Apple iPhone 16e review: Easy to like, hard to recommend

While the iPhone SE often get mentioned in the same breath as Google's popular Pixel A line, Apple's attempts at a mid-range iPhone always erred on the side of doing more with less rather than giving you more for less. That might sound like a subtle distinction but when the competition in the mid-range market is as fierce as it is, that detail counts for a lot. It might be hard to find a modern flagship for anything less than a grand nowadays, but you can't say the same for those who want to spend than less than that sum instead. Between Google, Nothing, Samsung and Motorola, consumers are spoiled for choice when it comes to the price segments that Apple typically overlooks. 

The last iPhone SE was a reminder that Apple's absence from the mid-range market isn't because it doesn't have anything compelling to offer. It wasn't just a cheap iPhone or a cheap phone that ran on iOS. The iPhone SE was a genuine alternative that leveraged Apple's ecosystem for maximum effect.

At a glance, it's tempting to see the new iPhone 16e as a continuation of that legacy. In theory, It's yet another cheap iPhone that features an older design and modern specs. In practice though, the iPhone 16e zigs where its predecessor zags in ways that make for a more compelling product that's ultimately much more difficult to recommend given the caliber of its competition. 

The new iPhone 16e is Apple's most lavish and modern take on a budget-friendly handset to date. Rather than echo that pre-notch era of the iPhone as the last two generations of the iPhone SE have, it borrows from every device that's come afterwards. At least, in the terms of the overall look and feel.

It sounds obvious but the iPhone 16e has more in common with the iPhone 16 than it does the iPhone 6. The form-factor here is built around a 6.1-inch OLED edge-to-edge display and thin (but not too thin) bezels. There's no home button or Dynamic Island. However, there's a notch on the top, a USB-C port on the bottom and an Action Button on the side.

Like its siblings, the iPhone 16e is also built to take a hit or two. It's got ceramic shield protection on the front, brushed aluminum on the edges and an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance. This motley medley of familiar features makes for a gorgeous and premium form-factor that instantly feels of a kind with the likes of the standard iPhone 16. That said, the 60Hz refresh rate is definitely going to feel like a downgrade if you're used to anything better.

Another conspicuous omission here is MagSafe. Although you can always add some of the snappy functionality associated with Apple's slick charging setup via a third-party case, the iPhone 16e tops out at 7.5W when it comes to wireless charging. That's not likely to be a deal-breaker for most consumers sizing up this particular smartphone but it does feel like a missed opportunity. 

Even if it is cheaper than its siblings, the iPhone 16e is still more expensive than most of its mid-range rivals. Access to Apple's better take on wireless charging would go a long way towards making that premium price easier to stomach.

It's a similar story when it comes to ultra-wide band connectivity, which the iPhone 16e also lacks. On it own, this is not a huge deal. Most consumers probably don't even know this functionality exists, so the fact that the iPhone 16e doesn't support the Precision Finding features found across the rest of the iPhone 16 roster isn't likely to be make-or-break for all that many folk.

Nevertheless, it feels like yet unnecessary oversight on Apple's part. Exclusions like MagSafe and UWB connectivity complicate the otherwise clear positioning of the iPhone 16e as a cheaper entry point into Apple's ecosystem in a way that makes the asking price involved harder to reconcile. 

This problem even extends to and undercuts the otherwise-exceptional camera on the back of the iPhone 16e. The single lens setup here combines a 2x telephoto lens, a regular wide angle lens and a single 48MP swings well above its weight when it comes to the results it delivers. In most daylight situations, the images that the iPhone 16e produced were sharp, in-focus and exactly what I expected. In much the same vein as Google's early Pixel phones, it feels like the hardware here is working smarter rather than harder. 

At the same time though, it's hard not to think about the price you're paying and how much flexibility you're losing. What's here feels like a poor substitute for the dual-lens setup found on the standard iPhone 16 or the triple-lens one of the iPhone 16 Pro. The fact that it can probably deliver marginally better results than most Android-powered mid-rangers (particularly when it comes to low-light) rarely feels commensurate with the price you're paying for that feat in terms of both dollars and flexibility. The reality that you are reliant on that single lens also leaves you in a tough spot where it feels like you're working around the inherent limitations of the iPhone 16e rather than leveraging its capabilities to the fullest.

If the idea here is that you're getting an iPhone quality camera experience on a budget, the reality of that promise is riddled with weird caveats and corners that Apple has cut for reasons that rarely make the price-tag any easier to swallow. For instance, there’s also no dedicated camera control button, spatial capture or even support for the Cinematic and Action modes introduced back in the iPhone 13 era. 

The camera on the iPhone 16e isn't bad but like many aspects of the device, it leaves you wanting more in a way that left me feeling short-changed. Even if you're not paying for "the full iPhone experience", you're still paying more than you would for a mid-range Android device that might offer a much more complete or robust set of camera hardware. It's easy to live with but hard to recommend over the alternatives that sit both above and below it in terms of price.

Under the hood, the iPhone 16e is powered by an A18 Bionic processor, 8GB of RAM and up to 512GB of on-board storage. That silicon is a significant upgrade on the A15 Bionic found in the last iPhone SE and a clear selling-point over not just everything in the mid-range market but most Android devices period.

Unsurprisingly, the iPhone 16e ran like a dream. As a daily-driver, it more than met both my needs and expectations. Apps loaded fast, the device always felt responsive to use and even more graphically intensive games ran really well. I don't think I'm going to spend much time playing AAA games like Resident Evil 4 on the iPhone 16e anytime soon, but the fact that it can does say something about how future-proofed the iPhone 16e is.

At the end of the day though, the fact that the iPhone 16e runs on iOS probably matters more to potential buyers than the fact that it runs that software as well as it does. Aside from a few missing hooks, this device will plug into and play nice with every other Apple thing you already own. That's not necessarily going to matter for everyone but it is something that can't be said for the many Android-based alternatives out there.

If you're at all activated by the phrase AI, it bears mentioning that the iPhone 16e comes with support for the same Apple Intelligence features found in the most recent iPhones. That said, I can't say I ended up all that impressed with it. Most AI apps provided some small amount of novelty, but that usually faded faster than the residual heat build-up that came with using them did. If there's any part of me that wondered whether Apple's spin on the steady encroachment of AI on the standard smartphone experience makes more sense to me, my time with the iPhone 16e quickly put that possibility to rest. Apple's take on AI certainly seems glitzier than its rivals but that doesn't make it any good.

By contrast, the battery life offered by the iPhone 16e is an unmitigated win. The 4,005mAh battery inside the handset is on par in size with the likes of the one inside the Samsung Galaxy S25 and a significant increase on the one seen in the last iPhone SE. In practice I could easily make it through a normal work day on a full charge, though a second day might be pushing it. Burned down from 100% to zero using video streamed over WiFi, the iPhone 16e lasted 20 hours and 12 minutes. That result puts it above the likes of the Google Pixel 8a but below what you'll get from the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion.