 120Hz display also shows.
Table of Contents:
Also read: iPhone 16e vs iPhone 14: Future versus past
iPhone 16e Specs
Let's start with an overview of the iPhone 16e specs:
| iPhone 16E | iPhone 14 | iPhone SE 3 (2022) |
|---|---|---|
| Size and Weight 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8 mm 167 g | Size 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8 mm 172 g | Size 138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3 mm 144 g |
| Display 6.1-inch OLED 60 Hz 1170p | Display 6.1-inch OLED 60 Hz 1170p | Display 4.7-inch LCD 60 Hz 750p |
| Processor A18 (3 nm) | Processor A15 (5 nm) | Processor A15 (5 nm) |
| Cameras 48 MP Main camera - Front camera | Cameras 12 MP main 12 MP ultra-wide 12 MP front | Cameras 12 MP main - |
| Battery Size 3,961 mAh | Battery Size 2,018 mAh | Battery Size 3,279 mAh |
| Charging Speeds 20 W wired Qi 7.5W wireless | Charging 20 W wired 15 W MagSafe | Charging 20 W wired 15 W MagSafe |
| Prices 8/128 GB — $600 | Prices 6/128 GB — $600 Discontinued | Prices 4/64 GB Discontinued |
iPhone 16е Design and Display
Welcome to the modern era
The iPhone 16e looks like an iPhone 14, but has the power of an iPhone 16
The new iPhone 16e adopts a modern design and looks a lot like the now discontinued iPhone 14.
It has flat sides and a 6.1-inch screen, and it even has modern inventions like the Action Button (but there is no Camera Control).
Just like you'd expect, it also has a USB-C port, meaning that Apple has now officially moved away from the Lightning port. Good riddance, it's great having the same port on all of your electronics!
The iPhone 16e has the Action Button instead of a mute switch
What else is new?
Well... not much. Up front you have the notch rather than the newer Dynamic Island. We would not cry over this as there is not all that much new functionality that you get with the Dynamic Island.
While the outgoing SE model had a tiny 4.7-inch LCD screen, the iPhone 16e switches to a much more usable 6.1-inch screen size and it has prettier colors thanks to it being an OLED panel.
We really wish Apple had an "iPhone 16e Plus" model, though. Many people prefer having a larger screen and there is just no budget iPhone with a large screen at the moment, especially now that the iPhone 14 Plus is discontinued.
That cannot be a coincidence, of course. An "iPhone 16e Plus" would eat too much of the sales of the premium iPhone models and Apple knows it.
iPhone 16e Camera
Only one main camera, but most people would be fine with that
The single rear camera on the iPhone 16e is the most controversial decision Apple has made
One of the most controversial decisions Apple made with the iPhone 16e is equipping it with just one rear camera.
Many people would be quick to outrage here and we can see why — most phones these days have a secondary, ultra-wide camera, even much cheaper models.
While we don't want to defend Apple's cost cutting strategy, if there was one place to compromise, the ultra-wide camera might actually be the best one, and we'd much rather have, say, a powerful processor rather than a camera we don't use that often.
Of course, some people might miss having it, but we are just not sure if they will be the majority.
iPhone 16e Camera Samples
Main Camera
Samples from the 16e main camera look very similar to that of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 with only some minor differences as you can see above.
Zoom Quality
Zoom quality looks a bit better on the iPhone 15, but it's not a huge difference.
Selfies look similar on the 16e to current iPhones, so thankfully there are no downgrades here.
Video Quality
The big advantage the iPhone 16e has over its rivals is the stellar video quality out of that single rear camera. The 16e can record 4K60 video and it has a lot more clarity than rivals in this price segment.
But it is also missing a few features we were used to seeing on recent iPhones. You don't have Cinematic mode (it blurs the background for a DSLR-like look) and you don't have Action mode (stabilizes your footage if you record while, say, running). These are pretty big omissions and it's sad not having them on the 16e.
On the other hand, it does support the newer Audio Mix feature (it removes background noise or wind noise in videos), which you don't have on the iPhone 15 series.
But it is also missing a few features we were used to seeing on recent iPhones. You don't have Cinematic mode (it blurs the background for a DSLR-like look) and you don't have Action mode (stabilizes your footage if you record while, say, running). These are pretty big omissions and it's sad not having them on the 16e.
On the other hand, it does support the newer Audio Mix feature (it removes background noise or wind noise in videos), which you don't have on the iPhone 15 series.
Also, on the 16e, you only have traditional OIS and not the sensor-shift stabilization that you can find on the latest iPhone models. However, that last one barely makes a difference, so we don't really miss it all that much.
iPhone 16e Performance & Benchmarks
Ahoy, Apple Intelligence!
An A18 chip on a $600 iPhone is great to have and there is no doubt that the iPhone 16e will have the best performance of any phone at this price.
