AS WIDELY ANTICIPATED, Apple has introduced iPhone 16e, descri# it as “the most affordable member of the iPhone 16 family.” It certainly lives up to the family in many respects, but it barely qualifies as a budget phone: starting at $599 (128GB base model), it is right on the cusp of the “premium” category (defined as $600 and up), and a big jump from the iPhone SE it replaces (which was $429 with 64GB, or $479 with 128GB).

CONSTANT EVOLUTION

The iPhone 16e boasts the same powerful Apple A18 chip as the rest of the iPhone 16 line, but with a 4-core GPU, as compared to 5-core in iPhone 16 and 6-core in iPhone 16 Pro. Apple claims “breakthrough” battery life of up to 26 hours of video playback, which is up to 12 hours longer than any SE model. This is due in part to the new C1 chip, the first cellular modem designed by Apple, which it says is the most power-efficient modem ever on an iPhone.