Apple announced the iPhone 16e Wednesday, its first budget smartphone in three years — and its first-ever smartphone with an in-house cellular modem. Priced at $599 to start, or $200 cheaper than the base flagship iPhone 16, it’ll be available for preorder starting this Friday, Feb. 21 at 5 a.m. ET ahead of its formal launch on Feb. 28.
Per Apple’s press release, customers can get up to $170 in credit toward an iPhone 16e by trading in an older phone at the Apple Store. If you go through an eligible third-party carrier, that trade-in credit rises to up to $599 (i.e., you get the device for free). We’ll update this story on Friday as soon as preorder listings go live.
The iPhone 16e features the iPhone 16 series’ A18 chip but replaces their Qualcomm modem chips with the all-new Apple C1. Apple is deeming it “the most power-efficient modem ever on an iPhone, delivering fast and reliable 5G cellular connectivity” while bringing support for Apple Intelligence.
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The C1 is also supposedly a factor in the device’s “extraordinary” battery life of up to 26 hours of video playback per charge. That puts it on par with the iPhone 16 Plus, which is rated at 27 hours of video playback; it beats the standard iPhone 16 by five hours and 2022’s iPhone SE (Apple’s last budget handset) by 11 hours. As Mashable’s Stan Schroeder noted, this will probably be a “big selling point” for potential upgraders.
The 6.1-inch iPhone 16e is the same size as the iPhone 16 and sports the same Super Retina XDR OLED display, though it’s slightly dimmer and has a slightly lower resolution. Apple went with a notch at the very top of it instead of a Dynamic Island, and there’s an Action Button on the side of the phone. On the back, you’ll find a single “2-in-1” 48MP camera with a 2x Telephoto lens; there’s no ultrawide lens. It supports Face ID, wireless charging, and satellite connectivity.
The iPhone 16e is made from aluminum with a glass back, and it’ll be available in matte black and white finishes with 128GB to 512GB of storage.
