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iPhone 16e Review: Lightweight Power in a Beautiful Package
Mar 11, 2025
Review on Cult of Mac: https://www.cultofmac.com/reviews/iphone-16e-review More Apple news: http://www.cultofmac.com Produced by Extra Ordinary for Cult of Mac Music composed by Will Davenport, arranged by D. Griffin Jones The #Apple #iPhone 16e might lack some of the iPhone’s most premium features, but I can’t help but love it. While testing it for my #iPhone16e review, the phone’s light weight and clean rear design made me happy every time I picked it up, in a way I haven’t felt since my iPhone 5s. And its updated guts make it a perfectly serviceable daily driver that’ll stay fast and responsive for years to come. Follow us! Threads: https://www.threads.net/@cultofmac Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@cultofmac Instagram: https://instagram.com/cultofmac/ X: https://x.com/cultofmac Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cultofmac
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0:00
the iPhone 16e might lack some of the
0:02
iPhone's more premium features but I
0:04
can't help but love it it's lightweight
0:06
and clean rear design make me happy
0:09
every time I pick it up in a way I
0:11
haven't felt since my iPhone 5S it's
0:14
updated guts will make sure it stays
0:16
fast and responsive for many years to
0:19
come I downgraded from my iPhone 16 Pro
0:22
to this iPhone 16e for my review and
0:25
came out very impressed here's what I
0:28
found
0:31
Apple doesn't update its entrylevel
0:33
iPhone previously called the iPhone SE
0:36
too often whenever there's a new budget
0:39
iPhone out it suddenly becomes the best
0:41
phone per dollar spent but then it
0:44
Withers away on the shelf for a few
0:45
years and becomes less of a smart
0:48
purchase towards the end of its life the
0:50
iPhone 16e might be the start of a new
0:54
strategy instead of keeping it at the
0:56
same price for years Apple might give it
0:59
more regular updates and older models
1:02
might lower in price over time if the
1:05
iPhone SE were the only Iphone you knew
1:07
about and you decided to upgrade to the
1:10
16e you just made a 10-year Quantum Leap
1:14
the prior model still resembled the
1:16
iPhone 6 from
1:18
2014 the new model is perfectly in line
1:21
with today's iPhone 16 lineup compared
1:24
to its other iPhone 16 siblings the
1:27
first difference you'll notice as soon
1:29
as you pick it up up it's over 15%
1:32
lighter than the iPhone 16 pro at 5.9 Oz
1:37
compared to 7.0 that might sound like a
1:39
nitpicky difference but it's huge the
1:43
iPhone 16e feels like the perfect
1:45
balance of screen size and weight just
1:49
like the iPhone 10 the next biggest
1:52
difference is that there's no triple
1:54
camera system dominating the rear I can
1:57
hold it in my left hand and sweep my
2:00
pointer finger across the back of the
2:01
phone like a windshield wiper without
2:05
touching the camera contrast that to
2:07
what I wrote in my review of the iPhone
2:09
16 Pro the camera bump sits right where
2:12
my index finger naturally wants to rest
2:15
I have to scrunch up my finger or adjust
2:18
the angle to get it out of the way
2:19
beyond that you've probably seen this
2:22
before it has flat sides the aluminum
2:25
band around the outside is softly
2:27
textured the back glass has a matte
2:29
finish it has circular speaker and
2:32
microphone holes on the bottom and a
2:34
USBC port instead of a ring mute switch
2:37
it has the action button to almost
2:40
everyone's disappointment the iPhone 16e
2:43
only comes in black and white personally
2:46
I miss the combination of black glass
2:48
and silver metal like the iPhone 4
2:52
instead the black color comes with dark
2:54
metal around the edge but I bet most
2:56
people will miss the Glorious pink teal
2:59
and ultramarine of the iPhone 16 Apple's
3:03
position is that if you want to have a
3:05
fun color you can use a case and it's a
3:09
fair point that only nitpicky weirdos
3:11
like me use their phone without a case
3:14
my Counterpoint is that most of Apple's
3:17
case options aren't very fun either sure
3:21
fuchsia and winter blue are two solid
3:24
options but the other three are black
3:27
and white again and Lake green which is
3:31
about as exciting as Pond scum the case
3:35
itself is really nice it feels soft in
3:37
