Apple Aims to Reach More Customers With Lower-Cost iPhone 16e

Apple debuted its lower-cost smartphone, the iPhone 16e, Wednesday (Feb. 19), saying the product’s price starts at $599.

“We’re so excited for iPhone 16e to complete the lineup as a powerful, more affordable option to bring the iPhone experience to even more people,” Kaiann Drance, vice president of worldwide iPhone product marketing at Apple, said in a Wednesday press release.

The new model joins a smartphone lineup that includes the iPhone 15 starting at $699, the iPhone 16 starting at $799 and the iPhone 16 Pro starting at $999, according to the Apple website.

The iPhone 16e is “built for Apple Intelligence,” the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) offering, according to the release.

The smartphone also offers Apple’s A18 chip, the Apple C1 cellular modem, a 48MP Fusion camera system and a 6.1-inch display, the release said.

The Big Tech firm will accept pre-orders for the iPhone 16e in 59 countries and regions beginning Friday (Feb. 21) and will make the phone available beginning Feb. 28, per the release.

The new smartphone will cost $170 more than the iPhone SE that it replaces, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

It also marks the biggest change in the history of the low-end iPhones that were introduced in 2016 and have not been updated in nearly three years, according to the report.

The company reported in January that during the fourth quarter — the first quarter in which it offered the iPhone 16 and Apple Intelligence — the iPhone 16 models performed stronger in markets where the AI features were available.

Apple reported a record number of iPhone upgraders during the quarter, with the iPhone 16 family outperforming the iPhone 15 family since launch. During a January earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook attributed this trend to a strong desire among existing customers to adopt the latest technology, with Apple Intelligence being a key factor.

The company’s installed base of active devices reached a record high of 2.35 billion during the quarter.

When Apple unveiled Apple Intelligence in September, it said the suite of AI-powered features integrates deeply into the company’s ecosystem, leveraging the technology to perform tasks ranging from text refinement to image manipulation, all while prioritizing user privacy.