iPhone 16e and the death of the cheap(est) iPhone

iPhone SE died. Long live....the C1 chip?

There are a lot of people already covering the latest release from Apple better than I ever could. To give a brief summary, the 16e is releasing at £599, which is £200 less than the 16 - the trade-offs are the camera, lack of Dynamic Island, weaker GPU, and lack of MagSafe (note that wireless charging is still present). There is also a wild card - a new Apple-made modem, the C1 chip.

Now that the SE (£429) is gone, the cheapest iPhone is not so cheap. The SE was a solid entry-level device that got a lot of new users in the Apple ecosystem and offered companies a decent iOS option to purchase for their employees for a low(ish) price. It was also excellent for developing and emerging markets, where the standard iPhone can often have a discouraging price of entry for the local wages. It was good for the EU market as well, where it acted as a well-priced introduction to Apple's hardware and services (iMessage, iCloud, Apple Music are not very popular outside of the US). I had hopes and dreams of getting my parents off WhatsApp with a cheap little SE, sometime when the "new" SE would have been released for what I thought would be the same price. I guess I won't buy my mom an iPhone...

This is a disappointing turn of events, but with the circumstances we find ourselves in, with US tariffs, inflation, considering they added features and improved the base specs - I can understand the change. What I hope will happen is that this will drop £100 around the release of 17 (September/October ’25) - and that will be when this phone will make a lot of sense for both companies and new users. 128GB with 8GB RAM and Apple build quality is a solid package for under £500. Oh yeah, I forgot about Apple Intelligence……

The C1 is really the big news here. I’m curious about performance and battery savings in real life. I know the changes won’t be as impactful as, say, the introduction of the M1 chip for Mac - but nevertheless, this may be a welcome addition in new products if it performs well. Vertical integration is one of Apple’s greatest strengths - and I hope they continue on this path.
iPhone 16e will come and go, but an Apple-made modem in all devices moving forward that incrementally improves each generation will likely be bringing a lot to the table.
Entering speculation territory, maybe Apple-made modems will be present in new watches, laptops, and other devices - improving performance and battery life. This may lead to decreasing the battery size to get a thinner device (please don’t, Apple), or it may lead to a standard/SE iWatch that can have a 2-day battery (please do, Apple). We know what is more likely to happen, but a man can dream.

I think the 16e will do well with companies. As an IT professional, I can see a scenario where an iPhone and a MacBook Air could be more cost-efficient than the Android+Microsoft world, pound for pound, especially if you are willing to use the iWork suite rather than Office.

Lastly, does the ‘e’ stand for Essential? Enterprise? A lack of magsafE?