Apple shipped iPhone 16e One Year Ago Today

What’s Happening

So get this: One year ago today, Apple shipped the iPhone 16e, a new entry-level model that brought Apple Intelligence support and a modern design to the company’s most affordable iPhone.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple just dropped the iPhone 16e on February 19, 2025 in a press release, positioning the device as a new member of the iPhone 16 lineup rather than as a continuation of the iPhone SE branding that had before represented Apple’s lowes Apple shipped iPhone 16e One Year Ago Today Saturday 8:00 am PST by Hartley Charlton One year ago today, Apple shipped the iPhone 16e , a new entry-level model that brought Apple Intelligence support and a modern design to the company’s most affordable iPhone . (wild, right?)

To the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

The Details

Apple just dropped the iPhone 16e on in a press release, positioning the device as a new member of the iPhone 16 lineup rather than as a continuation of the iPhone SE branding that had before represented Apple’s lowest-cost iPhone . Pre-orders opened shortly after the announcement and the device shipped the following week.

The iPhone 16e adopted the same general design of the iPhone 13, but with a single rear camera, frosted back glass, and a USB-C port. 1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with HDR, True Tone, and wide color.

Why This Matters

The display features a “notch” for the TrueDepth camera system rather than the Dynamic Island found on the other iPhone 16 models. Apple offers the iPhone 16e in black and white finishes only. The iPhone 16e is powered by the A18 chip with a six-core CPU, a four-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine.

Tech companies have been making moves like this as competition heats up.

Key Takeaways

• Apple highlighted that the A18 made the iPhone 16e capable of supporting Apple Intelligence .
• The iPhone 16e includes a 48-megapixel Fusion camera, which allows what Apple describes as optical-quality 2x zoom through sensor cropping.
• The front-facing TrueDepth camera is 12 megapixels and supports Face ID for authentication.
• The iPhone 16e was also significant for being the first device to include an Apple-designed modem in the form of the C1 chip.

The Bottom Line

The device also notably lacks MagSafe connectivity. Apple is expected to announce its successor, iPhone 17e, next week at or around its special ” Apple Experience ” in New York, London, and Shanghai.

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