Review Summary
Expert Rating
Apple launching a new compact iPhone is big news, especially if the latest device in question is supposed to be an affordable one. However, the new iPhone 16e comes priced at Rs 59,999, pushing it into the premium league. While it does come with a few niceties associated with modern-day iPhones, like a Type-C port and Action button, it misses out on some features expected from premium phones. Confused? Don’t be, as I’ll take a deep dive into its capabilities in an attempt to find out if it makes a worthy buy or not. Stick around till the end.
Table of Contents
Verdict
The 16e comes as the most affordable, modern iPhone, offering niceties such as Apple Intelligence, the A18 chip, solid performance, good battery life, Action Button and a Type-C port. At the 60k price point, a few things like the single camera and 60Hz screen refresh rate feel weird, but overall, the iPhone 16e could fit the bill for someone who specifically wants an iPhone without spending the really big bucks.Design and display
It’s a familiar design, complete with glass and metal construction, blocky shape and superb fit and finish. And you can have it in any colour you like, as long as it’s white or black. On the front, the wide notch from yesteryears makes a comeback, and the noticeably wide bezels around the display take the overall aesthetic down a few notches, pun unintended. At the back, the solitary camera sits by itself, taking solace in the company of a flash. One needs to focus on the positives, however, and there are many. There’s IP68 rating, providing peace of mind when it comes to exposure to dust and moisture. The placement of ports and controls is as expected — there’s no dedicated camera control which made its debut on Apple’s iPhone 16 and 16 Pro phones, but you do get an Action Button at its usual spot on the left spine, and a Type-C port at the bottom.
Then there’s the 6.1-inch screen. The 60Hz refresh rate is a bummer and those used to displays with higher refresh rates will instantly feel the difference. However, the screen is nice and bright otherwise, uses OLED tech and the 1,170 x 2,532 pixels resolution with 460ppi keeps visuals sharp.
Camera
A 60k phone with a single camera in 2025 feels odd, just like the 60Hz display. That being said, the lone 48MP sensor at the back is a strong contender. Of course, it can’t offer the versatility of a multi-camera setup and skimps out on modes like Cinematic Video. The 48MP sensor uses lens-based stabilisation as compared to sensor-shift stabilisation found in the iPhone 16. but otherwise, it puts in a strong performance in most lighting conditions. We actually compared the iPhone 16e camera performance with the iPhone 16, and put out an in-depth article detailing the difference. You can check out the details, but the long and the short of it is that the iPhone 16e can hold its own, and offers extremely good and detailed images in daylight, good edge detection in the portrait mode and decent colours in the night mode. However, it can’t offer the ultrawide mode and the macro modes supported by the iPhone 16. Also, the latter has an edge in terms of low-light photography, which is one aspect the iPhone 16e falters in. The selfies however, are fine. Moving away from the technicalities, the simple fact is that the iPhone 16e isn’t as versatile as the competition just because of the fact that it has a single camera on its rear panel.
Here are some camera samples you can browse through.
Software, performance and battery
Running iOS 18, the iPhone 16e gets the benefit of long-term software support, just like its siblings. It also boasts Apple Intelligence features, which form the AI bouquet from the brand. While some features (like the Clean up feature that gets rid of unwanted objects from photos) don’t perform as well as what rivals like Samsung and Google offer, there are a few aspects, like Visual Intelligence, which work quite well. Visual Intelligence can be activated using the Action button, and then you can get details about an object or a visual via ChatGPT. There are Writing Tools that can rewrite messages or emails in different tones and summarise text, and Image Playground that can generate images based on descriptions and suggestions. The Writing Tools feature can actually be quite useful if you use it well, while Image Playground is fun to use.
The aspect where the iPhone 16e really shines is performance. The SoC on board is A18, and while it seems the same as the one in the iPhone 16, it’s actually a binned chipset which has one GPU core disabled. That, however, doesn’t impact real-world performance in a big way, and the iPhone 16e delivers smooth performance throughout, regardless of the task at hand. Running apps and playing games works fine too.
The big news comes in the form of the new Apple C1 modem that drives the 16e’s 5G connectivity. This is the first time Apple is using its own modem instead of Qualcomm’s, and it works as expected, without any connectivity issues. It might be the case that Apple is using the iPhone 16e as a test bed to gauge the C1’s real-world performance before the same modem makes its way into the iPhone 17 series, but safe to say there are no red flags to raise for now, so that’s that.
The battery life is another feather in the cap, with the iPhone 16e delivering solid performance. A bunch of factors could be at play here, all working behind the scenes. One, Apple was able to cram in a larger battery (because of the single camera), combined with the efficiencies brought in by the C1 modem, the A18 chip and iOS 18, and aided by the compact, 60Hz AMOLED display that doesn’t need a lot of power, the iPhone 16e delivers all-day battery life with ease. The charging is slow, however, and the phone takes an hour 20 minutes to juice up to full from 20 percent levels. While you do get wireless charging (7.5W), there’s no MagSafe. This might or might not be a deal breaker depending upon what you feel about this, but you should still be able to make use of MagSafe accessories by slapping on a MagSafe case.
The iPhone 16e also misses out on Apple’s Ultra-wideband (UWB) chip, which means you can’t use precision finding features along with the Apple AirTag. Plus, you also don’t get safety features like car crash detection.
Final verdict
The iPhone 16e costs Rs 59,990 for the base model that offers 128GB of storage, while the top-end 512GB model costs Rs 89,900. Even if we consider the starting price, the opportunity cost of the iPhone 16e seems quite high, given that one can buy Android flagships offering all the bells and whistles. Phones like the Xiaomi 15 (review), OPPO Find X8 (review), Vivo X200 (review), etc are all priced in close vicinity. However, I think the 16e would appeal more to those who covet an iPhone, and would settle for nothing else. And with the iPhone 16 (review) listed at Rs 72,900 on some e-com websites (at the time of writing), things become tricky for the 16e. By itself, it’s a capable device, scoring on core aspects like performance and battery life. It leaves something to be desired when it comes to aspects like the versatility of the cameras, the wide notch, missing MagSafe, etc, but barring the cameras perhaps, nothing else matters too much in the bigger scheme of things. So if you’re one that keeps thinking “I want an iPhone, I want an iPhone, I want an iPhone”, the 16e could be for you.
Editor’s rating: 7.5 / 10
Pros:
- Compact & lightweight
- Good performance & battery life
- Software support & Apple Intelligence
- Most affordable modern iPhone
Cons:
- Pricey
- Single camera
- 60Hz display & wide bezels
- No MagSafe & UWB
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