iPhone 16E: All of the Options You Do not Get for $599

Apple’s iPhone 16E is now out there to preorder, beginning at $599. The brand new telephone comes out Friday, Feb. 28, and maybe its greatest promoting level is the sub-$600 beginning value, which makes it $200 lower than the iPhone 16. The iPhone 16E has lots of the dearer machine’s finest options, like an A18 chip, a 48-megapixel most important digicam, iOS 18, Apple Intelligence and entry to Apple providers like Facetime, iMessage and Emergency SOS by way of Satellite tv for pc.

What extra may you need, proper?

Properly, as with different inexpensive telephones, compromises have been made to get to that lower cost. These omissions inform you a large number about what Apple values — like Apple Intelligence, for instance. I’ve reviewed extra finances telephones than I can depend, and the very best ones at all times supply way over simply their low sticker value. It is a nice shock when an organization like Motorola, OnePlus or Google nails the stability of what to maintain and what to omit. So how did Apple do?

I will save my ideas till I can check and evaluate the iPhone 16E. For now, although, let’s check out the options you aren’t getting on the iPhone 16E.

Watch this: The iPhone 16E Has Arrived

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MagSafe and Qi2

MagSafe has turn out to be a preferred side of being an iPhone proprietor, and it is wild that the iPhone 16E does not have it. MagSafe debuted in 2020 on the iPhone 12 and makes use of magnets contained in the telephone to assist it wirelessly cost by guaranteeing it is within the optimum place. The magnets have an additional benefit as a result of they allow you to connect magnetic equipment to your iPhone, like a pockets or battery pack, in addition to safe your telephone to mounts, like one in a automotive.

The iPhone 16’s MagSafe helps 25-watt wi-fi charging speeds. However the iPhone 16E solely helps 7.5W wi-fi charging, the unique Qi normal — not even Qi2 speeds of 15W.

Ultrawide, macro digicam

The iPhone 16E has one thing of a rarity in 2025: a single rear digicam. However as I’ve mentioned earlier than, in different tales and opinions, I would fairly have one actually good digicam than the 2 or three mediocre ones that may usually be discovered on sub-$300 telephones. The 16E’s most important digicam has a 48-megapixel sensor, which has sufficient decision for sensor cropping to supply a 2x magnification — not fairly the identical as having a second digicam, however shut.

Sensor cropping cannot change having a devoted ultrawide digicam, which on the iPhone 16 doubles as a macro digicam, letting you concentrate on close-up topics, like for meals photographs.

3 grams

The iPhone 16E weighs 167 grams, making it 3 grams lighter than the 170-gram iPhone 16. Hey, not all omissions are unhealthy.

Dynamic Island

The iPhone 16E brings again the display notch, a cutout on the high of the display that homes the telephone’s selfie digicam and FaceID know-how. Nevertheless it lacks the Dynamic Island cutout, which is a smaller, oval-shaped gap on the high of the show on the iPhone 16. Apple makes use of the display area across the Dynamic Island cutout to indicate system alerts in addition to background duties, like when music is enjoying. Clearly the 16E’s lack of a Dynamic Island will not stop it from exhibiting alerts, however it’s nonetheless lacking out on a intelligent software program interface.

Qualcomm 5G modem and mmWave

In its launch video, Apple proudly identified that the iPhone 16E has an in-house designed 5G modem referred to as C1. The brand new Apple modem forgoes the Qualcomm 5G modems utilized in different iPhone fashions. Designing its personal modem permits Apple to tailor the machine for its telephones. The brand new modem helps lengthen the iPhone 16E’s battery life, which Apple says is longer than it’s with different iPhone 16 fashions.

However the C1 modem has one wrinkle: It does not assist 5G mmWave (or ultra-wideband), which is the very quick taste of 5G that you just may expertise in elements of some cities or at a stadium for an occasion.

Shade choices

When the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus launched, top-of-the-line facets was that they got here in colours like ultramarine, teal and pink. The iPhone 16E is available in solely black or white.

5 GPU cores

One of many iPhone 16E’s greatest options is that, just like the iPhone 16, it has the A18 chip and might run Apple Intelligence. However the chip is not precisely the identical. The iPhone 16’s A18 chip has 5 GPU cores, whereas the 16E’s has solely 4. So, what does that imply precisely? Properly, the excellent news is that the distinction probably will not have a noticeable impact on day by day use with the iPhone 16E. However if you happen to’re somebody who performs graphics-intensive video games for hours on finish, the iPhone 16 may have a slight edge.

Digital camera Management button

Apple’s omission of the Digital camera Management button, which additionally triggers Visible Intelligence searches, is smart, because the 16E has solely a single digicam. These people who find themselves probably to make use of a Digital camera Management button are most likely going to get an iPhone 16 or 16 Professional, as a result of these fashions have extra cameras. Apple additionally well enabled the 16E’s Motion button to start out a Visible Intelligence search.

Extremely-wideband, Wi-Fi 7 and Thread

The iPhone 16E lacks Apple’s ultra-wideband chip, that means you will not be capable to use the Precision Monitoring function in Discover My for AirTags. The telephone helps Wi-Fi 6 however not the newer 6E or 7 requirements. Wi-Fi 6 speeds are good, however as extra Wi-Fi 7 routers come out, the 16E will not be capable to reap the benefits of sooner peak speeds. The 16E additionally lacks assist for Thread radio and will not be capable to immediately hook up with some good residence gadgets with a built-in Thread border router.

Motion, Cinematic and Spatial video modes

The iPhone 16E’s Digital camera app does not have:

• Motion mode for stabilizing video recordings with a number of digicam shake
• Cinematic mode for recording movies with a fake shallow depth of area
• Spatial mode for recording “3D” movies for the Imaginative and prescient Professional, which wants two cameras

Different odds and ends

The iPhone 16E has Photographic Kinds, however not the newer ones that debuted on the iPhone 16 collection. The 16E can take Portrait mode photographs, however it lacks the power to alter focus after the actual fact like on the iPhone 16. The 16E’s show is roofed with Ceramic Protect, however not the newer, extra sturdy model that is on the iPhone 16.

Although this record of omissions is lengthy, that does not imply the iPhone 16E is a foul telephone. I sit up for getting my fingers on one and testing it quickly.