Without fanfare, Apple unveiled its newest low-cost phone, the $599 iPhone 16e. There was no major event, either online or in person. No reporters clambered through throngs of coworkers to take pictures of the phone. Rather, days before Apple announced the phone in a press release, CEO Tim Cook tweeted that new hardware was on the way.
The 16e isn’t an intriguing device as a result. It’s secure. It is a combination of previous iPhone models in an effort to produce a dependable product at a reasonable price. In terms of size and the presence of the top display notch, the phone most closely resembles the iPhone 13 and 14. Though the 16’s Camera Control is absent, the iPhone 15’s Action button is present.
The most innovative feature of the iPhone 16e is undoubtedly its proprietary C1 modem. You don’t hear that sentiment too often. Clearly, moderns are not sexy. The majority of customers only ever notice them when theirs breaks down. However, the component’s interest lies not in the technology. It’s because Apple has never produced one before.
Even while the 16e heavily references previous Apple devices, there are aspects of the company’s most recent flagship that support Apple’s new nomenclature. The introduction of the A18 is the most compelling case for doing away with the well-known iPhone SE designation. The standard iPhone 16 has the same processor.
This is significant for two reasons. The first is that the 16e is $200 less expensive than the iPhone 16, which was the least expensive method to obtain the chip until recently. Future-proofing is the second and more crucial step. The chip will be supported by Apple for a longer period of time than the A16 chip found in the iPhone 15.
Apple Intelligence, the emerging generative AI platform the company is relying on as the future of the iPhone, is another aspect of future-proofing in addition to bug patches and security upgrades. The most costly iPhone 15 models and the current iPhone 16 range were the only iOS devices that could use the feature prior to last week.
