Apple iPhone 16e (formerly iPhone SE 2025)

So better screen and macro mode on the camera on the 16 and better battery life on the 16e - that was the gist of that video for me.
 
It's selling well nonetheless:

Apple iPhone 16e sells like hot cakes, early data shows

Once the iPhone 16e came out, it was ridiculed by many as it's substantially pricier than its predecessor, the iPhone SE, and the upgrade since 2022 is underwhelming, to say the least. However, according to a Bloomberg report, the iPhone 16e recorded 60% more sales than its spiritual predecessor.

Sure, the iPhone 16e supports Apple Intelligence to some extent, gets a new, more modern design and display, but it's still stuck with one camera, and it costs $170 more than iPhone SE from 2022, which is a lot, even if you account for inflation.

However, users don't seem to care, and there might be a few reasons for that. For instance, with the discontinuation of the iPhone SE, the iPhone 16e remains the lowest entry point into Apple's ecosystem, so users literally don't have other options except to change teams and go with an Android device.

Secondly, the 16e could be a lucrative offer for enterprise customers, hence why we are seeing a surge in iPhone 16e orders. Lastly, people upgrading from an older iPhone like the iPhone SE from 2022 likely don't see the price hike as that big of an issue. They aren't upgrading that often to care.


 
iPhone 16e survives bend test, gets opened up on video

Apple ended the iPhone SE line this month and released the iPhone 16e, which is more expensive than any SE ever was, but is still cheaper than the iPhone 16 - if not by much. You do give up a camera and some of the A18 chipset's prowess to go for the cheaper option, however - oh, and colors too, as the iPhone 16e is only available in black and white.

But how about durability? For that there's always Zack from JerryRigEverything, and he subjected the newest iPhone to his trademark test. Starting with the screen, the glass scratches at level 6 on the Mohs hardness scale, with deeper grooves at level 7 - par for the course, then.

The frame is aluminum of course, the buttons are metal too, and the speaker grilles have mesh over them to prevent water ingress. The back panel is glass and the screen takes an open flame for about 20 seconds before the pixels go white, but after rebooting the phone you can barely see where it happened.


 
iPhone 18 Pro series rumored to get second-generation Apple modem

The iPhone 16e is the first Apple device to feature an in-house cellular modem, and Apple is reportedly hard at work developing a new and improved version of its C1 modem for future devices.

The C1 is something of a test for Cupertino; it utilizes a mix of 4-7nm baseband components, a 55nm Power Management Integrated Circuit (PMIC) and lacks mmWave support. Apple is unlikely to implement it for its iPhone 17 Pro series, which will rely on Qualcomm modems instead. But that may change with next year's iPhone 18 series which could see the Apple C2 modem.

According to Pu, Apple will launch its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max exclusively with the new version of its cellular modem. The baseline iPhone 18 may get the current C1 chip, or it may stick with a Qualcomm modem.


 
Have to say, aesthetically, I dig how clean the design is with one camera, but functionality-wise I would not touch this thing, lol, personally.
I use the 5x optical zoom a lot on my 15 PM along with super wide lens too.


Would be interesting to see what the sales ratio is on these versus regular 16.

16e battery life certainly seems impressive though:
 
TechNick (https://www.youtube.com/@TechNick/videos) is selling his iPhone 16e.

Was bought for testing/the vid.

R14k.


 
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter