Review: A Week With iPhone 16e

[brofkand]

that's great.
I'll stick with my iCloud which Samsung doesn't have. Have fun with Bixby and Samsung cloud and the triplicate applications that all do the same thing, plus who-knows-what-data-going-where.

Each to their own! I just don't like the misinformation

 

[webkit]

Too expensive for people in the sub-$500 market.

Not good enough for people in the $600+ market.

But "just right" for people who want something much better than the archaic SE3 but don't care enough about additional features of the 16 to pay $230 more.

You can get a refurb 16 in VG+ condition for $650 with MagSafe, a better main camera, and a wide angle lens.

It has long been common to see used/refurb phones for a lower price than a lesser new one. Same can be said about cars, boats, planes and other products sold in the resale market. That doesn't necessarily make the new retail price bad. Some people are ok buying used, some aren't. Many also get their new phones through carriers at a "discounted" promo price.

 

[dampfnudel]

Trouble is the A16 is borderline unusable. I sent mine back and got a used Pixel 6a instead.

Is this the A16 Pro because I never heard of an A16 before? Unless Apple had a bunch of binned A16 Pro chips in storage and decided to give them the A16 designation. My 14 Pro has the A16 Pro and it’s very usable. You can’t do AI of course, but I think many of us don’t care.

 

[Biro]

Is this the A16 Pro because I never heard of an A16 before? Unless Apple had a bunch of binned A16 Pro chips in storage and decided to give them the A16 designation. My 14 Pro has the A16 Pro and it’s very usable. You can’t do AI of course, but I think many of us don’t care.

No, they’re talking about the Samsung A16 phone.

 

[mandopicker101]

I’m just super pissed it doesn’t run MacOS.

 

[Future Dwight]

Just as Tim Cook planned.

That’s what I did yesterday. I was waiting for the 16e but because of the price and no MagSafe I choose the 16. Tim wins again.

 

[Gotword]

Your fanboy is showing. The pixel 8A is around the same price and has basically vanilla Android and comes with 7 years of updates. The upcoming pixel 9A is coming as well. The a series also have a 120hz screen as well. This is just Apple being Apple and upselling you to a 16 model for all those features.



This phone is $100 too expensive. I’m also not the market demographic for this phone 🤷‍♀️. Will probably get a 16 pro max this time around or 512gb 16 pro.

i was using a pixel 9 pro and the bezels are so thin it makes the 16 pro look so dated looking

 

[Gotword]

For the avoidance of misunderstanding, doubt and FUD: with a MagSafe case the 16e functions like any other iPhone that has MagSafe built in, with the exception of the charging power / speed. So my car mount (Apple MagSafe charger) works just as before with my iPhone 13 Mini. On a recent long journey with Waze and streaming for more than four hours I did not notice an issue with the battery level, though how much of that is due to the increased efficiency of the C1 modem I couldn't say. Daily battery life is way better than before, and that is compared to an iPhone 13 Mini that received a brand new Apple battery under AppleCare+ only a couple of months ago.

I went with the reg 16 from 13 mini, i miss the size of the mini i cant one hand message anymore 😥 but the battery on the mini new just was never great

 

[O.N.Y.X]

I was going to replace the two SEs in my family with the new 16e but the lack of MagSafe was a deal breaker. We’ve gotten rid of our plugin chargers in favor of several wireless chargers. And no, we will not purchase higher end phones because of that. Fortunately there are decent alternatives outside the Apple ecosystem.

 

[FlyingDutch]

MagSafe includes a higher power charging system, 15W versus 7.5W, not just magnets. The focus on cost of magnets is misplaced - wait for the iFixit teardown and then I expect we will see the reasons.

Even the basic charging system but with the magnets to keep accessories in place would have been an acceptable solution. But they discharged it entirely.

 

[Cunir]

I know you can buy a MagSafe case, but having no inbuilt MagSafe put me off upgrading my iPhone 13, which still works fine for me.
I probably wouldn't even notice the other 16e upgrades in day-to-day use.

MagSafe is a cheap, lo-tech thing that lots of people make use of. Having a slightly better camera lens, or whatever, doesn't make any difference to most people

 

[N47H]

Not sure if it’s just because MacRumors is more of a tech savvy crowd, but the outrage and upset at the omission of MagSafe is quite humorous. I can’t say I care for it or use it, when I go into the office at work where literally all but one person has an iPhone on their desk, not a one of them uses a MagSafe charger. My friends nor family use MagSafe chargers or devices either.

I bought a MagSafe charger back when they released and it soon got relegated to the bedside table drawer as a cable was far more convenient (being able to use my phone as it charges, and charging faster).

 

[Paul76]

Traded my 13 mini in for 16e. I wasn't sure but now it's been a week no regrets. I get one more cell bar inside the bathroom. The action button I turned off, I hit when going for volume, my spigen case needs different texture. I would like to make it do a 45 sec skip on podcasts because of ads but can't see how. Battery life is great. I have slow wireless charging and not buying a new one so that suits me fine. App updates are much quicker. Camera for all that they say no macro I could zoom in close to get ebay pics of my lightning accessories. One usb-c for all charging finally!

