Apple iPhone 16e

The iPhone 16e is the lower-priced way into the iPhone 16 generation. Apple announced it on 19 February 2025 as a new addition to the iPhone 16 line-up, with the same A18 chip that powers the standard models, support for Apple Intelligence and a 6.1-inch OLED display, at a starting price of 599 dollars in the United States. It also carries a first for Apple: the C1, the first cellular modem the company designed itself. This page walks through what the phone offers, what it leaves out compared with its siblings and what the launch information says about availability.

Launch details

Pre-orders began on Friday 21 February 2025 in 59 countries and regions, including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States, and the phone was available from Friday 28 February. It comes in two matte finishes, black and white, with 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of storage. In the United States it started at 599 dollars, or 24.95 dollars a month over 24 months. Apple's message was that the 16e completes the iPhone 16 line-up as a more affordable option, and the vice president of iPhone product marketing, Kaiann Drance, said it packs in the features people like about the family: breakthrough battery life, the A18 chip, an innovative 2-in-1 camera system and Apple Intelligence. To see the wider family, read our iPhone 16 page.

Display and build

The 16e has a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display with OLED technology and an edge-to-edge design, which Apple positions for HDR video, games and crisp text. It uses a notch for the TrueDepth camera and Face ID, rather than the Dynamic Island found on the standard iPhone 16, so the front looks closer to earlier generations. The phone has an IP68 rating for splash, water and dust resistance, a Ceramic Shield front cover with an advanced formulation that Apple says is tougher than any smartphone glass, and what Apple calls the toughest back glass in a smartphone. Charging works both wirelessly and through USB-C, so it works with a wide range of accessories. Apple does not list a peak brightness or refresh rate in the announcement, and the display does not have ProMotion, so we have left those figures out of the specification table rather than guess.

A18 chip and the first Apple modem

Inside is Apple's A18 chip. It has a 6-core CPU that Apple says is up to 80 percent faster than the A13 Bionic of the iPhone 11, a 4-core GPU with hardware-accelerated ray tracing for demanding games, and a 16-core Neural Engine optimised for large generative models, which Apple says runs machine-learning models up to six times faster than the A13. The other new piece is the C1 modem. Apple calls it the first modem it designed and the most power-efficient modem ever fitted to an iPhone, delivering fast, dependable 5G. Apple credits the C1, the A18, a new internal layout and iOS 18 power management for the battery life, which it describes as the best ever on a 6.1-inch iPhone, lasting up to six hours longer than the iPhone 11 and up to twelve hours longer than any iPhone SE generation. Those comparisons come from Apple; they show that the target buyer is someone upgrading from an older phone.

Apple Intelligence and the Action button

The 16e is built for Apple Intelligence. At launch that meant the Clean Up tool for removing distracting objects from photos, natural-language search in Photos, Image Playground, Genmoji, Writing Tools and a more conversational Siri that can follow a request when you stumble over your words, remember context between requests and be typed to. ChatGPT was integrated into Writing Tools and Siri as an option, with no account required and with IP addresses obscured, and Apple stresses that you choose when to use it. Many of the models run on the phone, and heavier requests go to Private Cloud Compute, where Apple says data is not stored or shared and is used only to fulfil the request. Apple Intelligence was initially available in localised English for several countries, with French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, simplified Chinese and other languages planned for April 2025.

The phone also has the programmable Action button, which can open the camera or flashlight, toggle Ring and Silent, recognise music with Shazam, start Voice Memos, Focus or Translate, run a Shortcut or trigger in-app actions. On the 16e it additionally launches visual intelligence, which can summarise or translate text, detect phone numbers and email addresses, identify animals and plants and search Google or ask ChatGPT about what the camera sees. There is no Camera Control button on this model. Instead, the camera is opened through the Action button, the lock screen or the app.

Camera

A single 48MP Fusion camera does the work of two, according to Apple: a high-resolution main sensor, and an integrated 2x telephoto that crops the middle of the sensor while keeping optical-quality detail. Computational photography balances light and detail, the latest HDR renders skin tones in a natural way, and Night mode and Portrait mode are supported. The front TrueDepth camera has autofocus for sharper close-ups and group selfies. Video goes up to 4K at 60 frames per second in Dolby Vision, with the ability to pause and resume a recording, Spatial Audio, Audio Mix and wind-noise reduction. There is no ultra-wide lens, which is the most significant camera difference from the iPhone 16. If wide-angle shooting matters to you, compare the two directly on the iPhone 16 vs iPhone 16e page.

Satellite and safety

Apple's satellite features are included: Emergency SOS, Messages, Find My location sharing and Roadside Assistance via satellite, for when you are outside cellular and Wi-Fi coverage. Crash Detection can detect a severe car crash and call emergency services if you cannot reach the phone. iOS 18 adds customisable Home Screen icons with dark and tinted looks, a redesigned Control Center, the ability to lock and hide apps, scheduled messages and RCS support for richer messaging with non-Apple phones.

Environment, accessories and price context

Apple says the 16e has more than 30 percent recycled content, including 100 percent recycled cobalt and 95 percent recycled lithium in the battery and 85 percent recycled aluminium in the enclosure. The packaging is fibre-based. A silicone case was offered at 39 dollars in five colours. Apple also listed trade-in credit of up to 120 dollars for an iPhone 11 and up to 170 dollars for an iPhone 12, or up to 400 and 599 dollars respectively through carrier offers, though these offers are time-limited and vary by market, so check current terms. For a different take on Apple's thinner designs, see the iPhone Air, and for the current flagship line see the iPhone 17. You can find longer-term impressions in our reviews section.