The brand new iPhone 16e is designed to get Apple Intelligence into as many fingers as potential. The corporate lately started activating its AI options by default throughout iOS setup, suggesting a tougher push to spur adoption and set up iOS as an AI-first platform. However since Apple Intelligence has up until in the present day solely been accessible on the iPhone 16 collection (and simply the iPhone 15 Professional and Professional Max earlier than that), there hasn't been a sub-$600 iPhone that may run the most recent suite of instruments. So the addition of the $599 iPhone 16e to Apple's lineup isn't shocking.
What was barely surprising was the framing. The iPhone 16e's arrival was heralded by feverish hypothesis a couple of new iPhone SE, which was final launched three years in the past for a beginning value of $429. Although the iPhone 16e is cheaper than the remainder of the iPhone 16 household, its value actually isn't what we would contemplate "finances" or "entry-level."
Apple Intelligence’s arrival on a lower-cost iPhone is because of considered one of its largest upgrades from the SE: the A18 chip (the identical processor from the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus). That makes it Apple’s least expensive AI-equipped mannequin by $300. Nonetheless, that's fairly a bump up from the (now-retired) iPhone SE's $429.
Fortuitously, there’s no skimping on the Apple Intelligence options for the cheaper mannequin; you get all of the AI goodies discovered within the dearer iPhones. That features AI writing instruments, Genmoji, Picture Playground, Visible Intelligence, ChatGPT integration and notification summaries.
The telephone has a a lot larger show than its predecessor: 6.1 inches, up from the 2022 iPhone SE’s mere 4.7 inches. It’s additionally the primary entry-level mannequin to undertake fashionable iPhones’ full-screen design with Face ID. (Pour one out for the now-retired residence button.) Nonetheless, it doesn’t have the Dynamic Island discovered on latest higher-end fashions.
It additionally will get the Motion button, the customizable bodily shortcut on the telephone's aspect. It debuted within the iPhone 15 Professional collection and is present in all iPhone 16 fashions.
The iPhone 16e additionally complies with EU requirements by switching from Lightning to USB-C, which might be the least shocking factor about it. It additionally lacks MagSafe charging, sticking with commonplace Qi wi-fi charging at as much as 7.5W.
An inventory of geeky tech specs doesn’t inform the entire story however can nonetheless function a place to begin. Right here’s how the brand new entry-level iPhone compares to Apple’s earlier mannequin and its two largest Android-running rivals: the Google Pixel 8a and Samsung Galaxy A35 5G. (Though the A35 isn't fairly in the identical value vary, it serves the same area of interest in Samsung's lineup.)
|
iPhone 16e |
iPhone SE (2022) |
Google Pixel 8a |
Samsung Galaxy A35 5G |
|
|
Worth |
$599 / $699 / $899 |
$429 / $479 / $579 |
$499 / $559 |
$400 |
|
Dimensions |
146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8 mm (5.78 x 2.82 x 0.31 inches) |
138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3 mm (5.45 x 2.65 x 0.29 inches) |
152.1 x 72.7 x 8.9mm (6 x 2.9 x 0.4 inches) |
161.7 x 78 x 8.2 mm (6.37 x 3.07 x 0.32 inches) |
|
Weight |
167g (5.88 ounces) |
144g (5.09 ounces) |
188 g (6.7 oz) |
209 g (7.37 oz) |
|
Display dimension |
6.1 inches |
4.7 inches |
6.1 inches |
6.6 inches |
|
Display decision |
2,532 x 1,170 (460 ppi) |
1,334 x 750 (326 ppi) |
1,080 x 2,400 (430 ppi) |
2,340 x 1,080 (389 ppi) |
|
Display sort |
OLED |
Retina HD LCD 60Hz |
Tremendous AMOLED as much as 120Hz |
|
|
SoC |
Apple A18 |
Apple A15 Bionic |
Tensor G3 |
Exynos 1380 |
|
RAM |
N/A |
4 GB |
8 GB |
6 / 8* GB * Non-US solely |
|
Battery |
"as much as 26 hrs video playback" |
2,018mAh |
4,492 mAh |
5,000 mAh |
|
Storage |
128 / 256 / 512GB |
64 / 128 / 256 GB |
128 / 256 GB |
128 / 256* GB MicroSD as much as 1TB * Non-US solely |
|
Rear digital camera(s) |
48MP, f/1.6 |
Broad: 12 MP, f/1.8 |
Broad: 64 MP, f/1.89 Ultrawide: 13MP, f/2.2 |
Broad: 50MP, f/1.8 Ultrawide: 8MP, f/2.2 Macro: 5MP, f/2.4 |
|
Entrance digital camera |
12MP, f/1.9 |
7 MP, f/2.2 |
13MP, f/2.2 |
13MP, f/2.2 |
|
Water / mud ranking |
IP68 |
IP67 |
IP67 |
IP67 |
|
Wi-Fi |
Wi‑Fi 6 (802.11ax) |
802.11ax |
Wi-Fi 6E |
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) |
|
Bluetooth |
v5.3 |
v5.0 |
v5.3 |
v5.3 |
|
OS |
iOS 18 |
iOS 18 |
Android 15 |
Android 14 One UI 6.1 |
|
Colours / end |
Black / White Aluminum |
Midnight / Starlight / (Product)Purple Aluminum |
Obsidian / Porcelain / Aloe / Bay |
Navy / Lilac |
Replace, February 19 2025, 1:46PM ET: This story has been up to date so as to add extra context concerning the iPhone 16e within the intro, masking the hypothesis that Apple was planning to launch a brand new mannequin of the iPhone SE.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cell/smartphones/apple-just-unveiled-the-iphone-16e-heres-how-it-compares-to-the-competition-171306637.html?src=rss
