Apple’s cheapest iPhone, which starts at $599, has USB-C and Face ID, but it lacks MagSafe.
The home button has officially died. Apple has discontinued the iPhone’s iconic Touch ID system and introduced the iPhone 16E with a new design. With a starting price of $599, the 16E instead adopts a Face ID-enabled notch, incorporates the newest A18 CPU, and supports Apple Intelligence below.
Instead of using the Dynamic Island design used on the company’s most recent flagship phones, the 16E is a sort of iPhone SE successor based on the design of the 2022 iPhone 14, which places the front-facing cameras needed for Face ID (and selfies) into a notch that cuts down from the top of the phone.
Apple no longer produces a phone that is much smaller than its default model, at least not until the anticipated iPhone 17 Air is released. The 16E, with its 6.06-inch OLED display, is now about the same size as the company’s ordinary 6.12-inch iPhone 16. According to measurements, the 16E is roughly 0.7 mm shorter and 0.1 mm narrower than the original iPhone 16.
The 16E lacks the new Camera Control seen on the 16 series, however it does have the Action Button that can be customized. It does replace its Lightning port with USB-C, which is now necessary for the phone to be sold in the European Union.The iPhone 16E only supports Qi wireless charging up to 7.5W, which will charge you more slowly than the 25W charging seen on more expensive iPhones. This means that it lacks support for MagSafe attachments and fast wireless charging.
On the inside, there’s an A18 chipset, the same chip as the iPhone 16. That makes the 16E powerful enough to run Apple Intelligence, the suite of AI tools that includes notification summaries. Even the non-Pro iPhone 15 can’t do that, so the 16E is one of the most capable iPhones out there. Apple has previously confirmed that 8GB RAM was the minimum to get Apple Intelligence support in the iPhone 16 series, so it’s likely that the 16E also boasts at least that much memory. The cheapest version has also been bumped to a baseline of 128GB of storage, meaning there’s no longer a 64GB iPhone.
Only one 48-megapixel back camera is included; this is the largest degradation when compared to the company’s previous phones. You don’t have to give up much because it has a water-resistant IP certification and supports wireless charging.
ICYMT: Apple no longer offers the latest iPhone models with Lightning ports
Additionally, the iPhone 16E is the first iPhone to come with an Apple-developed modem. We’re finally witnessing the results of the company’s years-long effort to move away from Qualcomm-developed modems. Now, the main concerns are whether Apple is prepared to introduce its own connection components in the iPhone 17 range later this year and how effectively the new modem works.
Preorders for the new iPhone 16E will open on Friday for $599, a substantial price increase over the $429 2022 iPhone SE, even though the base model has substantially more storage (128GB) and a much more contemporary appearance. The ship date for the 16E is February 28.
Updated on February 19th: Size information was included, and the absence of MagSafe support was acknowledged.
February 19th: As originally indicated, preorders open on Friday rather than Thursday.
SOURCE: THE VERGE
