Apple iPhone 16e Review: Sexy But Pricey With Caveats

	Apple iPhone 16e (starts at $699, as reviewed $899) The iPhone 16e is Apple’s new entry-level smartphone. It’s a great phone that’s simply too expensive, considering it lacks an ultrawide camera and high refresh-rate display.
	Clean, simple design Beautiful display Nice cameras Excellent speakers Solid performance Good battery life	Expensive Limited color options 60Hz display No ultrawide camera No MagSafe magnets Apple Intelligence is half-baked

The iPhone SE ($429) is dead – long live the iPhone SE. But say hello to the iPhone 16e ($599), Apple’s new entry-level smartphone. It packs the company’s newest A18 SoC, so it supports Apple Intelligence. It also upgrades the original 4.7-inch LCD for a larger 6.1-inch AMOLED display, its 12MP main camera for a 48MP shooter, the 2018mAh battery for a 4005mAh cell, and eschews the home button with Touch ID in favor of a notch with Face ID. Finally, this is also the first iPhone to incorporate Apple’s C1 chip, the company’s first in-house 5G modem.

While these are all welcome upgrades, this handset lacks an ultrawide camera and a high refresh-rate display (it’s limited to 60Hz) – features that are considered table stakes on many smartphones costing $300 or more, never mind a $599 device. Also missing from the iPhone 16e are MagSafe magnets, which is puzzling.

Obviously, comparing iOS and Android devices is like comparing apples to oranges (right?). A phone's software and ecosystem are just as important than hardware when it comes to the popularity of Apple’s products. You have to keep this in mind when reviewing an iPhone. So, in this context, does the iPhone 16e live up to its higher price tag? Is Apple’s C1 5G modem any good? Are there better iPhone options? Read our review on the following pages here, to find out.

iPhone 16e Hardware and design

Apple has pretty much defined the current smartphone design language – rounded corners, metal slab sides, and flat front and rear glass. Every other manufacturer has adopted this aesthetic in some way or another, including Samsung, Google, Nothing, and even Chinese manufacturers (Oppo Find X8, Xiaomi 15). Only the camera pods differ, and even mid-range handsets (OnePlus 13R) haven’t escaped iPhone-ification.

So obviously, it’s no surprise that the iPhone 16e follows Apple’s design language to a tee. And while we’ve never been big fans of the camera bump on recent iPhones – especially the Pro lineup – we enjoy the iPhone 16e’s clean and simple single rear shooter aesthetic. We also like the matte finish on the aluminum frame and glass back. Not only does it keep fingerprints at bay, but it also looks nice and feels good in hand.
The iPhone 16e is only available in white (with a silver frame, like our review unit) or in black. It’s kind of a bummer that Apple doesn’t offer fun color options for this device – like it does for the new A16 iPad or the iPhone 16, or like it used to for the iPhone XR or the iPhone 5c. Also, whatever happened to Bono and (PRODUCT)RED, anyway? But we digress. On the plus side, the iPhone 16e is now IP68 water and dust resistant.

In terms of dimensions, the iPhone 16e is identical to the iPhone 14. Both have 6.1-inch displays, both are 7.8mm thick, and both even weigh about the same (167g vs. 172g). While these are smaller phones by today’s standards – on par with the Galaxy S25 and Xiaomi 15 in Android land – they aren’t nearly as small as the iPhone SE or iPhone mini. So keep this in mind if you’re upgrading from an older, smaller iPhone.
In many ways, the iPhone 16e is a remix of other iPhones. The screen is lifted directly from the iPhone 14, the 48MP main camera sensor is shared with the iPhone 16 Pro’s 48MP ultrawide, and the control and port layout is similar to the iPhone 15 Pro’s. You’ll find the power / lock key on the right side, and the volume rocker and Action button on the left. There’s a speaker, USB Type-C port, and mic along the bottom edge, but nothing along the top.

Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed a SIM tray on the left side of our review unit. As you probably know, Apple made the terrible decision to remove SIM trays from its US-market iPhones, and only support eSIMs, starting with the iPhone 14 series. But iPhones sold in the rest of the world still have SIM trays. Since we prefer the flexibility of physical SIMs, we requested a Canadian iPhone 16e review unit, which includes a SIM tray.
Not only do Canadian-market iPhones have SIM trays, but they also incorporate eSIMs, and support the same 4G LTE and sub-6GHz 5G bands as US models. The only thing missing from Canadian models is mmWave 5G, but that’s not available on the iPhone 16e, regardless of market, since the C1 chip doesn’t support it. Currently, that's not a showstopper, however, as Sub-6 5G performance across broad regions of the US and CA, is excellent. 

