On February 19th, 2025, Apple announced its latest addition to the iPhone 16 lineup – the iPhone 16e. I think it’s only an iPhone 16 by name, but it’s actually the rebranded iPhone SE.
According to the current standards, the $599 price tag llega al punto óptimo (hits the sweet spot) between affordable and flagship. But does that make it a bang for your buck?
Let’s find out!
Starting with the Design
iPhone 16e is based on the iPhone 14 design. An aluminum frame with matte-finished glass that eliminates the possibility of fingerprints, and a 6.1-inch XDR OLED display with a notch that older iPhones used to have.
It is essentially an iPhone 14 with a few minor design differences: there is one camera at the back instead of two and there is an action button replacing iPhone 14’s alert slider.
If someone asks me whether I like it or not, I will say “Me encanta!” (I love it). There’s nothing to hate about the design of this iPhone. It’s a minimalist design with essentially everything you need in your phone with few compromises, but it comes with a catch (more on that coming up).
It Has a Display that People Will Either Hate or Won’t Bother
Yes, these are the only two scenarios.
Why would people hate it? It’s 2025 and Samsung’s most affordable phones have a 90Hz refresh rate that makes on-screen actions look more fluid. But in the iPhone 16 and 16e, the refresh rate is 60Hz. Yeah, 60Hz in 2025. If you are coming from an Android phone with a 90Hz or above display, you will notice a significant difference.
Let’s come down to the people who will be unbothered: the iPhone users. If you have been using an old iPhone and want to upgrade to the iPhone 16e, you won’t even notice that it has a 60Hz display.
Why? Because they have been using a 60Hz screen along with the smooth software experience that iOS provides. The base variant of the iPhones have a 60Hz display and they sell like hotcakes because of the great software.
Apart from the refresh rate, generally speaking, it’s going to be fine. It will get mucho brillo (plenty of bright) outdoors and the Apple’s pixel density is great.
Performance Straight from the iPhone 16
Why do I expect it to perform similarly to the iPhone 16? It has the same amount of RAM as that of the iPhone 16 and it has the same processor. It is essentially an iPhone 16 with a different body.
It has the brand new C1 modem by Apple, so I was a bit skeptical about its real-world performance. So, I tested its performance with that of the iPhone 16 base variant.
Looking to upgrade my internet connection, I dialed telefono de Xfinity from both of my phones. Let me tell you, there’s essentially no difference in performance for both chips. However, Apple does claim that their new chip is significantly more power efficient, and reports online are backing their claims.
Performance-wise, the iPhone 16 gave me a pretty good experience. The animations were smooth, frame rates never dropped, the content consumption was good enough, and overall it was a great experience.
You might wonder why I am mentioning the iPhone 16 in an iPhone 16e-related post. Well, it’s powered by the same A18 chipset as that of the iPhone 16, so it will get all the Apple Intelligence features that the iPhone 16 lineup will get. However, it’s worth noting that the iPhone 16e has one less GPU core compared to the iPhone 16.
The bottom line is that it will be a powerful phone.
The Battery Will Be Better (according to Apple)
For all those years, iPhone SE and iPhone Mini users have been complaining about the battery life of the Base, Pro, and SE iPhones. With the iPhone 16e, they have tried to fix that.
Apple claims that the iPhone 16e is going to be more power efficient. Yeah, esta es la manera ‘Apple’ (this is the Apple way) – not increasing the capacity but the efficiency. The claims show that it can playback up to 19 hours of videos. Well, that is impressive. I tend to believe that it lasts longer because of the 6.1-inch OLED screen without a higher refresh rate.
Speaking of which, this is essentially an upgrade to the iPhone SE and Mini users with a 200-buck jump in the price tag but with a catch.
The Catch
It is weirdly priced at $599. The iPhone 16 was launched at $799 back in September.
Note the timing because that’s what makes it weird. It’s been five or maybe six months since the iPhone 16 was launched, and today, you will be able to find the iPhone 16 at a similar price through carrier deals.
That is why I think it is a weird phone, much like the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, which was launched with a minor price difference from the flagship S23.