After years of rumors about the future iPhone SE 4, Apple has replaced the brand with the new iPhone 16e. This release marks the first Apple product of 2025 and also the first time the company has introduced a new iPhone name since the iPhone mini in 2020.
“iPhone 16e packs in the features our users love about the iPhone 16 lineup, including breakthrough battery life, fast performance powered by the latest-generation A18 chip, an innovative 2-in-1 camera system, and Apple Intelligence,” said Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing. “We’re so excited for iPhone 16e to complete the lineup as a powerful, more affordable option to bring the iPhone experience to even more people.”
As rumors pointed out, the new iPhone 16e features a similar design to the iPhone 14. With a notch and a 6.1-inch OLED display, Apple is no longer betting on smaller iPhones. Still, it doesn’t feature ProMotion or Always-On display technology. Interestingly enough, Apple added the Action Button to this model, and it will feature Visual Search, which was exclusive to iPhones with Camera Control.
Like the iPhone 16, the iPhone 16e features the A18 chip, Apple’s latest processor. Built on second-generation 3-nanometer technology to further accelerate Apple Intelligence, it features an upgraded 16-core Neural Engine optimized for large generative models and runs ML models up to 2x faster than the A16 Bionic chip.
The 6-core CPU is 30 percent faster than the A16 Bionic chip and faster than all the competition. It is also more power efficient and can run the same workload with 30 percent less power than the A16 Bionic.
The 5-core GPU is up to 40 percent faster and 35 percent more efficient than A16 Bionic. Now, with hardware-accelerated ray tracing, games on this iPhone more accurately represent the behavior of light with up to 5x higher frame rates than with software-based ray tracing.
Like its predecessor, the iPhone 16e features a single rear camera. This time, with 48MP lenses.
Another interesting change with this new iPhone is the new C1 chip, which is Apple’s new cellular modem design as the company tries to move away from Qualcomm.
Finally, the new iPhone 16e costs $599, as the company replaces the iPhone 14 and iPhone SE 3. Pre-orders begin February 21 with availability beginning February 28.
