iPhone 16e Review: Excellent, efficient, expensive

The iPhone 16e might be more expensive than Apple’s past entry-level phones, but it’s also the best, which makes it difficult to compare it to its peers. Throw in a new higher price, and it’s an even tougher comparison.

Apple has removed the affordable iPhone SE and the 14 from its lineup, meaning that the lowest price you can buy a new iPhone for in Canada is now $899. It’s a big jump over the SE’s $579 price tag, but the 16e is a significantly better phone, and while using it, the price didn’t feel out of line with the product.

My usual advice for buying an iPhone is to get the year-old model. Most people wouldn’t be happy with an iPhone SE, and would like to save a little money, so an older iPhone usually hits the sweet spot. Now, for the first time in a decade, I’m changing up my default iPhone recommendation. Now, it’s the iPhone 16e.

You can find more full-resolution photo samples on Google Drive. 

The new iPhone looks and feels modern, supports the cutting-edge of Apple’s software and it’s the best value you can get from an iPhone right now. Unless you absolutely need the ultrawide camera from the iPhone 16, I can’t see very many reasons why anyone would buy it over the 16e.

Apple’s new phone might not be as affordable as we wanted, but it’s a damn good device at the end of the day.

Why you want an iPhone 16e

There’s one upgrade that makes the iPhone 16e better than the 16, and that’s the battery life. Apple has integrated its first cellular modem into the 16e, which is more power-efficient and a little smaller. This gives Apple’s engineers more space inside the phone to fill with battery while also drawing less power.

Unlike the battery, none of the other 16e features are best in class, but they’re all more than good enough. The camera sensor is the same as the 48-megapixel sensor from the iPhone 16 Pro’s ultrawide, but it has a different lens on top to give it a 26mm field of view. The screen has great colour and contrast, but it features the old iPhone notch reminiscent of the iPhone 14.

The iPhone 16e is a much better phone than the SE.

Even the hardware, while looking quite modern, isn’t the same ultra-premium parts as the other iPhone 16 models. The back glass on the 16e is softer than the 16, and the front glass is only the first generation of Ceramic Shield. This won’t make a difference when you use the phone, but does illustrate that Apple is cutting some corners to bring the price down.

The new phone still has a lot of the repairability upgrades from the 16 series, but you’ll need to use a case if you want to add MagSafe back to the phone. This extends to software as well, with no support for modern Photographic styles, automatic portrait mode and reduced capabilities in the Find My app.

Having said all that, none of it matters. Taken as a whole, this is a great iPhone, and in my time testing it, I haven’t felt a strong pull to go back to my iPhone 16 Pro Max. On the contrary, I’ve enjoyed how light and comfortable the 16e is to hold. It feels minimalist and utilitarian, which, in a world of social media addictions and bad news online, is weirdly refreshing.

The single lens on here is pretty good, but obviously the most limited iPhone camera available right now.

There’s still Apple Intelligence, an Action button and the performance is on par with what I’m used to. The speakers are also great and the screen, while only 60Hz, is a great-looking OLED. Beyond all that, the battery life is phenomenal for an iPhone this size. I’ve been able to push an entire day with over nine hours of screen-on time, and in another situation, I was able to make it to 28 hours of use with only six and a half hours of screen-on time.

I wish this phone had Camera Control and an always-on display because I take a lot of photos and like seeing my unique clock when my phone is out, but these are personal things I want on every phone. Most users, especially those coming from older iPhones, won’t know or care about these features, so I expect Apple made the right decision by not adding them. I also thought I would miss MagSafe more, but moving back to a regular wallet and charger was not jarring at all.

Should you buy the iPhone 16e?

Apple is refreshing the iPhone line with the new 16e, and while it feels like a departure from the low prices of the iPhone SE and 14 that were just discontinued, I think it’s better to look back at all of the iPhone’s pricing, adjusted for inflation.

Apple has been raising the price of iPhones for years. In 2011, the iPhone 4 was $649 in Canada, the iPhone 7 was $899 in 2016, and things took a turn for the expensive in 2020 when the iPhone 12 moved the base price up to $1,129, which is where it sits now.

Adjusted for inflation, $649 in 2011 comes out to around $888 in 2025, just a few dollars short of the new iPhone 16e. You could argue that the 16e should be compared more to the iPhone SE, but the 16e is a significantly more modern and complete phone compared to the SE, so it feels more appropriate to compare it to other mainline iPhones. And when you do, it comes out on top.

While the new iPhone 16e is a lot more expensive than low-end iPhones in the past, it revamps the iPhone pricing structure, and for now, it means things are more expensive. The quality jumps justify the higher price, but no one ever wants things to get more expensive, so it’s a tough pill to swallow.

In an ideal world, we’d see Apple keep the 16 and the 16e in the lineup for a few years, letting the cost drop a couple hundred dollars to bring back some actual entry-level iPhone pricing with devices that support Apple Intelligence, but it’s too soon to tell. At this point, Apple is aiming to make sure a majority of its products can support AI, and that means we’ll need to wait and see where the prices end up in a few years.

The iPhone 16e retails for $899 outright, but it can be bought at a cheaper price from a variety of Canadian carriers. The phone is up for pre-orders and will be fully available on February 28. It comes in black or white.