Apple’s Surprise iPhone Puts This Key Feature at the Center of the Upgrade Debate

The iPhone 16e is the brand’s new “affordable” iPhone. So, what’s the catch?

Published February 19, 2025

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Updated February 19, 2025

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Apple skipped the big keynote event for the launch of its newest iPhone, the iPhone 16e, revealing it today via a press release instead.

The iPhone 16e takes the place of the 2022-released iPhone SE (3rd-gen) — which, as of today, Apple has officially discontinued — as the brand’s most affordable iPhone. It starts at $599, making it $200 cheaper than the base model iPhone 16.

Naturally, a more affordable iPhone will come with some great features — such as battery life — but some key tradeoffs. So, what are they? Let’s break it down.

The iPhone 16e isn’t a small iPhone

Let’s get one thing out of the way — the iPhone 16e isn’t a small iPhone. It has a 6.1-inch OLED display, the same screen size as the iPhone 16 … or, more accurately, the same size as the iPhone 14, but more on that below.

One of the key selling points of the previous iPhone SE was its small size. It had a 4.7-inch display plus a Home Button at the bottom, making it roughly the same size as the iPhone 13 mini, which Apple stopped making several years ago.

A (sort of) new look iPhone

The iPhone 16e takes most of its design cues after the 2022-released iPhone 14. It has the same edge-to-edge display with a notch that holds the selfie camera and supports Face ID. There’s no floating Dynamic Island like on the more recent iPhones.

This obviously means Apple no longer sells an iPhone with an old-school Home button with Touch ID. From now on, it’s edge-to-edge displays and Face ID throughout Apple’s iPhone lineup.

Apple power … and intelligence

That said, the iPhone 16e does steal quite a few features from the iPhone 16 line. It packs Apple’s A18 processor, the same chip in the iPhone 16, which allows it to support Apple Intelligence and many of its AI-powered abilities.

Uniquely, the iPhone 16e is the first-ever iPhone to feature Apple’s C1 cellular 5G modem, which it developed in-house to replace the Qualcomm’s 5G chips in all recent iPhones.

Unlike the iPhone 14, the iPhone 16e does have an Action button similar to the rest of the iPhone 16 lineup. It does not have a Camera Control button.

It also has a USB-C charging port — no Lightning — and supports wireless charging, something Apple’s previous cheap iPhone lacked.

Battery life is its killer feature

If the iPhone 16e has a killer feature, it’s its battery life. Thanks to the power and efficiency of its A18 chip, along with its new C1 cellular modem, Apple claims that the iPhone 16e has the best battery life ever on a 6.1-inch iPhone.

According to Apple’s spec sheet, the iPhone 16e supports up to 26 hours of video playback, which is better than the iPhone 16’s up to 22 hours of video playback.

Naturally, Apple’s new affordable iPhone is targeted at people who haven’t upgraded their iPhones in years (or people looking to make the jump from Android), so Apple compares the iPhone 16e’s battery life to older iPhones.

According to Apple, the iPhone 16e’s battery lasts up to six hours longer than the iPhone 11 and up to 12 hours longer than all generations of iPhone SE. That’s a big jump.

The camera is the biggest tradeoff

While most everything about the iPhone 16e is quite similar to the iPhone 16, the big tradeoff is with its camera.

Instead of the iPhone 16’s dual rear camera system, featuring a 48-megapixel fusion main camera and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera, the iPhone 16e opts for a single-lens 48-megapixel camera.

Apple claims that the iPhone 16e’s main camera features an integrated 2x telephoto lens that is like having “two cameras in one.” This also enables it to take Portrait mode photos.

However, the iPhone 16e lacks an ultra-wide lens. It also can’t capture macro photos, nor spatial photos and videos for watching on a Vision Pro.

Price and availability

The iPhone 16e will come in two different finishes: white or black.

Each base model comes with 128GB of storage and costs $599. Models are configurable with 126GB and 512GB storage capacities, as well, but that bumps up the price by $100 and $300, respectively.

While more affordable than the iPhone 16 models, these new “cheap” iPhones are considerably pricier than the previous iPhone SE, which started at $429.

You can preorder the iPhone 16e tomorrow, February 20th. Apple says they’ll ship on February 28th.