Apple has started taking pre-orders for its latest smartphone, the iPhone 16e, in the U.S. and elsewhere. The rather divisive budget-focused smartphone from Apple is a major evolution over the now-defunct iPhone SE and sits underneath the mainline iPhones with a bunch of similarities and some serious feature-trimmings, as well.
It starts at $599 in the U.S. for the 128GB storage variant, while the 256GB and 512GB variants will have you parting ways with $699 and $899, respectively.
Monthly installment plans for the iPhone 16e start at at $25 on Apple’s online store, while Apple Care+ (with Theft and Loss protection) are up for grabs at $10/month and $100/year. Carrier options listed on the store include Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Boost, but you can take the unlocked route, as well.
Apple is also offering trade-ins up to $630. That maximum amount is for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, a decidedly better offering than the iPhone 16e, so you probably shouldn’t be tempted. Apple’s trade-in value for Android phones? Well, let’s just say they’re embarrassingly low.
As usual, a charging cable is the only peripheral you get in the box, which means you have to fork out extra cash for a charging brick. Talking of charging, there is no support for MagSafe charging on this one, but wireless charging is still supported.
Apple has also, for inexplicable reasons, said goodbye to the concept of colors. The iPhone 16e will only be available in black and white shades, but you can get some colorful cases from Apple’s own line-up, or third-party labels.
What do you get with the iPhone 16e?
As far as the internals go, the most notable one is a 6.1-inch OLED panel and a battery that is rated to last longer than the iPhone 16. This is also the first iPhone to feature Apple’s own network modem, the C1, which the company has worked on for years.
This is also an AI-ready phone and comes armed with A18 silicon, though it is not the same as the A18 fitted inside the iPhone 16, because it comes with only four GPU cores instead of five.
In the camera department, the iPhone 16e adopts the 48-megapixel Fusion Camera, which is capable of 2x optical zoom capture, as well. However, it misses out on a whole bunch of features compared to the iPhone 16’s 48MP main snapper.
The build is your usual brutalist industrial design affair from Apples, blending aluminum with a glass back to achieve the clean looks. Satellite connectivity is part of the package for emergency communication.
Another key element is the USB-C port on the iPhone SE, which finally marks the end of Apple’s Lightning connector on iPhones. You won’t be missed, fella!
