Apple Unveils ‘Budget-Friendly’ iPhone 16e. Here’s What Makes It More Affordable

By Danial Martinus  •  20 Feb 2025 in Gear

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Apple has just unveiled the latest entry in its iPhone 16 lineup, the iPhone 16e.

It’s the spiritual successor to the budget-friendly iPhone SE, with the iPhone 16e offering similar features to its flagship counterparts at a more accessible price point.

But of course, with any entry level and budget-friendly option, there are various compromises to keep the price low. So there’s no real use in comparing it to the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max.

Design & Display

If it wasn’t obvious enough, the iPhone 16e’s design is classic Apple—clean and modern.

The phone comes in an aerospace-grade aluminium frame, making it both lightweight and sturdy. Its 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display ensures crisp visuals, deep blacks, and vibrant colours to make your content consumption experience super satisfying.

You’re basically guaranteed an immersive experience, whether you’re streaming, gaming, or just simply doom-scrolling on TikTok.

You’ll also notice the absence of a Dynamic Island, with Apple opting for a notch housing the front-facing camera and Face ID sensor.

Other than this, the iPhone 16e gets a USB-C port, as well as an Action Button in place of the old mute switch, allowing users to customise its use to other functions, like toggling the flashlight on and off, using Shazam to figure out song titles, and more.

There is one omission that some people might not like, though. The iPhone 16e does not feature MagSafe capability, instead offering just wireless charging. If you’ve got a bunch of old MagSafe accessories you’re hoping to use with this phone, sorry.

Performance & Camera

Powering the iPhone 16e is Apple’s A18 chip, but instead of a 5-core setup (in the Pro/Pro Max models), the entry-level iPhone gets a 4-core GPU.

Despite this, the iPhone 16e will still offer faster app launches, better battery life, and smoother multitasking. It goes without saying: It’s no slouch, despite being a budget-friendly iPhone.

The phone also incorporates Apple’s first in-house iPhone modem, the C1—promising greatly enhanced power efficiency and 5G connectivity. All in all, the phone has enough power to give you 26 hours of video playback, which is pretty decent, especially on long days.

When it comes to cameras, there aren’t many, but that isn’t such a bad thing. The iPhone 16e features one main shooter on the back—a 2-in-1 camera, so to speak. It’s a single 48-megapixel Fusion high-res rear camera that also shoots 2x optical-quality telephoto shots via sensor cropping.

In front, there’s a 12-megapixel TrueDepth camera that supports features like Smart HDR 5 and Night mode.

Apple Intelligence

Though it’s not much to shout about at this point in time, Apple’s latest iPhone will also get all the features that come with Apple Intelligence. In fact, Apple themselves claim the phone was built for it.

Certain Apple Intelligence features you might appreciate include the Clean Up tool (for removing unwanted elements in a photo), generative AI photos with Image Playground, custom emoji with Genmoji, text-based Siri, and more.

Price & Availability

The iPhone 16e starts from RM2,999 and comes in two colours: Matte White and Matte Black. You might find them boring, but you’ll be glad to know that there are some colourful silicone iPhone 16e cases coming along as well.

Pre-orders start at 9 p.m. (MYT) on 21 February, with official sales beginning on 28 February.

Click here to learn more about the iPhone 16e.

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