Also notable is the switch from a Lightning charging port to a USB-C port. Apple first switched to the universal port on the iPhone 15 range in 2023, and this update means the entire iPhone lineup finally features USB-C. Unfortunately, like the iPhone 16, the port’s data transfer speeds remain the same at 480 Mbps. For faster speeds, you’ll need to buy the iPhone 16 Pro.
Apple stopped selling the 2022 model of the iPhone SE and other Lightning-based devices in the European Union in December 2024 to comply with regulations that required the universal USB-C port on devices like phones and tablets. The earlier-than-expected release of the iPhone 16e suggests Apple wanted to quickly fill in the gap and bring a low-cost iPhone back to that market.
Apple’s A18 chipset sits inside with 8 GB of RAM, meaning you get the same power as the iPhone 16. Nearly. This chipset has one less GPU core than the A18 inside the iPhone 16, meaning there may be a slight hit to graphics performance when playing games. Naturally, the A18 chip brings access to Apple Intelligence. It’s the most affordable iPhone with the suite of AI features, though it’s not the cheapest way to access it. That would be the $499 iPad Mini.
While Apple has brought over the Action Button from the higher-end iPhones—this user-customizable button replaced the mute switch and debuted on the iPhone 15 Pro—the 16e is missing the Camera Control button found on those flagship devices.
Camera Control is the fifth physical button on the iPhone 16 lineup. It enables quick access to the camera and allows users to slide a finger on it to change shooting modes. Pressing and holding the button activates Apple’s Visual Intelligence, which lets Siri understand what it’s looking at, provide context, and take action. Apple initially restricted the feature to the new iPhone 16 range which has the physical Camera Control button, even if the iPhone 15 Pro was capable of this computer vision trick. However, the iPhone 16e can now make use of Visual Intelligence through the Action Button. It’s unclear yet if this functionality will make its way to the iPhone 15 Pro.
Speaking of the camera, it’s been upgraded to a 48-megapixel sensor, and Apple touts that the higher megapixel count allows the camera to crop in and offer a 2X optical-like image quality—effectively giving you the experience of two camera lenses in one. The selfie camera is the same 12 megapixels as the rest of the iPhone 16 series.
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