the hand the buttons are a slightly more
3:40
rubbery material and stick out
3:42
prominently so they're easy to find and
3:44
click in Prior Apple silicone cases
3:47
added a significant amount of tackiness
3:50
that made it hard to pull out of tight
3:51
jeans without taking the pocket liner
3:54
out with it Apple refined the material
3:57
so that doesn't seem like a problem
3:58
anymore because the iPhone 16e camera is
4:01
so small and thin the case doesn't need
4:05
a lip on the back it sits perfectly flat
4:08
it does still have a lip around the
4:10
front display so you can toss it down on
4:12
a table without worry and the cutout for
4:15
the USBC Port is large enough to fit
4:17
even my thickest Thunderbolt cable if I
4:20
were to own an iPhone 16e however I
4:23
wouldn't use the Apple silicone case I
4:26
would look for a case with a built-in
4:29
unofficial magsafe ring the lack of
4:32
magsafe is the iPhone 16 E's weirdest
4:35
missing feature I would love to know
4:37
what the engineering trade-off was the
4:39
magnets themselves aren't very big and
4:43
aren't very expensive otherwise there
4:45
wouldn't be so many third-party cases
4:48
that have built-in mag safe nor so many
4:52
thirdparty magsafe stickers on Amazon
4:56
browsing through the first two pages of
4:58
results the the most expensive one I
5:01
could find cost
5:03
$14 not everyone uses mag safe but once
5:07
you're in you're in I have a MAG safe
5:11
3in1 charger on my nightstand another in
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my office a car charger clipped to my
5:16
dashboard the Apple wallet a battery
5:19
pack for traveling a tripod mount and a
5:23
handheld camera mount all with mag safe
5:27
given the aformentioned mag safe sticker
5:30
it's easy to DIY a solution yourself and
5:33
given time there will probably be plenty
5:35
of cases that are mag safe compatible or
5:39
some other legal weasel word I
5:41
personally tried attaching a combination
5:44
mag safe ring slst SL popsocket and I
5:48
can confirm that if you line it up
5:49
properly the 16e will then work with all
5:53
my mag safe accessories granted because
5:56
this isn't official mag safe it's more
5:58
like using a Wireless CH charger that
6:01
just so happens to align itself
6:04
perfectly using magnets it doesn't have
6:06
the extra mag safe features so it can't
6:09
detect what kind of device you're
6:11
attaching be it a wallet or a charger or
6:15
a battery it also doesn't charge as fast
6:18
it's capped at 7.5 Watts rather than the
6:21
full 25 watts the iPhone 16e is the
6:24
first iPhone to get the Apple C1 chip
6:27
for its 4G and 5G cellular connectivity
6:31
satellite communication and GPS when
6:33
Apple switched the Mac from Intel
6:36
processors to Apple silicon chips the
6:38
benefits were gigantic and immediate
6:42
performance and battery life
6:44
skyrocketed of course by 2020 Apple had
6:47
been designing its own custom chips for
6:49
over 10 years by that point Apple
6:52
silicon was mature by the time it came
6:54
to the Mac whereas Intel had been losing
6:58
its competitive advantage
7:00
over the same time period the C1 chip is
7:02
getting a more modest introduction
7:05
Qualcomm makes the best cellular modems
7:07
in the world and still does Apple was
7:11
driven to develop the C1 due to its
7:13
contentious business relationship not
7:16
because Qualcomm was failing to deliver
7:18
the goods the C1 doesn't support 5G mm
7:22
wave The highspeed Cellular Connection
7:25
that's as fast as home Wi-Fi granted
7:29
very few few cell towers in the entire
7:31
world support 5G mm wave so unless you
7:35
live in a major metropolitan area you
7:38
may not ever notice other reviewers who
7:41
live in big cities have tested that the
7:43
C1 works exactly as expected and no news
7:47
is good news I have the opposite
7:50
situation I live in a very rural farm
7:53
town with a perpetually weak Cellular
7:55
Connection which is a different kind of
7:57
stress test and can confirm that the C1
8:02
still works exactly as expected pretty
8:04
much in line with my iPhone 16 Pro I did
8:07
speed tests at home sitting in my car
8:10
inside my garage and at the Polaris Mall
8:13
Apple store where I picked it up in all
8:15
three situations it performed basically
8:18
identically the C1 chip also handles the
8:21
iPhone's GPS signal walking around my
8:24
house with Apple Maps zoomed in all the
8:27
