With a price tag of $599, the iPhone 16e might seem like a solid choice over Apple’s flagship models. It offers everything you’d expect from an iPhone, from a 6.1-inch OLED display to a powerful A18 chip, without breaking the bank. But is it really worth the hype? While it certainly has several strong points, not everyone will like it. Here are six reasons why you should skip the iPhone 16e.
Why You Might Want To Skip Buying the iPhone 16E
1. Apple Intelligence Still Doesn’t Hit the Mark
If you’re planning to purchase the iPhone 16e just for Apple Intelligence, you might want to stay away. While Apple Intelligence has been one of the biggest selling points of the iPhone 16 series, it hasn’t hit the mark even after a year of its rollout. We have Image Playground and Genmoji, which mostly feel like gimmicks rather than useful features. We also get Writing Tools that can do what ChatGPT already does.
Although Apple Intelligence also offers some useful features like Clean Up and Notification Summary, they don’t even come close to Samsung or Google’s offerings. The Clean Up tool frequently struggles with object detection and masking, often leaving blurry artifacts in photos. Even a feature as simple as Notification Summary is buggy to such an extent that Apple has temporarily disabled it for news apps.
2. A Less Bright Display With a Notch
While the iPhone 16e has a bigger and brighter Super Retina XDR OLED display with the same pixel density as the iPhone 16, it isn’t without its drawbacks. It retains a notch, with the Dynamic Island still exclusive to the higher-end models. Moreover, Apple has capped the display’s brightness at 800 nits, which is less than the 1,200 nits offered by the iPhone 16. This can impact its visibility under sunlight.
3. A Less Capable Camera System WIthout Camera Control
The iPhone 16e ditches the ultra-wide sensor in favor of a single 48-megapixel Fusion camera that supports both wide and 2x telephoto photography. Even though having a high-res sensor is always welcomed, the lack of an ultra-wide sensor makes the iPhone 16e less suitable for landscape shots.
As it’s a part of the iPhone 16 lineup, you’d expect the iPhone 16e to arrive with the Camera Control button and support photography styles. Guess what? It misses out on that, too. You’ll only be able to adjust the camera settings via on-screen menus and access Visual Intelligence via the Action Button.
4. It Uses A Binned Version of the A18 Chip
Similar to its higher-end siblings, the iPhone 16e is powered by a current-gen A18 chip. Although that might seem great on paper, it’s a slightly underpowered, binned version of the same chip. Unlike the standard iPhone 16 models, which have a 5-core GPU, the iPhone 16e only has a 4-core GPU. This difference could result in slightly diminished performance in graphics-intensive apps and games.
5. Comparatively Limited Connectivity Options
The iPhone 16e features Apple’s in-house C1 modem. The new modem supports 5G and promises a longer battery life, but it lacks several connectivity options that you’ll find on other iPhone 16 models.
For instance, the iPhone 16e doesn’t come with an Ultra Wide Band (UWB) chip, which means it won’t support Precision Finding for AirTags and other Find My compatible accessories. Surprisingly, the new iPhone also doesn’t support 5G mmWave and Wi-Fi 7, resulting in comparatively slower data speeds.
6. Lack of MagSafe for Fast Charging and Magnetic Accessories
Since its introduction with the iPhone 12, MagSafe has become a signature feature offered by iPhones. Unfortunately, Apple has opted to remove MagSafe from the iPhone 16e. This means that you must bid adieu to fast wireless charging and a whole ecosystem of rather useful magnetic accessories. You can only charge the iPhone 16e at 7.5W with a Qi-certified wireless charger or at 20W using a USB-C cable.
Which iPhone Should You Buy Instead of iPhone 16e?
At this point, you may be wondering, If you skip the iPhone 16e, which iPhone model should you buy? In my opinion, it should be the iPhone 16. Considering you don’t plan on upgrading within the next two or three years, you’ll be better off spending $200 more for an iPhone 16. It features a brighter display with Dynamic Island, a much better camera system with Camera Control, one extra GPU core, and MagSafe.