14.67 cm tall, 7.15 cm wide, 7.80 cm deep, weighing in at 167 grams and with a high-quality aluminium frame – from the dimensions, weight and workmanship, it’s easy to see that Apple has based the iPhone 16e on the popular iPhone 16. The same goes for the screen. Here too, there’s a Super Retina XDR display with a 6.1-inch screen diagonal. The resolution is 2,532 x 1,170 pixels, which is almost identical to that of the iPhone 16. But for the company to be able to offer the device at a lower price, they’ve had to make some changes. Especially when it comes to peak brightness. While the standard iPhone 16 reaches nearly 1,600 nits when displaying HDR content, the iPhone 16e manages only 1,200. But the OLED display is still easy to read for everyday use and even in strong sunlight – delivering beautiful contrast and bright colours too.
But the 60 Hz refresh rate is no longer state-of-the-art – especially considering how many significantly cheaper Android devices already feature a 120 Hz display. For cost reasons, Apple has also got rid of the Dynamic Island at the top of the screen and replaced it with a notch, something we’re familiar with from earlier iPhone models. However, the IP68 certification is excellent. As a result, the device is dustproof and can be submerged in up to six metres of water for up to 30 minutes.
As far as external controls are concerned, the Action button – as seen on previous iPhone 16 models – is a standout feature. By default, you can mute or unmute the device by pressing a button. But if you wish, the button can be configured to activate the camera, voice recorder, music recognition, torch, etc. Or simply an app of your choice. Meanwhile, the touch-sensitive «camera control» button on the right edge of the housing has been removed entirely.
Very good photo and video – with a few limitations
Talking of cameras: Apple relies on a 2-in-1 Fusion camera with a 48-megapixel sensor. It takes sharp, high-contrast photos with bright colours, especially in good lighting conditions. Snapshots at night can also be very impressive – especially if you use a tripod. Zooming is possible, but only 2x optically. For this, the Pro models are better equipped with their 5x optical zoom. An ultra-wide-angle lens, now standard in this price range, has also been omitted.
Videos in 4K resolution at up to 60 frames per second (fps) are a breeze for the iPhone 16e thanks to its excellent image stabiliser. The level of detail and dynamic range are impressive and, if desired, the device can even record spatial audio while efficiently filtering out background noise such as whistling wind using AI support.
That leaves the selfie camera. Its 12-megapixel sensor delivers very attractive snapshots. Right next to this, Apple incorporates infrared and laser technology, enabling quick device unlocking via Face ID. Unfortunately, the iPhone 16e doesn’t have a fingerprint scanner.
Plenty of power under the hood
In everyday use, the iPhone 16e is a lot of fun to handle. The main reason is Apple’s A18 chip, which provides plenty of speed thanks to four performance cores, four efficiency cores, four GPU cores and 16 AI accelerator cores – even when gaming. The A18 chip is supported by 8 GB of RAM and a choice of 128, 256 or 512 GB of internal storage. Unfortunately, as is typical for Apple, there’s no slot for memory cards, but there are various wireless interfaces such as Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC (near-field communication) and a 5G module. It also has a USB-C port that allows data to be exchanged with a PC and Mac and can be used to recharge the 4,000 mAh battery. When it’s fully charged, it lasts just over 17 hours in continuous use and thus beats the battery capacity of the iPhone 16, whose battery only offers 3,561 mAh. Fantastic!
It takes about 90 minutes to recharge an empty battery and, after just 30 minutes, the battery will already be 55 per cent charged. Or for those whose prefer, it can also be charged wirelessly with the Qi Charger. The only downside is that, unlike the rest of the iPhone 16 models, MagSafe and the open Qi2 standard are not supported.
Apple Intelligence: The new AI for IOS
The iPhone 16e’s software highlights are the new AI features, which the California company has grouped under the name «Apple Intelligence» and have been available since April. «Visual Intelligence» analyses photographed objects, and the app then reveals what the object could be. If you photograph an advertising poster, «Visual Intelligence» can even recognise the place, date and time and create a calendar entry from it.
The «Writing tools» can be used to proofread, shorten and even rewrite texts. The results are very usable – but a final manual check is still recommended. Other AI tools include an eraser tool to remove objects and people from photos, the image generator «Image Playground», the smiley face generator «Genmoji» and a revised version of the AI agent Siri, which can now also forward queries straight to ChatGPT.
Verdict on the iPhone 16e
Although Apple is making numerous compromises and dropping features like MagSafe, the fingerprint sensor, high refresh rates, an ultra-wide-angle camera, Wi-Fi 7, the camera button and the Dynamic Island, the iPhone 16e, at just under 600 francs, is still a very attractive smartphone with a fast and futureproof A18 chip, long-lasting battery, good display, solid snapshot and video camera, and exciting AI features that aren’t currently available in most older iPhones. Added to that are easier repairability, IP68 certification, the ability to make emergency calls via satellite and the usual high-quality build. For iOS beginners, it’s well worth taking a look at the iPhone 16e!