iPhone 16e Specs And Features

Processor & 5G Platform	Apple A18 SoC (4 GPU cores), Apple C1 5G Modem
Display	6.1-inch FHD+ OLED, 2532x1170, 60Hz
Memory	8GB
Storage	128/256/512GB
Rear-Facing Cameras	50MP 1/2.55” f/1.6 PDAF, OIS
Front-Facing Cameras	12MP 1/3.6" f/1.9 PDAF
Video Recording	Up to 4K @ 60fps, 1080p @ 60fps, 1080p slow-mo
Battery	4005mAh, 29W wired charging, 7.5W wireless charging (no MagSafe magnets)
OS	iOS 18
Dimensions	146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8mm
Weight	167g
Connectivity	802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, USB-C 2.0, LTE, 5G (sub-6GHz)
Colors	Black, White
Pricing	Starting At $599 - Find It At Walmart

iPhone 16e Display Quality

The iPhone 16e basically inherits the iPhone 14’s display. You’re getting a 6.1-inch FHD+ (2532 x 1170 pixels, 460dpi) OLED panel with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, a 60Hz refresh rate, and HDR10 support. It’s a beautiful screen, with vibrant colors, deep blacks, and wide viewing angles. But at 800nits (max) and 1200nits (peak), it’s not quite as bright as the iPhone 16’s display which tops out at 1000nits (max) and 2000nits (peak).
It’s also a step down in terms of appearance and bezel thickness. Unlike the rest of the iPhone 16 lineup, the iPhone 16e comes with the old bathtub-style notch for the selfie camera and Face ID sensor, instead of the new pill-like cutout (aka. Dynamic Island). Bezels, while uniform all the way around, are thicker too (approximately 2.5mm vs. 2.25mm). This screen is covered in Apple’s previous-generation Ceramic Shield glass.

Overall, aside from the 60Hz refresh rate, we’re perfectly satisfied with the iPhone 16e’s display. For $599 however, we’d expect an OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. We realize that the iPhone 16 is also limited to 60Hz, but 120Hz screens are the norm these days.

iPhone 16e Camera Performance And Image Quality

Yes, the iPhone 16e only features a single rear shooter. And yes this is a problem, especially for $599. While we appreciate the elegance of Apple’s approach here – with the rear camera count increasing by one and the price increasing by $200 as you jump from the iPhone 16e ($599, one shooter), to the iPhone 16 ($799, two cameras), to the iPhone 16 Pro ($999, three shooters) – but the lack of an ultrawide camera is simply disappointing.
In 2025, any handset costing $300 or more offers an ultrawide. This is the way. Now that we’ve (hopefully) made our point, let’s dive into the details. The iPhone 16e’s 48MP main shooter uses the same 1/2.55-inch 0.7-micron sensor with PDAF as the ultrawide camera on the iPhone 16 Pro series, but paired with a 26mm f/1.6 lens with OIS. It supports in-sensor cropping for “optical-quality” 2x zoom, like other iPhones with 48MP sensors.
While the iPhone 16 also features a 48MP main shooter, it uses a larger 1/1.56-inch 1.0-micron sensor with dual-pixel PDAF and sensor-shift OIS. The iPhone 16e supports pixel binning (combining four 0.7-micron pixels into one 1.4-micron pixel) for better low-light performance, resulting in 12MP images. It also includes the 24MP mode found on some iPhones, which blends 12MP shots for dynamic range with a 48MP shot for detail.

In front, the iPhone 16e uses the same 12MP selfie camera as the rest of the iPhone 16 lineup. It consists of a 1/3.6-inch 1.0-micron sensor with PDAF alongside a 23mm f/1.9 lens. Both shooters are capable of recording video at up to 4k 60fps with Dolby Vision (HDR) support, and up to 1080p in slow motion (240fps rear, 120fps front). There’s also an option to shoot video at 24fps (4k) and even at 25fps (4k and 1080p).
Photo modes include portrait and panorama (rear only). Portrait mode lets you adjust the virtual aperture (depth) and apply six Portrait Lighting effects, But, unlike iPhones with multiple rear cameras, the iPhone 16e requires a human face in the shot for portrait mode to work. Night mode is automatic (and can be disabled), but is not available in portrait mode. There’s no dedicated macro, but zooming in and pulling back achieves decent results.

The iPhone 16e uses Apple’s Photonic Engine (computational photography imaging pipeline), and includes features like Deep Fusion (neural image processing) and the previous version of Photographic Styles. But it lacks some video options available on other iPhones, like Cinematic mode and Action mode. Video recording is stabilized, and audio is captured in mono, stereo, or 3D (Spatial Audio), with audio zoom and optional wind noise reduction.
While the iPhone 16e takes lovely pictures in the vast majority of conditions, it doesn’t match the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro series – especially in low light. And honestly, that’s to be expected. Then again, it’s similar to the iPhone 14, and blows away the iPhone SE. Regardless, we’re nitpicking here. Most people will be well served by the iPhone 16e cameras, because they deliver the kind of consistency Apple’s shooters are famous for.