iPhone 15/Plus At the same price, am I crazy for choosing 15 over 16E?

[nathansz]

That's a valid point. As Apple continues to enhance its AI capabilities, there may be additional costs associated with accessing these features in the future. It's something to consider when deciding between the iPhone 15 and 16E. If AI is important to you or your usage, this could be a potential factor in your decision-making process. Thanks for bringing this up!

I find this doubtful

what they are calling "AI" are things that are being built in to the way the OS works to make predictions

this stuff is going to be completely integrated in to the OS and not a standalone service

...

the chat gpt add on sure, but not a lot of the other tools

 

[Hails09]

One should ask Tim Cook this honestly

Why is Apple even selling new iPhone 15s anymore?

View attachment 2486478

Apple are still selling so they have something at that price point but come September 2025 they will be removed from sale on Apple stores. Then every device will have Apple intelligence on them & that’s when the 16E will probably start selling

 

[Unami]

I wouldn't count the slightly faster cellular towards the 15. There's really no usecase for either speed over the lifespan of the phones. What is your daughter going to do with 4Gbit or 6Gbit dowload speeds? Stream 150 netflix-4k-streams to her phone at once, or fill up those 128Gbyte of storage in 2 minutes? Both got slower wifi and only usb-2 speeds over cable, so you can't even get near those speeds if you tethered it to a laptop.

 

[brilliantthings]

Neither is wrong, 90% of what the phone does is going to be the same and just as good, but as you see there's enough differences to push some people one way and some the other.

what it is imho is bad decision making from Apple, very reminiscent of 1990s Apple when you often had competing models with pluses and minuses. Its fine when you are differentiating between 'better' and 'cheaper' or 'bigger' v 'smaller' but in these situations its likely to lead to less sales and not more, for the amount of people who will stand in shops or online looking between the two, failing to make a decision and kicking the can down the street for a few more months. we've all done it, nearly made a purchase and havent because we couldnt decide which to buy.

This is exactly it. I have an iPhone 13 mini. The 16e makes me want to keep my mini.

 

[TgeekB]

I find this doubtful

what they are calling "AI" are things that are being built in to the way the OS works to make predictions

this stuff is going to be completely integrated in to the OS and not a standalone service

...

the chat gpt add on sure, but not a lot of the other tools

This is way I see it also. Built in features to the OS and proprietary apps.

 

[Tripps9000]

FYI, if you think the 15 is the better phone, then go for that. I was in a similar position a few years ago, and could get the iPhone 12 or 12 mini for the same price. I really wanted the 12 mini, but since the 12 was the more expensive phone, I went with that, and regretted it immediately. While the phone was fine, it was just too large for me & I felt like I made the wrong choice, even though, economically, it made more sense.

If you've done your research, and it appears you have, and feel that the 15 is a better fit for your daughter, go with that one.

I had a 12 mini myself and I liked the size but the battery life really sucked so I ended up getting the 14 regular model and really came to enjoy the screen size and the size of the phone no regrets here!😁

 

[dubiousgif]

The 16e is perhaps a little more future proof against any improvements in AI they might bring out and will probably get an extra 2 years of OS updates. For some people this might be worth it.

But the 15 has the Dynamic Island, A better main camera, the wide camera, displayport, UWB and Magsafe. Its still got some fight left in it yet.

Very disappointed the 16e lacks DisplayPort. Missed opportunity for Apple to expand their gaming push, given it runs newer titles like Resident Evil 4 and Death Stranding which benefit from a bigger display.

 

[Ctrlos]

Very disappointed the 16e lacks DisplayPort. Missed opportunity for Apple to expand their gaming push, given it runs newer titles like Resident Evil 4 and Death Stranding which benefit from a bigger display.

I'm waiting for a digital foundry article on the 16e first. That lack of a GPU core will have some effect on games that already push the iPhone 16 to its limits

 

[TgeekB]

Very disappointed the 16e lacks DisplayPort. Missed opportunity for Apple to expand their gaming push, given it runs newer titles like Resident Evil 4 and Death Stranding which benefit from a bigger display.

It’s the least expensive device so I would expect it not to have everything the more expensive devices have.

 

[bousozoku]

I bought an iPhone 15 a little while ago because T-Mobile wanted about US$1.50 more per month (for 24 months) for the 15 over the 16e. I wanted a better display and didn't care about Apple Intelligence.

 

[geta]

I bought an iPhone 15 a little while ago because T-Mobile wanted about US$1.50 more per month (for 24 months) for the 15 over the 16e. I wanted a better display and didn't care about Apple Intelligence.

Was checking the 15, 16, 16 Pro and 16e at the shop the other day, and honestly all their screens looked the same to me. 🤷‍♂️

So out of all of these I prefer the cleaner look and the longer battery life of the 16e.

 

[bousozoku]

Was checking the 15, 16, 16 Pro and 16e at the shop the other day, and honestly all their screens looked the same to me. 🤷‍♂️

So out of all of these I prefer the cleaner look and the longer battery life of the 16e.

I wasn't suggesting that I was making a choice for everyone, but just for me.

 

[geta]

I wasn't suggesting that I was making a choice for everyone, but just for me.

I didn't say that, I just shared my experience and opinion about their screens and look after seeing them side by side.

However, most importantly you are satisfied with your choice!

