An introduction to the iPhone 16e roundup, setting up initial reactions to Apple's new $599 phone. Along the way it covers Design and Build: iPhone 14 Vibes, Display: 60Hz OLED Reality and Camera: Single-Lens Strengths and Limits, and more. A final summary weighing the pros and cons to help buyers decide if the phone is right for them.
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An introduction to the iPhone 16e roundup, setting up initial reactions to Apple's new $599 phone.
On screen: A male presenter in a brown jacket and white shirt speaks directly to the camera, positioned in the center, while a nine-panel grid of iPhone-related video thumbnails forms the background.
Reviewers analyze the hardware, highlighting the iPhone 14 body design, matte back glass, Action button, and notable absence of MagSafe.
On screen: A man with dark hair and light highlights, wearing a purple t-shirt, stands behind a white desk, holding a white smartphone and gesturing with his right hand in front of a white geometric wall with purple backlighting.
A breakdown of the screen specs, including its 6.1-inch OLED display, notch, 60Hz refresh rate, and peak brightness levels.
On screen: A hand holds an iPhone, displaying its home screen with various app icons, against a plain white background. Text overlays appear sequentially on the screen: '6.1 INCHES', 'OLED DISPLAY', and '460PPI PIXEL DENSITY'.
Tech reviewers evaluate the single 48MP fusion camera sensor, noting its photo performance alongside the drawback of lacking an ultra-wide lens.
On screen: A rapid montage displays four different still images: a building with a large mural, a yellow door, a man in sunglasses, and a night road scene culminating in a brightly lit building.
An overview of daily performance, gaming speed, and Apple Intelligence features powered by the binned A18 chip and 8GB of RAM.
On screen: A hand holds a pink iPhone vertically, displaying an application interface with various 'Themes' for images, while text overlays 'PROCESSOR & PERFORMANCE' and '@Andru' appear in the foreground.
Exploration of battery life improvements driven by Apple's custom C1 modem and a larger battery capacity.
On screen: A man with dark curly hair, wearing a white sweatshirt, sits at a desk speaking and gesturing with his hands, with a white smartphone lying face down on the table in front of him.
A discussion on whether the $599 price tag offers strong value or if alternatives like a refurbished iPhone 15 Pro make more sense.
On screen: A man with dark curly hair and a white long-sleeved shirt sits at a dark desk, speaking directly to the camera and gesturing with his hands, with a smartphone in front of him and an office setup and an illuminated…
A final summary weighing the pros and cons to help buyers decide if the phone is right for them.
On screen: A man in a brown jacket and white t-shirt speaks directly to the camera, gesturing with his hands, while a large, animated graphic of a smartphone rotates and transforms behind him on a plain background, eventually…
0:00 Speaker A: Apple just killed the budget iPhone. Speaker B: The iPhone 16e is here and it cost $599. Speaker C: We had this collective WTF moment. Speaker C: Who are you? Speaker D: Welcome back to real review, where we watch all the reviews so you don't have to. Speaker D: Today we're diving deep into the iPhone 16e, breaking it down with insights from the top YouTubers. Speaker D: First up, let's explore iPhone 16e design and build. Speaker A: So the iPhone 16e itself is available in black and white, so a case is going to be the only way to to add some color.
0:29 Speaker B: There are no big surprises here with the design. Speaker B: Here it is the body of an iPhone 14 with an aluminum enclosure with that matte metal finish on the frames itself. Speaker E: The back glass has a sophisticated texture matte finish which looks understated and gives the phone a well more premium air about it. Speaker C: It looks great. Speaker B: It feels great too. Speaker B: It feels feels grippy. Speaker F: Your flat sides, your USB type C, even IP68 water resistance.
0:57 Speaker E: The biggest difference clearly is no more home button with Touch ID, but at least there is now Face ID. Speaker E: The iPhone 16e also gets the action button, which I like for the fact that I can map it to just about anything. Speaker B: It still has Qi wireless charging at 7.5 watts. Speaker B: But the biggest drawback for me, even on an entry level iPhone is no magsafe, right? Speaker B: This is an ecosystem that has been established since back in 2020.
1:22 Speaker C: This is a very thin system of magnets. Speaker C: Like I feel like they could have easily put this in. Speaker C: Like it's maybe 0.2, 0.3 millimeters thick. Speaker C: They could have put those things in if they wanted to on. Speaker D: So it's sleek and premium, but color limited. Speaker D: Now let's see, how does the screen stack up? Speaker B: This display is pretty much identical to what we had on the iPhone 13 and the iPhone 14. Speaker B: So it's 6.1 inches. Speaker B: It's an OLED display. Speaker B: We've got a 460ppi pixel density, but there's no promotion.
