Apple unveils iPhone 16e with A18 silicon aimed at mid-range smartphone market

Apple iPhone 16e is being assembled in India. It will be available for pre-order from February 21 and is slated to hit stores next week in India.

Apple on Wednesday (February 19) launched the new iPhone 16 series variant iPhone 16e in Cupertino, California.

It is the successor of the iPhone SE 3rd Gen (review). It comes with several big upgrades in terms of the build quality, display size, processor, camera and more.

Rumours were right about the iPhone 16e's design language. It features flat curved frame around the edges and a big 6.1-inch display with a notch at the top. The latter houses a FaceTime HD camera and FaceID biometric security sensors, which replace the TouchID fingerprint sensor in its predecessor.

Several of its components are made of repurposed materials. It has 30 per cent recycled content overall, including 100 per cent recycled cobalt and 95 per cent recycled lithium in the battery, 85 percent recycled aluminum in the enclosure.

It also boasts of action button, which can be programmed to launch user's favourite apps such as Shazam, switch between silent or ring modes, turn on/of torch, translate languages and do more.

It is powered by 26-core Apple A18 silicon. It houses 6-core CPU, 4-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine. It is optimised for large generative models and runs machine learning (ML) models up to 6x faster than A13 Bionic.

Also, with hardware-accelerated ray tracing, the device will be able deliver more realistic lighting and reflections while playing graphics-rich AAA games available on Apple Arcade and App Store.

It also supports several Apple Intelligence features such as Clean Up tool, Gemoji, smart writing tools, language translations, Visual Intelligence and more.

The new iPhone 16e series.

Apple iPhone 16e is the company's first device to boast C1, propreitary modem designed by Apple. It touted as the most power-efficient modem ever on an iPhone. It promises to deliver fast and reliable 5G cellular connectivity. Apple silicon — including C1 — the all-new internal design, and the advanced power management of iOS 18 all contribute to longer battery life.

Besides the big display, the iPhone 16e comes with a larger battery capacity. It can deliver up to 12 hours longer than all generations of iPhone SE.

The new iPhone 16e series.

Other notable improvements include wireless charging and USB-C port wired charging and for easy connection to a wide range of accessories.

The new iPhone 16e comes with 2-in-1 48MP Fusion camera. It can capture super-high-resolution photos. It supports 2x Telephoto to zoom in with optical quality to get closer to the subject and easily frame their shot.

On the front, it houses 12MP TrueDepth camera for FaceTime calling and selfies.

The iPhone 16e also supports communication via satellite to seek emergency help when there is no cellular network or Wi-Fi service nearby. It can help with road-side assistant. This service is available in select regions including US, Canada and Europe.

It boasts of Crash Detection feature. It can detect a severe car crash and automatically dial emergency services if the user is unconscious or unable to reach their iPhone.

Apple has confirmed that the latest iPhone 16e is being assembled in India for Indian consumers and for export to select countries. 

Apple iPhone 16e will be up for pre-order from February 21 and is slated to hit stores next week on February 28.

Apple iPhone 16s comes in two colours--black and white. It is available in three storages-- 128GB, 256GB and 512GB-- for Rs 59,900, Rs 69,900 and Rs 89,900 in India.

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