We won’t see an entry-class iPhone SE from the company anymore. Apple has replaced the series title once and for all by releasing an iPhone 16e instead. The rumors were on point about the phone’s launch this week, as Apple finally unveiled the iPhone 16e to join the existing lineup today.
It is considered an iPhone 14 replacement with essentially the same appearance, but Apple did take away the secondary ultrawide camera to make the 16e cheaper and discernable. Of course, you also get all the new bells and whistles like Apple Intelligence, brand-new silicon, and iOS 18 from the get-go.
iPhone 16e is the first in its class with Super Retina XDR OLED. It’s a 6.1” panel with a face ID sticking out of a traditional notch design we see on the Macbooks and older iPhones. At least the phone presents the display nicely with uniform bezels, bidding farewell to the ancient SE look.
Among other upgrades, we also found that the camera on the Apple iPhone new model gets a solid boost. This single unit on the back has a 48 MP sensor, which Apple described as a 2-in-1 system. From what they claimed, it has lossless 2x zoom, and you won’t lose quality at greater magnifications.
There is also a front camera with 12 MP resolution and a 3D depth/biometric sensor on the side for the Face ID. Luckily, with the Apple A18 chip involved, 4k 60FPS videos are a possibility from the front and the back. Action Button is here as well, with customizable shortcuts for the user’s convenience.
We are not surprised that Apple replaced the lightning port with USB C in the new iPhone 16e. Europen Regulations are still in force. With that said, this device may also give you a far superior battery life. As Apple puts it, the 16e will last 6 hours longer than an iPhone 11 and 12 hours longer than all the previous iPhone SE.
iOS 18 boots up on the iPhone 16E by default, and since it’s been categorized as one of the iPhone 16s, we see the full suite of Apple Intelligence features the other siblings have. There’s one more change that’s yet to prove its sustainability, and that is Apple’s new proprietary C1 modem. It’s used for satellite connectivity, Emergency SOS, Roadside Assistance, Messages, and Find My iPhone via Satellite.
From February 21, the pre-orders will begin, and the official release date is February 28, breaking out the iPhone 16e in at least three memory trims: 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB with 8 GB RAM across the board. iPhone 16e starts at $599 (~PKR 167,000).