way with both phones in hand the iPhone
8:30
16e seems to perform just as well if not
8:33
slightly better than the iPhone 16 Pro
8:37
granted a GPS test and a dense urban
8:40
city street would probably be a better
8:42
stress test where the iPhone 16 Pros
8:44
dual band GPS would likely come out
8:47
ahead in reducing errors I was unable to
8:50
strand myself in the woods to test the
8:52
satellite connectivity but I performed
8:54
the satellite connection demo the iPhone
8:57
16e found a satellite noticeably faster
9:00
than the iPhone 16 Pro on a slightly
9:03
cloudy day no less the iPhone 16 e
9:06
single rear camera is effectively the
9:09
same main rear lens you get on an iPhone
9:12
16 it can take 24 megapixel images or 12
9:16
megap images sensor cropped to 2x Zoom
9:20
or you can enable the full 48 megapixels
9:23
in settings a vast majority of my photos
9:26
are in that 1 to 2x range I occasionally
9:29
use the ultrawide and telephoto lenses
9:32
while traveling but I don't think I
9:34
would be brokenhearted giving them up
9:36
for a phone that costs $400 less than
9:39
the iPhone 16 Pro the single lens is
9:42
remarkably capable you can record video
9:45
up to 4K 60 this is all the resolution
9:49
most people need to futureproof their
9:51
photos for many many years to come
9:54
videos taken with the 16e look fantastic
9:58
you'd have a hard time buying a
9:59
standalone camera for $5.99 that takes
10:03
better videos I was surprised that the
10:05
iPhone 16e comes with Apple's fancy new
10:08
audio mixing feature with noise
10:10
reduction and spatial audio the sound of
10:13
my feet crunching through the leaves
10:15
sounds almost overbearing but you can
10:18
lower it to a quiet background noise I'm
10:22
also surprised how much I miss the
10:24
camera control I've internalized that I
10:27
can squeeze the lower right corner
10:29
corner of my phone and instantly open
10:31
the camera no matter where I am on the
10:34
iPhone 16e I try to do that remind
10:37
myself that it doesn't do that take a
10:39
second to remember how to open the
10:41
camera swipe down the lock screen and
10:44
then swipe over I wish the iPhone 16e
10:46
had a basic open the camera button kind
10:49
of like the action button but in the
10:51
same
10:52
spot actually I wish that's what the
10:55
camera control was like on all the
10:57
phones so what else are you missing the
11:00
display is bright and clear but it's far
11:02
from Apple's best the iPhone 16e comes
11:05
with a notch instead of a dynamic Island
11:08
the display doesn't have always on which
11:11
I don't really miss I didn't use that
11:13
feature on my 16 Pro anyways it also
11:16
doesn't have promotion for super high
11:19
refresh rates up to 120 HZ and that
11:22
feature I miss most of all the iPhone
11:25
16e doesn't support the new photographic
11:28
styles with which can be edited after
11:30
the picture has been taken instead you
11:33
go through a setup where you choose how
11:35
to process all of your pictures going
11:37
forward with more color saturation or
11:40
with a specific tone and these changes
11:43
are baked into the picture because it
11:45
only has one rear lens you can't take 3D
11:48
spatial pictures and videos for use on
11:51
the Apple Vision Pro not that I imagine
11:54
there's much overlap between Vision Pro
11:56
owners and iPhone 16e owners ERS but
12:00
that is technically another missing
12:01
feature from its announcement I wasn't
12:04
expecting to love the iPhone 16e as much
12:07
as I do it's beautiful it feels
12:09
perfectly modern and great in the hand I
12:12
think this will be a great iPhone to
12:14
hold down the bottom of the lineup for
12:16
many years to come it's a shame Apple
12:19
couldn't bring down the price a little
12:20
more and left out mag safe but at least
12:23
the latter is easily remedied personally
12:26
I'm excited for Apple to apply the
12:27
learnings of the 16e
12:29
to its Pro phones aluminum is so much
12:33
lighter and feels nicer in the hand
12:35
stainless steel and titanium are and
12:38
always have been marketing gimmicks that
12:40
make the phone heavier and worse having
12:43
the camera way up in the corner makes
12:45
the phone so much easier to hold I'm not
12:49
in the market for a budget iPhone but
12:51
I'm glad that the people who are are
12:53
getting a great phone in the iPhone
12:56
16e I'm deeren Jones with Cult of Mac