But extraordinary time call for extraordinary measures, and Apple is lagging behind on AI and has to catch up, hence the A18 chip and 8 GB of RAM on the 16e.
CPU Performance
The iPhone 16e performs on par with the iPhone 16, which is great news. The A18 chip inside it is one of the most powerful ones on the market, especially at that $600 price.
GPU Performance
In GPU performance, you can tell that the iPhone 16e has one less GPU core and this is also reflected in the benchmark scores. Basically, the 16e performs as well as an iPhone 15 when it comes to graphics, so it's not quite as good as the latest iPhone 16 model.
However, after 20 minutes of intense gaming, it throttles to a level that is actually similar to the iPhone 16, even beating it narrowly. That is great news.
No surprises when it comes to storage. The base $600 iPhone 16e has 128 GB of native storage. At $700 ($100 more than the base model) you get 256 GB of storage and at $900 you have the 512 GB version. No expandable storage here of course.
A few other details: you have satellite connectivity on the iPhone 16e, which can be a life-saver if you get in trouble in a remote area. So far, using that feature is free, but Apple has hinted that it will start charging for it some time in the future, but no specifics just yet.
Another little curiosity is that the iPhone 16e lacks an ultra-wide band (UWB) chip. This helps with precision finding your device and it also enables a few cool features like NameDrop and fast AirDrop to nearby Apple devices. Not a huge omission, but worth knowing.
iPhone 16e Software
The iPhone 16e runs iOS 18, just like all the other iPhones.
But the big story is all about the new Apple Intelligence features.
Let's list the major ones for your convenience:
- AI Notification Summaries
- Writing Tools
- ChatGPT integration in Siri
- Genmoji
- Image Playground
The iPhone 16e also supports Visual Intelligence - despite not having a Camera Control button. Apple has found a work-around and you trigger the Visual Intelligence via the Action Button, and using that you can look up what's in front of your camera, Google it, or ask ChatGPT to tell you what you can do with it.
iPhone 16e Battery
Best battery life on a 6.1-inch iPhone
The most surprising upgrade on the iPhone 16e is a much bigger battery.
In fact, Apple says the 16e has the best battery life of any 6.1-inch iPhone.
The battery size is a shocker: at 4,005 mAh, this is a big jump over the iPhone 16.
We ran our in-house battery test results and here is what we found.
PhoneArena Battery Test Results:
The iPhone 16e has the best score of any smaller iPhone in our web browsing test, which is great news, but interestingly, it got half an hour less of video playback when streaming YouTube videos and its 3D gaming scores was also below those of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 15.
It seems that the efficiencies of this new iPhone are mostly seen in standby and lighter tasks.
And here are Apple's own battery life estimates:
| iPhone 16e | iPhone 15 | iPhone 16 |
|---|---|---|
| Battery size: 4,005 mAh | Battery size: 3,349 mAh | Battery size: 3,561 mAh |
| Video Playback: 26 hours | Video Playback: 20 hours | Video Playback: 22 hours |
| Video Streaming: 21 hours | Video Streaming: 16 hours | Video Streaming: 18 hours |
| Audio Playback: 90 hours | Audio Playback: 80 hours | Audio Playback: 80 hours |
Apple tests show a different picture with much bigger gains, but in our real-world tests we see more subtle changes.
While all this is great, we are disappointed and frankly surprised by Apple's decision to drop MagSafe support on the 16e. Every iPhone since the iPhone 12 (with the single exception of the SE) has had MagSafe, so this feels a bit weird.
Traditional charging via a cable is unchanged at 20 W speeds, but the 16e lacks the magnets for MagSafe and only supports non-magnetic Qi charging at quite slow 7.5 watt speeds.
iPhone 16e Audio Quality and Haptics
The loudspeaker on the iPhone 16e does not get very loud, but it is nicely balanced and has a bit more bass than usual in a phone.
As for haptics, you have the Taptic Engine on board, which means excellent vibration feedback, but that has been the case for all iPhones in the last few years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?
Should you buy it?
The iPhone 16e has Face ID, ending the era of iPhones with a button
The iPhone 16e kills two models with its arrival, which is unprecedented in Apple history, as far as we remember. After its arrival, both the iPhone SE (2022) and the iPhone 14 series are discontinued.
At $600, the iPhone 16e is indeed a new chapter for Apple. Gone is the SE model with its cheap prices, and instead we have a more powerful but also pricier entry-level iPhone.
On one hand, that's a disappointment for buyers on a budget. This is not a budget phone by any means.
On the other hand, though, the iPhone 16e beats the competition in performance speeds and video quality.
What are your alternatives? The Galaxy S24 FE is Samsung's $600 phone and it has three cameras on board, but a slower chipset.
The base Pixel 9 model is often discounted to $600 and it offers a solid battery life and a powerful dual camera system, so it's also a great option.
So what do you think: is the iPhone 16e a good move for Apple?
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