As expected, Apple revealed its long-awaited iPhone SE refresh on Tuesday. The fourth generation device arrives three years after the last major update of budget-oriented smartphones. However, this arrives with a twist. SE Branding has been removed to arrange the devices more in the company’s flagship. The new iPhone 16E starts at $599 and will begin shipping on February 28th.
The topline feature is Apple Intelligence, the iPhone manufacturer’s answer to products such as Openai’s ChatGpt and Google’s Gemini. It features a small model that allows you to run your local device, providing text summary, writing text, and generating images.
16E is currently part of an exclusive group, along with the rest of the iPhone 16 line and iPhone 15 Pro, which can run Apple Intelligence. This is thanks to the addition of an A18 processor, the same as the in-house chip you’ll see on the rest of the flagship iPhone 16 line.
Like other iPhones with Apple Intelligence, the 16E can access ChatGPT via SIRI for free without an OpenAI account.
The new phone is the first to sport Apple C1, Apple’s own in-house modem. This addition comes as the company continues to reduce its dependence on chip makers like Qualcomm and Intel, and continues to support silicon specifically built for devices.
Shifting to a more updated design, the iPhone 16E discards the Touch ID Home button in favor of Face ID, while regaining the notch on the iPhone X’s camera. The company standardizes connectors across hardware devices, so the Lightning port also favors USB-C.
The phone has a 6.1-inch OLED display and “best battery life ever on a 6.1-inch iPhone” depending on Apple. This is from the 4.8-inch screen of the 3rd generation SE. This means that a small telephone follower has lost the real thing.
Apple points out that the device is charging up to 12 hours of life than its previous SES. The chip also features a 16-core neural engine for AI processing and a 4-core GPU. This is six, the 5-core graphics processor on the iPhone 16 and the 16 Pro.
There is one 48 megapixel camera with 2x zoom. The company places it as a “two-in-one” camera. This means that you can also take an image of 24 megapixel. On the front is Apple’s Truepth camera, which allows you to unlock your face.
New phones arrive at a critical time for Apple. The company’s market share recently fell 11% in one of the most consequential markets, China. Several things, such as the rise of Huawei and other domestic phone manufacturers, are coupled with the fact that Apple Intelligence is still not available in mainland China.
Apple reportedly had a conversation with Tencent and Bytedance to provide a localized version of generative AI offering to China. Recently, it has been revealed that the company is partnering with Alibaba as its local generator AI partner.
The original iPhone SE, launched in 2016, is Apple’s powerful seller in both China and India, respectively, with the number one and two smartphone markets, respectively. Unlike the annual flagship iPhone release, SE’s release schedule is irregular, with releases in 2020, 2022 and now in 2025. Art budget mobile phones should help companies regain lost ground in these markets.
Pre-orders for iPhone 16E will be open on Friday, February 21st. This device will begin shipping in just one week.
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