Apple’s A18 chipset sits inside with 8 GB of RAM, meaning you get the same power as the iPhone 16. Nearly. This chipset has one less GPU core than the A18 inside the iPhone 16, meaning there may be a slight hit to graphics performance when playing games.
Naturally, the A18 chip brings access to Apple Intelligence. It’s now the most affordable Apple device with the suite of AI features, sitting alongside the identically priced iPad Mini. While Apple has brought over the Action Button from the higher-end iPhones—this user-customizable button replaced the mute switch and debuted on the iPhone 15 Pro—the 16e is missing the Camera Control button found on those flagship devices.
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Camera Control is the fifth physical button on the iPhone 16 lineup. It enables quick access to the camera and allows users to slide a finger on it to change shooting modes. Pressing and holding the button activates Apple’s Visual Intelligence, which lets Siri understand what it’s looking at, provide context, and take action. Apple initially restricted the feature to the new iPhone 16 range which has the physical Camera Control button, even if the iPhone 15 Pro was capable of this computer vision trick. However, the iPhone 16e can now make use of Visual Intelligence through the Action Button. It’s unclear yet if this functionality will make its way to the iPhone 15 Pro.
Speaking of the camera, it’s been upgraded to a 48-megapixel sensor, and Apple touts that the higher megapixel count allows the camera to crop in and offer a 2X optical-like image quality—effectively giving you the experience of two camera lenses in one. The selfie camera is the same 12 megapixels as the rest of the iPhone 16 series.
The other big introduction is Apple’s first in-house 5G modem, the C1. This new chip further reduces the company’s dependence on external chip suppliers like Qualcomm. This modem won’t allow the iPhone 16e to connect to millimeter wave 5G—the super-fast 5G speeds you’ll find in certain locations, like dense urban areas, airports, or stadiums. This is a common omission on phones within this price range, which rely on the more widespread sub-6 GHz 5G spectrum.
However, Apple says the new design of the chip helps improve battery life. The iPhone 16e’s battery can last 21 hours when streaming videos, which is 11 more hours than the iPhone SE, and it’s even better than the 18 hours claim for the iPhone 16. Bizarrely, Apple did not add Qi2 and MagSafe functionality to this iPhone, gatekeeping its magnetic accessory system to pricier devices. The iPhone 16e still supports Qi wireless charging, which is slower and doesn’t have the benefits of magnets.
The iPhone 16e makes the iPhone lineup a little confusing because Apple still sells the iPhone 15 ($699) and iPhone 15 Plus ($799), which are more expensive but have a weaker processor that lacks access to Apple Intelligence. Unless you really want an ultrawide camera or the Dynamic Island, there doesn’t seem to be much reason to buy them anymore.
This is a developing story.
