KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 — What do you do with the iPhone 16e?
If you review tech like I do (though not as much as before) you figure out its use case and what it is, but also, most importantly, what it isn’t.
The problem with too many tech reviewers is they want devices to be what they’re not — like how too many of them want iPads to be Macs.
Getting to know you
What the 16e isn’t: it’s not an iPhone SE though it is the cheapest in the iPhone 16 line while choosing a physical design that is more of a throwback to previous iPhones while sporting a newer, faster modem chip.
You’re not getting a stripped down iPhone 16 but more like an iPhone 14 fitted with an iPhone 16 chip, minus the Dynamic Island, but instead getting the old Face ID notch on top.
Action button? Check. Camera button? Not here, not on this phone.
You also don’t get MagSafe, which is a shame because MagSafe seems to be everywhere now but hey, this phone is a bit of a throwback so if you have an older wireless charger this will work on the iPhone 16e just fine.
After taking photos and fiddling with the phone for a bit, I just let it languish in a drawer for two days and then checked on it once in a while to see how fast the battery would drain.
Older models of older generations seemed to lose battery by just looking at them sideways but two days in a drawer and the iPhone 16e was taking its time, not even on its last legs by the end of the second day.
That’s good for a second phone, which I suspect this might be a good use case for.
Just good enough
That’s the thing about the iPhone 16e. It’s… just good enough for some things but not amazing.
Well, the most interesting thing about it is probably the C1 modem — Apple’s very own modem chip.
I tested it on the CelcomDiGi network where it worked fine, even in the bowels of the KL General Hospital oncology department, where I spend a lot of time these days.
Wi-Fi was also fairly reliable even though the phone only supports Wi-Fi 6 and not Wi-Fi 7 (which is still not widely implemented as yet).
Still, the camera brought me back down to earth.
There’s only one camera in the rear, 48MP although Apple says its “Fusion” lens approximates having two lenses.
No ultrawide here so you get at most 2X zoom but I did miss the 16 Pro Max’s zoom and you do need a little bit more work to get good photos.
You also get the standard 12MP in the front and overall the camera experience is sort of like an older iPhone with a slightly newer lens, minus ultrawide or macro modes.
There lies the rub. For a lot less you could probably get a secondhand Android flagship or even a secondhand iPhone 15 Pro, which would give you superior camera quality which is one of the iPhone’s big draws.
At the same time, though, it does have a noticeably good battery and it makes me wonder whether the upcoming newer iPhones will also see an upgrade in battery life with the newer Apple-built modems.
There have been reports that the Bluetooth audio on the iPhone 16e is buggy but it wasn’t something I personally experienced.
Now back to that question: who is this iPhone for?
It’s probably for someone who wanted an iPhone 16 and is fine with something almost like it for a bit less.
If you can live without macro, ultrawide and MagSafe the iPhone 16e on paper is a slightly cheaper alternative to the iPhone 16 and has promising battery life for a phone its size without it being too bulky.
Pricing for the iPhone 16e starts from RM2,999 for the 128GB version and you can choose between either black or white shades.
