With iPhone 16e, Has Apple Ditched iPhone SE's Affordability Forever?
The iPhone 16e costs $200 less than the iPhone 16—which has a starting price point of $799—but it is also $170 more than the $429 entry-level iPhone SE it just muscled off the cliff.
In its first launch of the year, Apple has surprised everyone! Yes, not just the fans, but maybe tech insiders and experts too, who were expecting a “budget” smartphone priced around $499 from the Apple stable in line with its SE range.
Instead, they got the iPhone 16e, starting at a mind-boggling $599 (Rs 59,900).
Sure, the iPhone 16e costs $200 less than the iPhone 16—which has a starting price point of $799—but it is also $170 more than the $429 entry-level iPhone SE it just muscled off the cliff.
iPhone 16e: Massive Upgrade, But At A Price
The iPhone 16e—without doubt—is a massive upgrade from the 2022 iPhone SE, and boasts features akin to those of Apple’s flagships. The A18 Bionic chip, 6.1-inch OLED screen, 48MP Fusion camera, Apple’s proprietary C1 modem, Face ID, USB-C support, and Apple Intelligence are just a few of the standout technologies that are packed in the iPhone 16e.
At the same time, it is a cut-back from the flagships too, missing features such as MagSafe, Dynamic Island, an ultrawide camera and camera tech, with compromises on display, GPU core and connectivity.
Apple is touting iPhone 16e to be the most affordable way to enjoy Apple Intelligence, but that has been no fun either, with feature rollbacks, Siri’s AI overhaul facing bugs, and other problems plaguing Apple Intelligence.
Which begets the question: Is the $599 price justified for the “affordable member of the iPhone 16 family?”
Forget fans, experts would’ve been taken aback too. Even famous tech insider Mark Gurman of Bloomberg had long claimed that Apple would likely keep the phone’s pricing below $500, but that was not to be.
Why Is The iPhone SE Dead?
While the iPhone 16e moniker was aimed to bring the SE range in line with the iPhone 16 lineup—and Apple has done just that—the Cupertino major seems to have ditched the iPhone SE’s affordability in favour of a more-premium-but-costly yet lesser-than-flagship-price device.
Remember, the affordable SE was a device within reach of everyone from college crowds to young executives to those who simply wanted to be part of the Apple ecosystem. The iPhone 16e price tag might just change that.
Yet, analysts indicate that Apple could still benefit from the 16e in price-sensitive markets. Gurman also noted that Apple is “aiming to revive growth after a sluggish holiday season.”
Notably, last quarter saw a decline in Apple phone sales. Also, over the past decade, sales of the low-cost SE have fallen precipitously. According to Counterpoint Research, the SE’s sales as a percentage of overall iPhone revenue fell from 10% when it was first introduced in 2016 to roughly 1% last year.
While Apple may be hoping for a grand revival with the launch, midafternoon trading saw very little change in its stock price. Apple will sure hope—market reaction notwithstanding—its fans are more enthusiastic for the iPhone 16e!
