IPhone 16e – Apple's cheapest iPhone

The new iPhone 16E is still Apple's cheapest iPhone, to some extent that Apple ceases to sell older models, and it mixes both old and new. However, it is wrong to call the iPhone 16E for either cheap or compact, which characterized the previous iPhone SE models.

Not like other iPhone

I have been able to read other tests of the iPhone 16E and there are those who say that the iPhone 16E works and offers the same features as all other iPhone models, but I do not agree. On the contrary, there are a variety of properties that set out 16E from other iPhone models today.

The system chip, the phone's brain is what is more or less in common with other iPhone models in the same generation. Not even that is completely true though for this phone has a slightly weaker variant of the A18 chip, not the same as sits in the iPhone 16. Just that chip and iOS, however, makes this phone promised to get Apple's AI services when they become available, but they are not yet in Sweden.

Old and new

We recognize the sensor panel at the top of the screen from the iPhone X which came in 2017 until the iPhone 14, but since then Apple in other iPhones has abandoned it in favor of the dynamic island that also shows current information and is not just a black, dead surface. Here, however, the technology for facial recognition hides in Face ID and the selfie camera.

If you change from an older iPhone, things like USB-C charging and battery life may be positive, but compared to other iPhones today and in recent years the list of disadvantages is longer. You do not get any height update rate in the screen which gives better flow, you do not get a stomach, but support for regular wireless charging, no active lock screen and above all you only get a nasty camera.

Only one camera, not two

The only camera on the back calls Apple a 2-in-1 camera, but I think that is clearly misleading. Apple does not go out with exact camera specifications, but what we know is that this is that this is about a simpler sensor than the one in the regular iPhone 16. If you come from a few years older iPhone, you will notice that you can take better pictures in the dark, but that is also really the only advantage. Compared to other iPhones today and in recent years, everything else is worse. Maybe it is also reasonable because the iPhone 16E is the cheapest in Apple's iPhone lineup today, albeit not cheap. However, this means that Apple makes the second -hand market for anyone interested in an iPhone even more attractive than it has already been, because there you can get a significantly better iPhone too much less than the at least SEK 8500 that the iPhone 16E costs. If you imagine going to the Android page, you get a better phone for about half that price. However, then you miss everything that Apple built into its ecosystem of products, such as Imessage, Facetime, connection to Apple Watch and so on. The reason why many may, after all, stick to the iPhone after all.

The camera in the iPhone 16E can take good pictures, it is 48 megapixel and uses them to get as much information as possible in images in either 12 or 24 megapixels. You can also go into settings and activate 48-megapixel mode, but lower resolution is always used for live images and for images in poorer light. The extra information is used in the images with lower resolution to reduce noise and compensate for poorer lighting conditions. When I use zoom, two times magnification, the center of the sensor is used to give something similar optical zoom, but at the same time it means that as soon as it gets a little darker, the deficiencies are noticeable and images become slightly noisy and too dark with deficiencies in detail.

I can also notice in regular daylight that the camera has a little limited dynamic range. So you should not expect that the only camera here is as good as the main camera among two or three in other iPhone models. Another argument to choose another phone instead.

The performance in the iPhone 16E, delivered by the A18 chip ensures that the phone will be able to operate iOS and its annual updates for many years to come, so there is one thing that speaks for 16th. Another thing may be the battery life and as the first phone it uses Apple's own modem chip. You will certainly not notice any difference.

Questions and answers

There is an action button?

Yes, you can use it to activate silent mode, use as a camera button, recognize music in the surroundings, or other things, but only one thing at a time. You make the settings on the phone. The iPhone 16E lacks the camera team found in the other phones in the iPhone 16 series.

How's the screen?

It is an OLED screen, which is good, but it has no active lock screen, no elevated screen update rate and worse brightness than regular iPhone 16.

Does this phone get Apple Intelligence?

Yes, that is probably the reason why it has an A18 chip, to be able to do so, but Apple's AI bet is drawn with delays so today it is not available at all in Sweden. It can take several years before it comes in Swedish and it pops up in 2025 it will probably only be in limited form and in English.

An alternative

The iPhone 16E is Apple's cheapest iPhone with its SEK 8500 and the iPhone 15 is next in line with its price of SEK 10,000. For the same price as the iPhone 16E, you get a significantly better iPhone 15 Pro from any of the companies selling used, refreshed iPhones.

Camera example:

The only camera is limited in zoom range, detailed reproduction and dynamic range, especially when there is a little worse lighting conditions.