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Not SE, but lower price

Review: iPhone 16e - Apple's cheapest iPhone

Some may be familiar with the concept of a cheaper iPhone in the form of the old iPhone SE series, but now that Apple has rethought, it's not just the name that has been dropped but the entire approach.

Erik Mörner
Published Modified

The new iPhone 16e is still Apple's cheapest iPhone, partly because Apple stops selling older models, and it mixes both old and new. However, it is wrong to call the iPhone 16e either cheap or compact, something that characterised the earlier iPhone SE models.

Not like other iPhones

I have had time to read other reviews of the iPhone 16e and there are those who say that the iPhone 16e works and offers the same features as all other iPhone models, but I do not agree. On the contrary, there are a number of features that distinguish the 16e from other iPhone models today.

The system chip, the phone's brain, is what is more or less common with other iPhone models in the same generation. Even that is not entirely true though because this phone has a slightly weaker variant of the A18 chip, not the same as in the iPhone 16. However, this chip and iOS mean that this phone is promised to get Apple's AI services when they become available, but they are not yet in Sweden.

Old and new

The sensor panel at the top of the screen is familiar from the iPhone X that came in 2017 up to the iPhone 14, but since then Apple in other iPhones has abandoned it in favour of the dynamic island which also shows current information and is not just a black, dead area. Here, however, is technology for facial recognition in Face ID and the selfie camera.

If you switch from an older iPhone, things like USB-C charging and battery life might be positive, but compared to other iPhones today and in recent years, the list of disadvantages is longer. You don't get an increased refresh rate on the screen for smoother performance, you don't get MagSafe, but you do get support for regular wireless charging, no active lock screen, and above all, you only get a single camera. 

Only one camera, not two

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The only camera on the back is called a 2-in-1 camera by Apple, but I find that quite misleading. Apple does not disclose exact camera specifications, but what we do know is that this involves a simpler sensor than the one in the regular iPhone 16. If you're coming from an iPhone that's a few years older, you'll notice that you can take better pictures in the dark, but that's really the only advantage. Compared to other iPhones today and in recent years, everything else is worse. Perhaps it's also reasonable since the iPhone 16e is the cheapest in Apple's iPhone lineup today, albeit not cheap. However, this makes the second-hand market for those interested in an iPhone even more attractive than it already was, as you can get a significantly better iPhone for much less than the at least 8500 kronor that the iPhone 16e costs. If you can consider switching to the Android side, you get a better phone for about half the price. However, you miss out on everything Apple has built into its ecosystem of products, like iMessage, FaceTime, connection to Apple Watch, and so on. The reason why many might still stick with the iPhone after all.

The camera in the iPhone 16e can take good pictures, it is 48 megapixels and uses them to get as much information as possible in images in either 12 or 24 megapixels. You can also go into settings and activate 48-megapixel mode, but lower resolution is always used for live photos and for photos in poorer light. The extra information is used in the lower resolution images to reduce noise and compensate for poorer lighting conditions. When I use zoom, two times magnification, the middle of the sensor is used to provide something similar to optical zoom, but this also means that as soon as it gets a little darker, the shortcomings become more apparent and images easily become noisy and too dark with deficiencies in detail. 

I can also notice in normal daylight that the camera has a somewhat limited dynamic range. So you should not expect that the only camera here is as good as the main camera among two or three in other iPhone models. Another argument to choose another phone instead.

The performance in the iPhone 16e, delivered by the A18 chip, ensures that the phone will be able to run iOS and its annual updates for many years to come, so that is one thing that speaks for the 16e. Another thing could be the battery life and as the first phone, it uses Apple's own modem chip. You will surely not notice any difference from that. 

Questions and Answers

Is there an action button?

Yes, you can use it to activate silent mode, use as a camera button, recognise music in the surroundings, or other things, but only one thing at a time. You make the settings on the phone. The iPhone 16e lacks the camera slider found in the other phones in the iPhone 16 series.

How is the screen?

It is an OLED screen, which is good, but it has no active lock screen, no increased screen refresh rate, and lower brightness than the regular iPhone 16. 

Does this phone get Apple Intelligence?

Yes, that is probably the reason it has an A18 chip, to be able to do that, but Apple's AI initiative is delayed so today it is not available at all in Sweden. It may take several years before it comes in Swedish and if it appears in 2025, it will probably only be in a limited form and in English.

An Alternative

The iPhone 16e is Apple's cheapest iPhone at 8500 SEK and the iPhone 15 is next with its price of 10,000 SEK. For the same price as the iPhone 16e, you can get a significantly better iPhone 15 Pro from one of the companies that sell used, refurbished iPhones.

Camera example:

Bildspel: Exempelbilder från Iphone 16e
Bildspel: Exempelbilder från Iphone 16e
Bildspel: Exempelbilder från Iphone 16e
Bildspel: Exempelbilder från Iphone 16e
Bildspel: Exempelbilder från Iphone 16e
Bildspel: Exempelbilder från Iphone 16e
Bildspel: Exempelbilder från Iphone 16e
Bildspel: Exempelbilder från Iphone 16e

The single camera is limited in zoom range, detail reproduction, and dynamic range, especially when lighting conditions are a bit poorer.

Iphone 16E supports Apple Intelligence when it arrives in early April. However, it does not yet have Swedish language support and will be released in English.
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