 

[ThomasJL]

It was the first Mac to have USB-C when it was released in 2015, but iPhones didn't get USB-C until eight years later in 2023. If that doesn't show how mediocre and greedy Tim Cook is, I don't know what does.

 

[geta]

It was the first Mac to have USB-C when it was released in 2015, but iPhones didn't get USB-C until eight years later in 2023. If that doesn't show how mediocre and greedy Tim Cook is, I don't know what does.

It’s not about mediocre or greedy, it was about better tech. The only reason they changed the connection on their mobile devices to USB-C was the new EU regulations.

 

[ThomasJL]

It’s not about mediocre or greedy, it was about better tech. The only reason they changed the connection on their mobile devices to USB-C was the new EU regulations.

Thunderbolt 5 using USB-C is 240 times faster than Lightning. That means if a data transfer takes 1 minute with Thunderbolt 5 using USB-C, it will take 4 hours with Lightning. 1 minute versus 4 hours. So how is Lightning "better tech" than USB-C?

 

[geta]

Thunderbolt 5 using USB-C is 240 times faster than Lightning. That means if a data transfer takes 1 minute with Thunderbolt 5 using USB-C, it will take 4 hours with Lightning. 1 minute versus 4 hours. So how is Lightning "better tech" than USB-C?

Lightning connection came out 2012, first USB-C 2014, and Thunderbolt 5 last year (if i'm not mistaken), so till recently Apple didn't had a reason to change it.

 

[ThomasJL]

Lightning connection came out 2012, first USB-C 2014, and Thunderbolt 5 last year (if i'm not mistaken), so till recently Apple didn't had a reason to change it.

The very first USB-C port on an Apple device was on the 2015 MacBook, and that USB-C port supported USB 3.1 Gen 1, which is 10 times faster than Lightning.

The reason Tim Cook kept Lightning on iPhones even eight years after releasing a MacBook with USB-C is because he wanted to make money from licensing MFi to third-party Lightning cable makers. It is one of Cook's many corporate greed practices.

 

[geta]

The very first USB-C port on an Apple device was on the 2015 MacBook, and that USB-C port supported USB 3.1 Gen 1, which is 10 times faster than Lightning.

The reason Tim Cook kept Lightning on iPhones even eight years after releasing a MacBook with USB-C is because he wanted to make money from licensing MFi to third-party Lightning cable makers. It is one of Cook's many corporate greed practices.

Can you confirm this with a Tim Cook's quote in this regard? If not, this is just your speculation.

 

[TgeekB]

Can you confirm this with a Tim Cook's quote in this regard? If not, this is just your speculation.

Of course he can’t. Another internet speculation.

 

[doogm]

The reason Tim Cook kept Lightning on iPhones even eight years after releasing a MacBook with USB-C is because he wanted to make money from licensing MFi to third-party Lightning cable makers. It is one of Cook's many corporate greed practices.

Perhaps that is a reason but you are also discounting all of the bad press Apple go when they switched from 30 pin to lightning, when they removed the headphone jack, stopped including chargers with every phone, etc. Apple can't win - they are either holding technology back or forcing people to switch to technologies they don't want to use. Some people don't like being forced into switching to different chargers, charging cables, etc. - they just want to use what they've been using, and many of those people accuse Apple of the same greed that you do - that switching is forcing everyone to pay Apple extra for new charging technology. (You and I both know that they don't need to buy that from Apple, but most people don't think that way.)

Apple probably should have switched to USB-C sooner, they should still switch basic phones to faster than USB2 sync speeds, but the truth is that the vast majority of people never connect anything except a charger to their phone, so they don't need it anyway.

 

[TgeekB]

Perhaps that is a reason but you are also discounting all of the bad press Apple go when they switched from 30 pin to lightning, when they removed the headphone jack, stopped including chargers with every phone, etc. Apple can't win - they are either holding technology back or forcing people to switch to technologies they don't want to use. Some people don't like being forced into switching to different chargers, charging cables, etc. - they just want to use what they've been using, and many of those people accuse Apple of the same greed that you do - that switching is forcing everyone to pay Apple extra for new charging technology. (You and I both know that they don't need to buy that from Apple, but most people don't think that way.)

Apple probably should have switched to USB-C sooner, they should still switch basic phones to faster than USB2 sync speeds, but the truth is that the vast majority of people never connect anything except a charger to their phone, so they don't need it anyway.

The bold at the end is the key. I may not agree with everything Apple does but doing things just because the internet says they should is not a great strategy.

 

[bousozoku]

It's my understanding that Lightning was supposed to last for 10 years, while Apple was helping to develop Thunderbolt. It's only the EU pressing for type C USB ports that caused things to change.

What's greedy is that Apple has type C ports in the iPhone 15 and 16 but they still run at USB 2.0 SuperSpeed, 480 Mbps. The initial restore of my iPhone 15 (from the 2022 iPhone SE) seemed quick enough, but it wasn't exactly speedy. I wanted to try the phone-to-phone transfer but that didn't work.

 

[cuzo]

Was checking the 15, 16, 16 Pro and 16e at the shop the other day, and honestly all their screens looked the same to me. 🤷‍♂️

So out of all of these I prefer the cleaner look and the longer battery life of the 16e.

That's just the wallpaper. You have to go outside in the sun and you see a difference.

 

[geta]

That's just the wallpaper. You have to go outside in the sun and you see a difference.

And how did you come to the conclusion that I looked at wallpaper?