Apple iPhone 16e review

Apple iOS 18.3

All Apple iPhone 16 models come with the latest available Apple iOS 18 pre-installed. The 16e, in particular, arrives with the 18.3 version, which brings dark mode for third-party app icons, an improved flashlight interface, and better Apple Intelligence, where available.

While Apple tried to present this new iteration as one of the biggest redesigns, it doesn't feel that dramatic in day-to-day use. However, allowing for deep personalization options across the homescreens and interface does have the potential to make the UI rather unique and different, something which has been lacking on iOS through the years.

All iPhones will get at least five years of iOS updates, which has been the Apple way for a while.

You can check out our iOS 18 feature walkthrough for a deeper dive in what's new in this generation of the iPhone OS.

Connectivity

The iPhone 16e comes with a variety of network connectivity options depending on your region. In certain countries, Apple also offers satellite connectivity on the iPhone 16e for emergency pings outside of cell range and Roadside Assistance via satellite (subscription required).

Emergency SOS and Find My via satellite do still have some regional limitations, too.

The iPhone 16e is the first iPhone with Apple's own C1 modem. This should allegedly allow for two major improvements over Qualcomm's chip - enhanced battery life when using 5G networks and more responsive data handling in tough spots with congested networks, but we couldn't test the manufacturer's claims in this respect.

The iPhone 16e has a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 with LE support for local connectivity. NFC is on board for things like Apple Pay and Name Drop contact sharing.

The iPhone 16e does not support Apple Ultrawideband (UWB) chip.

The Type-C port on the iPhone 16e is backed up by a USB 2.0 data connection, which means a theoretical max transfer speed of 480 Mbps. You have to go with a Pro model for a faster USB connection.

Video output is supported, however. It uses the Display port DP (up to 4K) via Type-C Alt mode, which means that most standard Type-C hubs with a video interface should be able to get a video feed out of the phone. By default, you get a mirror of the display without any other fancy options like a dedicated desktop mode or anything of the sort. In other words, it does a simple screen mirror for the UI.

Performance, benchmarks, stress tests

The iPhone 16e, just like the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, runs on the Apple A18 chipset, which is three generations ahead of what the iPhone SE (2022) had - the A15. This is a second-gen 3nm chip that is both more powerful and more efficient.

The Apple A18 has a six-core processor with two performance cores working at 4.04GHz and four efficient cores clocked at 2.2GHz - same as on the iPhone 16.

But the GPU has a 4-core design, 1 core less than on the iPhone 16. It still supports improved hardware raytracing, among other novelties. The iPhone 16e comes with 8GB of RAM. Our iPhone 16e review unit has 128GB of fast onboard NVMe storage, but you can buy it with 256GB or 512GB as well.

Some games that were incompatible with older iPhone, even with the iPhone 15, are now compatible with the mainstream iPhones thanks to all the hardware upgrades - we are talking about Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Assassin's Creed: Mirage. Honor of Kings: World will be available soon with an ultra graphics mode optimized for iPhone 16. The GPU also has hardware-accelerated ray tracing for games like War Thunder Mobile.

And now, let's look at some benchmark scores!

The CPU test shows that the iPhone 16e has an equally powerful processor as the most recent iPhones, which is great. Same goes for its AI capabilities.

The graphics, as far as raw performance is concerned, are on par with the iPhone 14. But when raytracing gets involved, there is about 30% improvement over the iPhone 14. And let's not forget that the 16e supports all new games.

Finally, AnTuTu places the iPhone 16e between the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16, which sounds about right.

Apple has promised better heat dissipation for this generation of iPhones, 16e included, and thus - better sustained performance. The CPU scored 80% of stability, which is a great result. The GPU stability is 65%, which is not bad, but not as much as we hoped for.

APSI Bench • 3DMark Wild Life Extreme stress test

Overall, the iPhone 16e has a powerful chip, overqualified for its 60Hz screen if you will. Is this version coming from scrapped iPhone 16 chips? Possibly, but as far as it works, we don't think anyone should mind how exactly Apple is managing its productions.

While the iPhone offers superb processing and gaming experience, the 60Hz animations across iOS make it look like a slow phone, which it isn't.