Apple iPhone 16e: At last a meaningful upgrade for the iPhone SE, but it’s pricey
Apple gives its cheapest handset a proper upgrade after five years of stagnation but the price has risen a lot
So, the new Apple iPhone SE is here, but it isn’t an SE after all. Instead, we have the Apple iPhone 16e, which is the 4th generation iPhone SE in all but name.
The base model of the new phone is set to cost £599 and, as everyone who had any reason to be interested in the news expected, it’s a huge overhaul of the somewhat dated iPhone SE 3rd generation, which was released in 2022.
Apple iPhone 16e: Specifications, price and release date
- 6.1in Retina display, with ceramic shield
- Apple A18 SoC
- 8GB of RAM
- 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of storage
- 48MP, f/1.6 main camera; 12MP selfie camera
- IP68 dust and water resistant (depth of 6m up to 30mins)
- Colours: Black and white
- Dimensions: 72 x 7.8 x 147mm (WDH)
- Weight: 167g
- Price: £599, 128GB; £699, 256GB; £799, 512GB
- Availability: Pre-order now, on general sale from Friday 28 February 2025 from Apple
Apple iPhone 16e: What’s new and first impressions
What Apple usually does with an SE redesign is to take an older, recently discontinued phone and repurpose it with a cut-down feature set – and that’s exactly what has happened this time around.
The older model in question is the iPhone 14, the last generation before the Dynamic Island was introduced across the iPhone range. Up front, that means the new phone comes with the old-style “bathtub” notch at the top, a much larger 6.1in display and Face ID biometric login instead of TouchID. It is also equipped with USB-C for charging and data transfer and it has the customisable Action button – on the left edge just above the volume buttons.
The old Home button has now been banished, allowing the display to fill the front of the chassis. At last, Apple’s cheapest phone doesn’t look like it fell out of the noughties, and that can only be a good thing.
The iPhone 16e looks less like the iPhone 14 from the rear but it has been given a spruce up here, too. It has just one camera, like all SE phones before it – in this case, a 48-megapixel f/1.6 unit with optical image stabilisation – but the cylindrical housing is larger, has a more prominent rim and stands a touch prouder of the chassis than it did on the old SE. The phone is available in only black and white.
Perhaps more important than the look of the thing though, is the screen. Not only is this much larger than the previous SE’s piddling 4.7in display but it also uses OLED technology, promising more vivid colours and a much deeper black level than on the iPhone SE’s IPS screen.
And a bigger screen should also mean the battery is bigger. Apple hasn’t detailed the capacity, but it will likely be a lot larger than the tiny 2,000mAh cell in the old phone and – if we are to believe what Apple says – it should last 12 hours longer than all previous editions of the iPhone SE.
That, coupled with the introduction of a much newer, more efficient, Apple A18 processor, should mean the phone lasts a lot longer before needing to be recharged. This is a limitation I’ve criticised in every generation of iPhone SE I’ve reviewed so far; could this generation be the first iPhone SE to not have the caveat of terrible battery life? Let’s hope so.
Including the A18 processor also means that the iPhone 16e fully supports Apple Intelligence. This means you’ll be able to use the writing tools to summarise, rephrase and proofread your copy, remove unwanted objects from your photos and automatically get suggested responses to questions in emails among a myriad other less useful features.
That’s nice, but I’m not convinced Apple Intelligence is a must-have feature just yet. From my experience with the technology so far, I haven’t been all that impressed with it. It’s very light-touch and, although I have used the writing tools to proofread a few things for me and the transcription tools on my laptop, I’ve barely used Apple Intelligence on my iPhone. The improved battery life and larger OLED screen, in my opinion, are far bigger upgrades.
Fortunately, it’s not just the design, screen and processor that have been improved in this generation. You’re also getting more base RAM at 8GB and storage now starts at a more generous 128GB. There’s also a more modern 48-megapixel f/1.6 camera that can shoot 4K Dolby Vision video at up to 60fps, while there are no ultrawide or telephoto lenses, or the iPhone 16’s snazzy haptic shutter button. That’s understandable – the iPhone SE has never had more than one camera – however, with rivals such as the cheaper Google Pixel 8a offering ultrawide shooters to complement their main cameras, I can’t help but be a little disappointed.
The iPhone 16e is also notable in being the first iPhone to feature the C1 modem, the first 5G model designed by Apple and, so says the smartphone giant, the most power-efficient on an iPhone yet.
Apple iPhone 16e preview: Early verdict
Despite the gripes, I must say I like the look of the Apple iPhone 16e. Apple has finally updated the design, it has better battery life, a more modern camera, a faster processor, plus more RAM and storage.
The only problem is that as well as a massive overhaul, the iPhone 16e is also a lot more expensive than the previous model, with prices starting at £599 for the 128GB phone, rising £100 for the 256GB model and another £100 for the 512GB phone. With rivals such as the Pixel 8a starting at £499, that’s a bit of an ask.
We’ll be reviewing the latest addition to the “iPhone family” just as soon as we can get our hands on one, so watch this space to find out if the phone is everything it promises to be.