 

[Sebalto]

Is this the A16 Pro because I never heard of an A16 before? Unless Apple had a bunch of binned A16 Pro chips in storage and decided to give them the A16 designation. My 14 Pro has the A16 Pro and it’s very usable. You can’t do AI of course, but I think many of us don’t care.

Samsung A16.

 

[dubiousgif]

I’m probably switching from a worn-battery 13 Pro to a 16e since it can be acquired for $360 from an MVNO. I don’t care as much about 120Hz these days.

 

[baconcat_8964]

After launch: Why you should avoid this iPhone.

Two week later: Why I was wrong about iPhone 16e.

Two months later: Apple made a mistake. iPhone is doomed.

 

[Skyscraperfan]

This is just a huge step back from the last iPhone SE, which had perfectly rectangular corners instead of rounded corners and a notch.

 

[jbn858273]

Even the basic charging system but with the magnets to keep accessories in place would have been an acceptable solution. But they discharged it entirely.

Had the magnets been kept with only Qi charging there would undoubtedly be outrage at the “fake MagSafe” being peddled… An unwinnable argument. I am assuming that a stick-on magnet ring is not an acceptable compromise for you?

 

[FlyingDutch]

Not sure if it’s just because MacRumors is more of a tech savvy crowd, but the outrage and upset at the omission of MagSafe is quite humorous. I can’t say I care for it or use it, when I go into the office at work where literally all but one person has an iPhone on their desk, not a one of them uses a MagSafe charger. My friends nor family use MagSafe chargers or devices either.

I bought a MagSafe charger back when they released and it soon got relegated to the bedside table drawer as a cable was far more convenient (being able to use my phone as it charges, and charging faster).

I’m not upset, but the lack of MagSafe is going to influence my buyer decision. The iPhone 16€ costs more than €700 in Europe. It is not a cheap phone by any means

 

[turbineseaplane]

Went and saw the 16e in stores last night

Sort of hilarious/embarrassing how they made special display stands that support the phone on the bottom edge since the 16e models don't have MagSafe

Right next to it are fully "floating in the air" stands with the other iPhones that have MagSafe

When you pick up the 16e, play with it a bit and put it back on the stand it's super clunky to "get it right" since it lays there and doesn't magnetically zap back into place like all the other models

Such an odd move to nuke MagSafe for these

 

[Biro]

Went and saw the 16e in stores last night… Such an odd move to nuke MagSafe for these

But, really, is it? A lot of people on this site and a lot of reviewers across the Web are whining about it. But if (as one person on another string guessed) MagSafe costs $1-$2 to implement on each 16e and Apple sells a million of them (I suspect it’ll be substantially more worldwide) then Apple is leaving up to $2 million on the table. And I’m being conservative.

I’ll ask everyone here the same question I asked that other person who guessed at the cost of adding MagSafe: How much more are you willing to pay for it? Or what other feature are you willing to give up? Some people are just angry they’re not getting a regular base iPhone 16 for $599. I agree that would be nice - but it ain’t happening anytime soon.

 

[jbn858273]

Battery life on my 16e is excellent. I have said this before: wait for the iFixit teardown to see what would be compromised internally to add even the magnets, let alone MagSafe circuitry. I also said before that adding the magnets without the MagSafe charging rate will be just as upsetting for another segment of the user community.

Apple = damned if they do, damned if they don't

 

[SDJim]

Just choose a case that has MagSafe magnets in it and you'll get 99% of the benefit of MagSafe.

 

[FlyingDutch]

But, really, is it? A lot of people on this site and a lot of reviewers across the Web are whining about it. But if (as one person on another string guessed) MagSafe costs $1-$2 to implement on each 16e and Apple sells a million of them (I suspect it’ll be substantially more worldwide) then Apple is leaving up to $2 million on the table. And I’m being conservative.

I’ll ask everyone here the same question I asked that other person who guessed at the cost of adding MagSafe: How much more are you willing to pay for it? Or what other feature are you willing to give up? Some people are just angry they’re not getting a regular base iPhone 16 for $599. I agree that would be nice - but it ain’t happening anytime soon.

Seriously, on a €700 phone (that’s the cost in Europe, after VAT) I wouldn’t be ready to give up anything else, considering the already existing drawbacks like a single camera and a 60 Hz display.

 

[bluecoast]

But "just right" for people who want something much better than the archaic SE3 but don't care enough about additional features of the 16 to pay $230 more.




It has long been common to see used/refurb phones for a lower price than a lesser new one. Same can be said about cars, boats, planes and other products sold in the resale market. That doesn't necessarily make the new retail price bad. Some people are ok buying used, some aren't. Many also get their new phones through carriers at a "discounted" promo price.

In the uk, the 16e is now available at our ‘value’ carriers and bought from them on a 36 pcm rate, it’s such a great deal. IMHO I think this is how apple ‘intends’ the 16e to be purchased.