Apple launched on Wednesday (Feb 19) a budget-minded cellphone with synthetic intelligence, the iPhone 16e, designed to win again mid-market clients at residence and in essential progress markets China and India.
The brand new cellphone, which drops the SE naming conference for Apple’s price range collection, will tackle well-liked Android smartphones at a time when rivals Samsung and China’s Huawei are including AI instruments to their units.
Gross sales of Apple telephones dropped final quarter, and gross sales of its price range line of telephones have plummeted as a proportion of iPhone income over the past decade.
The 16e will begin at US$599 (at S$949 in Singapore), a US$170 increase from the earlier entry stage cellphone, the SE, though its options are nearer to Apple’s flagships and embody a robust chip to run Apple Intelligence, a set of options with entry to ChatGPT.
Apart from having no wide-angle digicam lens, one lacking button and a barely completely different show, the 16e seems very similar to its pricier siblings.
It is going to be accessible in white and black variants, in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage capacities.
The iPhone 16e might be accessible for pre-order in 59 international locations from Feb 21 (from 9pm in Singapore), with shipments ranging from Feb 28.
Apple inventory was barely modified in midafternoon commerce. Late final month, Apple forecast sturdy gross sales progress, signaling iPhone gross sales would get better from a dip because it rolls out synthetic intelligence options to extra areas and languages. Analysts have cautioned that the roll-out is sluggish and Apple has not but introduced a knowledge companion in China for the AI options.
“We have seen a restricted urge for food amongst lots of the put in base to improve from earlier variations, however the brand new cellphone reduces the associated fee hurdle of becoming a member of the Apple Intelligence bandwagon,” mentioned Forrester principal analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee.
Gross sales of SE mannequin as a share of complete income for iPhones has dropped from 10 per cent at its introduction in 2016 to about 1 per cent final 12 months, in line with Counterpoint Analysis.
The 16e will doubtless assist Apple in cost-sensitive markets reminiscent of Europe and China the place patrons are inclined to pay for telephones upfront, mentioned Ben Bajarin, principal analyst at consulting agency Artistic Methods.
The iPhone 16e might be powered by the A18 chip utilized in costlier fashions launched in September 2024 and can help Apple Intelligence out of the field.
It is going to be about US$200 cheaper than the most cost effective model of iPhone 16 launched in September and might be accessible solely in black and white colours, whereas the costlier iPhone 16 fashions are available a slew of vibrant shades.
The 16e can even be the primary machine from Apple to characteristic the C1 chip, its first in-house modem designed for mobile connectivity and a shift from chips made by Qualcomm.
NO WIDE-ANGLE LENS
Its digicam system could have a 48-megapixel sensor and two lenses, one in all which might be a two occasions zoom lens built-in into the first digicam, however it’s going to miss out on a wide-angle lens seen in costlier fashions.
The 16e could have a notch on the high of its display for the front-facing digicam, whereas extra superior fashions have a display that surrounds the digicam.
It additionally leaves out a digicam management button that may tweak digicam settings and is obtainable on the primary iPhone 16 collection.
SE fashions have been recognized for his or her smaller display measurement, however the 16e comes with a 6.1 inch show, the identical because the least costly iPhone 16 mannequin.
This 12 months’s much-anticipated replace brings a change to its slab-design, nixing the SE’s bodily residence button and introducing Apple’s Face ID characteristic.
The SE mannequin can be the final amongst iPhones to undertake the USB Sort-C port for charging, forsaking Apple’s proprietary Lightning connector and letting it return to the European Union market.
Apple had discontinued the third-generation SE mannequin and iPhone 14 within the EU because the merchandise didn’t conform with native legal guidelines requiring USB Sort-C charging customary.
