Apple Unveils All New iPhone 16e: lower-cost addition to its iPhone 16 lineup

The brand-new iPhone 16e has been officially unveiled by Apple. The gadget has a 48MP camera, a brand-new design, an A18 chip within, and complete support for Apple Intelligence. It also has the C1 chip, the first 5G cellular modem ever created by Apple. Pre-sales for the new iPhone 16e, which retails for $599 for 128GB, will open on Friday, and the first orders will be delivered on February 28.

A Beautiful and Durable Design with Breakthrough Battery Life

iPhone 16e is built to last, featuring splash, water, and dust resistance with a rating of IP68; the Ceramic Shield front cover with an advanced formulation that is tougher than any smartphone glass; and the toughest back glass in a smartphone.2 The 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display with OLED technology has an edge-to-edge design that is perfect for watching HDR videos, playing games, and reading crisp text.3 iPhone 16e has the best battery life ever on a 6.1-inch iPhone, lasting up to six hours longer than iPhone 11 and up to 12 hours longer than all generations of iPhone SE.4 And with Face ID enabled by the TrueDepth camera system, users can securely unlock their iPhone, authenticate purchases, sign in to apps, and more. iPhone 16e also offers convenient charging options, including both wireless charging and USB-C for easy connection to a wide range of accessories.

Performance and Connectivity

iPhone 16e is powered by Apple’s latest-generation A18 chip, which enables fast, smooth performance, incredible power efficiency, and Apple Intelligence. The 6-core CPU is up to 80 percent faster than the A13 Bionic chip on iPhone 11, handling both everyday and intensive tasks with ease — from simple workloads, to more demanding actions with Apple Intelligence. The 4-core GPU powers stunning graphics performance and unlocks next-level mobile gaming on the go, enabling graphically demanding AAA titles and hardware-accelerated ray tracing for more realistic lighting and reflections. The 16-core Neural Engine is optimized for large generative models and runs machine learning (ML) models up to 6x faster than A13 Bionic.


Expanding the benefits of Apple silicon, C1 is the first modem designed by Apple and the most power-efficient modem ever on an iPhone, delivering fast and reliable 5G cellular connectivity. Apple silicon — including C1 — the all-new internal design, and the advanced power management of iOS 18 all contribute to extraordinary battery life.

Built for Apple Intelligence

iPhone 16e is built for Apple Intelligence, unlocking exciting new capabilities that make iPhone even more helpful and powerful. With the Clean Up tool, it’s easy to remove distracting elements in images, and natural language search in the Photos app allows users to search for just about any photo or video by simply describing what they are looking for.


Users can also explore creative new ways to express themselves visually with Image Playground, create the perfect emoji with Genmoji, and make their writing even more dynamic with Writing Tools. They can now type to Siri, and Siri is more conversational with the ability to follow along if users stumble over their words. Siri can also maintain context from one request to the next. With extensive product knowledge, Siri can answer thousands of questions about the features and settings of Apple products, so users can learn how to do things like take a screen recording or schedule a text message to send later.

With access to ChatGPT seamlessly integrated into Writing Tools and Siri, users can choose to access ChatGPT’s expertise without jumping between applications, so they can get things done faster and easier than ever before. In addition, users can access ChatGPT for free without creating an account, and privacy protections are built in — their IP addresses are obscured and OpenAI won’t store requests. Users can choose whether to enable ChatGPT integration, and are in full control of when to use it and what information is shared with ChatGPT.

Apple Intelligence marks an extraordinary step forward for privacy in AI and is designed to protect users’ privacy at every step. It starts with on-device processing, meaning that many of the models that power Apple Inteligence run entirely on device. For requests that require access to larger models, Apple’s groundbreaking Private Cloud Compute extends the privacy and security of iPhone into the cloud to unlock even more intelligence. When using Private Cloud Compute, users’ data is never stored or shared with Apple; it is used only to fulfill their request.

Access Favorite Features and Unlock Visual Intelligence with the Action Button

iPhone 16e features the Action button, allowing users to easily access a variety of functions with just a press. Once customized in Settings, the Action button can be used to quickly open the camera or flashlight; switch between Ring and Silent modes; recognize music with Shazam; activate Voice Memos, Focus, Translate, and accessibility features like Magnifier; or use Shortcuts for more options. The Action button can even access in-app functionality like launching the camera in Snapchat, unlocking a car door with FordPass, tracking a child’s sleep schedule with Napper, and more.


The Action button on iPhone 16e also unlocks a new visual intelligence experience that builds on Apple Intelligence to help users learn about objects and places. Visual intelligence can summarize and copy text, translate text between languages, detect phone numbers or email addresses with the option to add to contacts, identify an animal or plant, and more. Visual intelligence also allows users to search Google so they can see where they can buy an item, or benefit from ChatGPT’s problem-solving skills. Users are in control of when third-party tools are used and what information is shared.

A Powerful Camera System to Capture Any Moment

The powerful 2-in-1 camera system on iPhone 16e is perfect for capturing everyday moments and important memories, including in Night mode and Portrait mode. Using computational photography, the 48MP Fusion camera takes super-high-resolution photos, so users can capture gorgeous images that balance light and detail. With an integrated 2x Telephoto, users have the equivalent of two cameras in one, and can zoom in with optical quality to get closer to the subject and easily frame their shot. And the front-facing TrueDepth camera with autofocus enables sharper close-ups and beautiful group selfies. The latest generation of HDR captures subjects and the background with true-to-life renderings of skin tones, while ensuring photos have bright highlights, rich mid-tones, and deep shadows.

iPhone 16e takes stunning videos with the ability to record in 4K with Dolby Vision up to 60 fps, and users can stop and restart a recording for more flexibility when capturing the moment. iPhone 16e also records video in Spatial Audio for immersive listening with AirPods, Apple Vision Pro, or a surround sound system, and enables more ways to edit video sound with Audio Mix. Users can adjust their sound after capture to focus on the voice of the person on camera, make it sound like the video was recorded inside a professional studio, or position vocal tracks in the front and environmental noises in surround sound. With wind noise reduction, powerful ML algorithms automatically reduce unwanted noise for better audio quality.

Pricing and Availability

• iPhone 16e will be available in white and black in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage capacities, starting at $599 (U.S.) or $24.95 (U.S.) per month for 24 months.

• Apple offers great ways to save and upgrade to the latest iPhone. With Apple Trade In, customers can get up to $120 (U.S.) in credit when they trade in iPhone 11, or up to $170 (U.S.) in credit when they trade in iPhone 12. With a carrier offer, customers can get up to $400 (U.S.) in credit when they trade in iPhone 11, or up to $599 (U.S.) in credit when they trade in iPhone 12 to put toward an iPhone 16e. Customers can take advantage of these offers by visiting the Apple Store online or an Apple Store location. For carrier offer eligibility requirements and more details, see apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/carrier-offers. To see what their device is worth and for Apple Trade In terms and conditions, customers can visit apple.com/shop/trade-in.

• Customers in 59 countries and regions, including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea, Türkiye, the UAE, the UK, and the U.S., will be able to pre-order iPhone 16e beginning at 5 a.m. PST on Friday, February 21, with availability beginning Friday, February 28.