The iPhone 16e has been out for a few weeks now, and now that the dust is settling around Apple’s new cheaper handset, it feels like a good time to reflect on how our expectations for this new iPhone matched up to the real-life product.
After all, we here at TechRadar were more than excited for the release of Apple’s latest budget-conscious handset, which we previously expected would be called the iPhone SE 4.
However, sitting with that excitement was also a touch of worry about a potential price hike – and when the iPhone 16e was revealed on February 19, those fears were unfortunately realized – now, a new survey suggests the general phone-buying public were thinking on similar lines.
Before the iPhone 16e launched, I wrote that I didn’t think it would be worth buying at a price higher than $500 / £500 / AU$800 – which was the absolute most I thought the phone would cost.
The iPhone 16e costs $599 / £599 / AU$999 for the base model with 128GB of storage – up from $429 / £429 / AU$719 for the third-generation iPhone SE, launched in 2022.
However, a new survey of more than 3,500 Apple users by pre-owned phone marketplace SellCell has me feeling vindicated. The data gathered suggests that more than 9 in 10 people think that the iPhone 16e is too expensive for a “budget” phone.
That’s a heck of a statistic, but keep in mind that the iPhone 16e is also referred to – including by TechRadar – as a mid-range phone. The term “budget” is a bit nebulous and can either refer to cheap phones or phones designed for more budget-conscious buyers looking to avoid the high price of flagship phones.
However, the survey does serve up an unmitigated blow by suggesting that more than 7 in 10 Apple users are “unimpressed” with the iPhone 16e – despite Apple equipping the phone with the A18 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and the full Apple Intelligence toolkit.
An almost equal proportion – 72.7% of people surveyed – would rather see the iPhone 16e listed at $500 than its current price.
As our full iPhone 16e review details, Apple’s latest handset is a bit of an oddball. It’s a fair bit cheaper than the mainline iPhone 16, which starts at $799 / £799 / AU$1,399, but is substantially more expensive than similar devices from other phone makers, like the Google Pixel 8a ($499 / £499 / AU$849) and Nothing Phone 3a Pro ($459 / £449 / AU$849).
The SellCell survey suggests that this higher price is proving too much to get over for customers – which I really do get, considering that the iPhone 16e’s single camera and notched, 60hz display already threaten to make it feel outdated. The survey also supports this, finding that more than half of users (52.6%) would not consider the iPhone 16e due to the lack of a second camera.
Other reasons to swerve the new handset included simply wanting the highest-end model possible (34%), and the controversial lack of MagSafe support (16.1%).
I’ll grant Apple the fact that the iPhone 16e and iPhone SE are, as their names suggest, technically two different product lines, but both serve (or served, in the case of the now discontinued SE) the same purpose as Apple’s cheapest directly available phone. In that context, a price increase of $170 / £170 / AU$280 in the span of just two years is remarkably steep.
And though this is just one survey with limited scope, it’s still good to know that even Apple’s existing user base knows when to turn down a bad deal – the iPhone 16e might be the most accessible way to get into the iOS ecosystem, but if you ask the me the regular iPhone 16 offers much better value for money.
That said, both appear on our list of the best iPhones, so neither will let you down for the day-to-day basics.
In any case, these are the thoughts of 3,500 Apple users – let us know what you think in the comments below.
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