1:50 Speaker B: So that's a 60Hz refresh rate and no always on display. Speaker B: The other display thing to note is that it's not as bright as the 16 or 16 Pro with an 800 nits max brightness and a 1200 nits peak brightness. Speaker B: That's compared to the 1000 nits max brightness and 2000 nits peak brightness of the 16 and 16 Pro. Speaker E: It has a notch which doesn't bother me in use, but I gotta say I do miss Dynamic island.
2:16 Speaker D: It's a solid screen, but not cutting edge. Speaker D: Let's see if the camera fares better. Speaker A: The iPhone 16e packs a custom 48 megapixel fusion camera. Speaker A: And this is important, it's not the same 40, 48 megapixel sensor found in the standard iPhone 16. Speaker F: It is actually a much smaller sensor with inferior stabilization, so that manifests itself into just a very different look for photos. Speaker F: It kind of reminds me a lot actually of the A series pixel phones.
2:43 Speaker F: It's not necessarily a worse look during daytime anyway, it's just different. Speaker C: This is a single lens camera system, so it can do a 2x sensor. Speaker C: Zoom shots on this camera look good even in tough lighting conditions. Speaker C: But the lack of an ultra wide is really, really disappointing to me. Speaker C: It's a camera lens that I think so much of the world uses and I'm sure Apple knows this, but they remove it on a $600 phone. Speaker C: It feels intentional.
3:08 Speaker F: I actually think the whole good, better, best thing with the iPhones where like the cheap one has one camera, the middle one has two cameras, and the best one has three cameras. Speaker F: It actually feels pretty natural and like an easy to understand hierarchy. Speaker B: Now I've gone out and tested the iPhone 16e cameras and and they're very good as expected. Speaker B: We've got great colors, excellent dynamic range, really good detail and it also takes good pictures and videos in low light.
3:34 Speaker D: A capable camera, but with limitations. Speaker D: Does the performance make up for it? Speaker D: Let's see what's powering it under the hood. Speaker A: Powering the iPhone 16e is Apple's A18 chip. Speaker A: It's fast, efficient and handles pretty much everything you throw at it smoothly. Speaker A: Benchmarks aside, in real world use, it feels pretty much like any other modern iPhone. Speaker A: Apps open instantly. Speaker A: Gaming is fluid and iOS 18 runs great. Speaker C: It's the same chip in name as we see on the regular iPhone 16, but it's a bend down version.
4:02 Speaker C: So there's one GPU core that's less on the 16e, but the performance is still fantastic, both in benchmarks and in games. Speaker C: It's just a killer chip and it's very energy efficient for everyday use. Speaker C: Now this Phone also has 8 gigs of RAM, which enables it to have. Speaker B: Apple intelligence if that's attractive to you. Speaker B: So that's things like Siri interaction with ChatGPT to get more in depth and complex answers to questions. Speaker B: Writing tools for proofreading or changing the tone of a message before you send it out.
4:29 Speaker B: You've got all the generative stuff like Genmojis to make your own custom emojis. Speaker B: There's image playground to make images on the Fly, even if it does feel a little limited in its use right now. Speaker B: But it's still not fully baked with all the features. Speaker C: But I would say personally that Apple Intelligence is not nearly good enough nor powerful enough in its current state to really warrant a purchase decision around blazing. Speaker D: Fast with some Apple Intelligence perks. Speaker D: Next, let's talk about the battery life and the new modem.
4:56 Speaker A: The most interesting thing about the iPhone 16e isn't something that you can see. Speaker A: It's the Apple C1 modem on the inside. Speaker A: For the first time ever, Apple has designed its own in house cellular modem, cutting ties with Qualcomm for this model. Speaker A: At least for now. Speaker A: When Apple controls the entire stack, they can optimize power efficiency, reliability and future features better than if they were dependent on a third party. Speaker A: So does it work well in daily use? Speaker A: It performs about the same as other IPH.
