The iPhone 16e made me realise what you actually need for a good smartphone

Introduction

It’s been a minute since we got a new entry-level iPhone. The last iPhone SE came out in 2022, with the same basic design as the iPhone 8 – which launched five years earlier – so to say it was overdue a refresh would be putting it nicely. But by not fitting the same affordable smartphone mould as its predecessor, the iPhone 16’s arrival divided opinion.

Think of the iPhone 16e as a like-for-like iPhone SE replacement and you’ll be disappointed by the bump in size – and bigger bump in asking price. But look at it as a new device in Apple’s iPhone line-up that knocks £200 off the iPhone 16, while offering enough power and features for the majority, and you’ll be more impressed.

Sure, that £599/$599 starting price makes it more expensive than affordable Androids like the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro or Samsung Galaxy A5. But it’s nearly 50% cheaper than an iPhone 16 Pro and offers many of the same features. Does that make it the top choice for most of the iOS faithful?

Design & build: blending old and new

Good news! The iPhone 16e’s styling is a far cry from the 3rd-gen iPhone SE‘s dated looks. The Touch ID Home Button that defined iPhones for a decade is no more, and neither are the bulky bezels – both of which I’m thrilled to see the back of. Face ID authentication has been ushered in as the replacement, and it works as well on this cheaper model as the iPhone 16 Pros.

The flat frame is in line with the rest of the iPhone 16 range and a slender 7.8mm thick. I much prefer them to the outgoing iPhone SE’s curved edges. Aluminium and glass bring a premium feel, weight is kept in check (167g if you’re counting), and IP68 water and dust resistance is as good as it gets in Apple’s world.

Black and white are the only colour options, which is a shame. Neither are as striking as the Ultramarine iPhone 16. I’d have liked a return to the iPhone 5c era where colours were king, but the lack of them is hardly a deal breaker. Pop a colourful case on and you can scratch that itch fairly easily.

A front-filling screen then brings the entry-level iPhone into the modern era. Well, for the most part. There’s no Dynamic Island here, so while the 16e is similar in many ways to the iPhone 16, it’s no carbon copy. You won’t find a Camera Control button here either, and there’s just a single snapper at the rear.

The Action Button on the top left edge is considerably more useful than the silence toggle it replaces. There’s some controversy around the removal of the silence toggle, but I can’t say I’ve taken my phone off silent in the last decade so if you’re in that same boat, you’ll be fine. 

The lack of MagSafe is really the biggest omission on the design front, and the one I missed the most coming from an iPhone 16 Pro Max, mainly down to the lack of support for MagSafe accessories, charging stands and battery packs. Ditching Dynamic Island and the Camera Control button can be forgiven – there has to be some differentiation between models – but no MagSafe feels a bit mean. Get over that though (or just use a MagSafe case) and the iPhone 16e does a superb job of combining old and new. 

Screen & sound: punchy OLED and sound

Speaking of old, the iPhone 16e has a notch at the top of its OLED display housing the Face ID sensors and front camera. It’s not as flashy or as useful for doing multiple tasks simultaneously as the Dynamic Island found on the iPhone 16, but if you’ve never experienced that, you won’t miss it. The notch is a damn sight better than what the iPhone SE offered, while allowing for a much larger screen within almost the same footprint. 

The 6.1in display offers rich and vibrant colours, inky blacks and bright whites, along with decent viewing angles, though they aren’t as wide as the iPhone 16 Pro. You lose some brightness and colour saturation when viewing at oblique angles, and it doesn’t have the same brightness level as the iPhone 16 or other affordable smartphones either. The iPhone 16e’s peak tops out at 1,200 nits (when viewing HDR content) compared to the OnePlus 13’s 4,500 nits, for example. That means it doesn’t cut through reflections on a sunny day as well as other mid-rangers, but I’m not suggesting you’ll be squinting. I can’t say I found the brightness problematic on the whole.

My main complaint is the 60Hz panel. Apple only offers 120Hz at its Pro level – the same applies for its iPad range – whereas Android mid-rangers like the Samsung Galaxy A56 and the Nothing Phone 3a have 120Hz displays as standard. There’s a chance you won’t notice, especially not when casually scrolling or messaging, but it’s still something to consider, especially for gamers. There’s also no Always-On Display.

On the sound front, the iPhone 16e supports a range of formats for playback, including Dolby Digital, Dolby Atmos, and Spatial Audio. Performance is good overall – the quality is not as rich as the iPhone 16 Pro and the soundstage is not as wide so it’s not going to replace a Bluetooth speaker anytime soon, but you won’t need a pair of headphones to watch a quick social media clip either.

