The iPhone 16E has arrived with a very surprising jump in price from the iPhone SE (2022), which it effectively replaces. That iPhone SE could be picked up for $429, while the cheapest you'll pay for the new iPhone 16E is $599. That is a premium phone money, but it's not the premium phone.
In case you were left in any doubt as to how un-premium your choice is, there are four other iPhone 16s in the range – all with the squared-edge designs we now associate with iPhone and iPad – except they have two and three cameras to the iPhone 16E's one. Count them, one, two, three. Tell me which is best?
In the past, I'd recommend the iPhone SE (2022) to friends and family not looking to spend much who just wanted a good phone, knowing that Apple's reliable long support for products meant they'd still be getting a decent deal. But now the prices is pushing up against the
Of course, the camera in the iPhone 16E isn't actually as good as the main 48MP wide one in the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro or 16 Pro Max, coming as it is does with a smaller sensor. That, though, is a detail which is easier to lose on the new case design.
Another features left out of the iPhone 16E that does exist on the senior iPhones is MagSafe. Yes, there is wireless charging, but it won't just magically lock in place in quite the same way. That is a feature so subtle and very obviously invisible almost no one will get it (and one that can actually be fixed with a good phone case!)
I alluded to a potential solution? Well, perhaps, but you're not going to like it. I don't love it, but it's better than buying a re-boxed 3-year-old design tweaked to find room for Apple Intelligence – a feature you may not even want.
Personally, if the money was that much of an issue, I'd buy refurbished. For around the same spend as the new $600 iPhone 16E, you can actually get last year's iPhone 15 Pro – with its much better cameras and better choice of colors.
Apple via Amazon Renewed
If you're going to spend that sort of money, why not get last year's Pro phones? That still gives you all the same core functions and most of the Pro upgrades – not least the better cameras. Also, if you're getting the iPhone 15 Pro you still get Apple Intelligence, the increased memory for which seems to be the main reason for the size of the price hike with the 16E – not to discount inflation and market uncertainty.
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