5:22 Speaker A: It gets 5G speeds and solid connectivity. Speaker A: Apple says this modem is more efficient, which should mean better standby time and less power drain. Speaker C: And it's supposed to be very energy efficient. Speaker C: Now, I don't have the ability to just swap out modems on one device to be like a really controlled test. Speaker C: But from my crude testing, streaming and gaming on cell data is longer lasting on the 16e than the regular 16, even with the larger battery in mind. Speaker C: Now the signal strength and speeds on Apple's C1 modem seem as good to me as the Qualcomm's modems.
5:52 Speaker C: But I live in Toronto. Speaker C: It's a major city in Canada with cell towers everywhere, so I don't feel like it's a difficult test for this modem. Speaker C: One thing to keep in mind, this C1 modem, at least this iteration of it, does not have millimeter wave support, so if you want the fastest 5G speeds, this can't deliver it to you. Speaker C: But on an entry level phone, who really cares? Speaker A: With 25% more power efficiency, plus the fact that it's a smaller modem, which means Apple was able to put in a bigger battery, you're getting a major benefit right out of the gate.
6:19 Speaker B: Now the iPhone 16e will get up to 26 hours of video playback, which will basically get you through the whole day, which I love. Speaker B: And this is four more hours compared to the current iPhone 16. Speaker E: I've been using it heavily, testing the cameras, running Apple Intelligence tools, and playing graphically intense video games. Speaker E: The iPhone 16e can definitely make it through a day on a single charge, and depending on how you use the phone, you might even get a day And a half out of it long.
6:45 Speaker D: Lasting power with a boost from the C1. Speaker D: But does the $599 price make sense? Speaker A: In my opinion, the iPhone 16e is fine. Speaker A: It's not bad, but it's also not the best value for your dollar. Speaker A: I just think that there are a few too many corners cut when it comes to value. Speaker A: In fact, for the same price of the iPhone 16e, you can pick up a refurbished iPhone 15 Pro on Amazon. Speaker B: Do you think that this isn't a consumer friendly price phone for what we're calling a entry level phone?
7:14 Speaker B: Right, an entry level iPhone, where we basically jumped from $430 to $600 starting price. Speaker E: I do think that the iPhone 16e is worth its price and it is likely that Apple could have made a version that's closer to $500, but they would have had to omit or compromise on even more features to do so. Speaker E: The iPhone 16e could also be a solid option for teenagers as well as your parents, especially if they're on a phone that's four or five years old.
7:41 Speaker C: Now at $600, this is no longer a budget phone from Apple. Speaker C: It's in the realm of like mid tier phone pricing. Speaker C: I do think that when the iPhone 17 devices launch, this thing will come down in price as the 16s like the previous generation always does. Speaker C: And at that point I think this is more appropriately priced. Speaker C: But in the meantime, if you're someone who wants magsafe and you want an ultrawide and you don't really care about Apple intelligence like me, I would just go for the iPhone 15.
8:06 Speaker C: I feel like that just delivers a current day product that is just way better value than this. Speaker F: And Apple storage upgrade prices are still ridiculous as usual. Speaker F: So the phone that I happen to be holding and testing right now costs $900. Speaker F: So this is not a budget phone. Speaker F: The more I think about this phone, the more it feels like it exists specifically to push you up to an iPhone 16. Speaker F: In Apple's classic price ladder, you get enticed by this base price, but then the next rung on the ladder is only a small jump away and it's sitting there with all of its shiny extras like magsafe and an ultra wide camera.
8:42 Speaker F: Here's the problem though. Speaker F: This phone fits the price ladder, sure, but it doesn't fit the price tag. Speaker D: Opinions are split on value. Speaker D: So what's the verdict on the iPhone 16e? Speaker D: It's got a lot going for it. Speaker D: A premium design that feels high end, a fast, a 18 chip with Apple intelligence to keep it future ready and a battery that lasts all day thanks to the new C1 modem. Speaker D: The 48 megapixel camera does a solid job for a single lens setup too, but there are trade offs.
9:10 Speaker D: The 60Hz display feels dated, the lack of an ultra wide lens limits creativity, and those black or white only options might lead you wanting more flair. Speaker D: At $599, it's positioned as a mid tier option, perfect if you're upgrading from an older iPhone and want something reliable without breaking the bank. Speaker D: That said, some reviewers argue A refurbished iPhone 15 Pro or a standard iPhone 16 might give you more for your money. Speaker D: It's a good phone, no doubt, but whether it's the right phone depends on what you value most.
9:39 Speaker D: That's it for our ultimate roundup review of the iPhone 16e. Speaker D: Find full videos down below and subscribe for more re reviews where we watch older reviews so you don't have to.