Cameras: consistency is key

It’s easy to think more camera lenses translate to better image results, but that’s far from the reality. The secondary lens (usually an ultra-wide number) typically delivers less definition or worse colour representation compared to the primary sensor. And don’t even get me started on macro lenses and how pointless they are. Telephotos can be a worthwhile addition, but often at the cost of a better primary sensor – a compromise I’m not willing to make.

Anyone with the ‘more is better’ mentality might snub the iPhone 16’s single snapper, but they shouldn’t. The 48MP unit delivers great results in all lighting conditions. I used it alongside the Google Pixel 8a (the Pixel 9a hadn’t launched when I was reviewing this smartphone) and the night shots were sharper on the iPhone 16e with convincing – and even vibrant – colours at times, along with more detail and less noise. 

Apple calls it a “2-in-1 camera system”, using sensor cropping to offer 2x zoom that’s effectively lossless. Marketing aside, my shots really did hold up well under scrutiny.

Colour accuracy is excellent, and in some cases, superior to the more expensive Samsung Galaxy S25 I tested alongside Apple’s entry-level model. Pictures of my dog featured more detail on the iPhone 16e, with features like his whiskers sharper, and it offered great dynamic range on the whole.

I noticed it could be slow to focus when switching to the 2x optical zoom, but that’s really my only criticism. No, it’s not as advanced as the iPhone 16 Pros, but I’d take the iPhone 16e’s single sensor setup and the results it delivers over many of the triple sensor offerings in the mid-range smartphone market. Its point-and-shoot approach keeps things simple and consistent, and that applies for the rear sensor and the front.

Software experience: flagship offering

There are a couple of things missing on the 16e compared to the iPhone 16 – predominantly the Dynamic Island and Camera Control interfaces – but that’s down to the lack of those hardware elements rather than Apple scaling back the software experience for the entry-level model. iOS 18 is otherwise virtually identical.

That includes support for Apple Intelligence. There are still some improvements to be made, but I do genuinely use a few of Apple’s AI features daily: notification Summaries and Clean Up in Photos are time savers, as is the transcription feature for voice recordings. Siri isn’t quite as smart as some rival assistants, but the way the screen edges glow when activated is neat, and typing to ask questions is significantly less awkward that saying “Hey Siri” in the middle of the street. 

If AI isn’t your thing, you can turn Apple Intelligence off and still get a decent user-friendly software experience that’s easy to navigate. iOS 18 also introduced better customisation for the home screen such as applying a colour tint to all apps, a fresh look for the control centre and new features for AirPods like the hearing aid function, along with plenty more.

Apple is quick to update all compatible older iPhones with the newer software as soon as it’s released, so you don’t need the iPhone 16e to experience iOS 18 – but you will do for Apple Intelligence if you have an older iPhone. Ultimately if you’re already an iPhone user already the software experience here is familiar and the same as the flagship models. If you’re new to iPhone and coming from Android, iOS is easy to learn and simple to use.

Performance & battery life: plenty of stamina

For those not down on their Apple silicon, the A18 inside the iPhone 16e delivers almost as much oomph as the pricier iPhone 16. GPU core count has been knocked down from five to four, but even coming from an iPhone 16 Pro Max, I didn’t find it noticeable in daily use. Maybe hardcore gamers will want the extra power, but I saw buttery smooth performance in more casual titles.

There’s otherwise nothing to complain about on the performance front, with snappy performance across the board. Apps open quickly and there’s no multi-tasking drama. Single- and multi-core scores of 3425 and 8338 in Geekbench even top the iPhone 16’s 3321 and 8179. Benchmarks also walk all over the mid-range Android competition, and iOS has the wider selection of productivity and creativity apps to make the most of that muscle.

This phone also excels on battery life. I’ll admit I scoffed at Apple’s claimed 26 hour figure, but having used it for several weeks, there wasn’t a day where I didn’t finish with less than 40-50%. The iPhone 16e came off charge around 7am and my evenings ended around 11pm, but I would have more than enough faith it would get me through an all-nighter if I still had that in me. 

Apple iPhone 16e verdict

The Apple iPhone 16e ticks plenty of boxes. Performance is superb, battery life is excellent and the design is a considerable upgrade over the iPhone SE. The single sensor camera system is brilliant, the display is punchy, and the user interface is every bit a flagship iPhone experience. 

It isn’t what I would call “budget” or “cheap”, and removing MagSafe feels a little miserly. But omitting some of the iPhone 16’s other features is understandable when you gain $200/£200 in your pocket opting for this entry-level model.

The Android alternatives cost less, have more versatile camera setups, and smoother 120Hz displays – but you don’t buy oranges when you fancy an apple. If you’re an iOS die-hard, this is all the iPhone you really need.

iPhone 16e technical specifications