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Apple’s iPhone 16e is a bit of an oddball. It’s Apple’s “budget” model, but it’s 40% more expensive than the iPhone SE it replaces. It’s called the iPhone 16, but a lot of the hardware features are carried over from the previous generation. Still, it’s the cheapest iPhone in Apple’s lineup, which is remarkable. Plus, it comes with a new modem.
But there may be a better option that will not only save you money and get you a great, newest iPhone, but also avoid the huge environmental costs of manufacturing and shipping brand new phones around the world.
Today, we’re going to compare the new iPhone 16e to refurbished models (you can consider Apple’s own certified refurbished models and refurbished iPhones from Back Market) to see what you gain and what you lose.
Cheap iPhone
The iPhone SE looks similar to the iPhone 14, with the same notch screen (no dynamic island effect), the same full-screen design without a Home button, and the same slim bezels. However, if you look at the back, you’ll find that the 16e has only one camera, while the 14 uses a dual camera. This means you lose the 0.5x ultra-wide-angle lens, but in exchange you get the current 48-megapixel sensor and its 2x pixel binning mode, which cuts out a rectangular area from the center of the sensor to simulate a telephoto lens.
While the 16e may look like the iPhone 14, it’s fairer to compare it to the iPhone 16 because a) it uses the same A18 chip and b) its name puts it in the iPhone 16 series.
The differences are as follows: the 16e has an action button but no touch camera control. It doesn’t have MagSafe magnetic charging, and the screen refresh rate is only 60 Hz, which is slightly sluggish compared to its competitors. In addition, it also has one less GPU core than the regular version of the 16.
But the biggest difference between the iPhone 16e and previous iPhones is that it uses Apple’s brand new C1 modem chip instead of Qualcomm’s. Apple will almost certainly test this on the cheaper models first, rather than risk any glitches with the first-generation chip in its mainstream money-making machine. Apple says the advantage is its energy efficiency, which seems to be borne out by the 16e’s 26 hours of video playback time compared to 22 hours for the 16. The downside is that this is Apple’s first self-designed modem. It may be good, but who knows.
limit
One downside to the SE and newer e models is that you have limited options — black and white are the only colors, for example — while refurbished models may come with some or all of the options available when you buy new. On the other hand, refurbished options are constantly changing, depending on what’s available. At the time of writing, Apple-certified refurbished models in US stores start at $529 for a 128 GB iPhone 14. With it, you get MagSafe charging, a 0.5x ultra-wide-angle camera, and the same 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display. From Back Market, iPhones start at just $60 if you want an older iPhone 7 — or $316 if you only want an iPhone 14 and newer.
The iPhone 14 does away with the USB-C port, which could be a plus if you already have a lot of Lightning cables. It can’t run Apple Intelligence, which could also be a plus if you care about the environment and the ethical issues that your LLM fosters.
The 16e costs $599 and is available in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB capacities.
RAM Advantages
One big advantage the new e has over older refurbished models is RAM. As Apple pushes LLM features on its Apple Intelligence platform, it has had to revisit its policy of shipping all its products with too little base RAM for years. Even if you’re not interested in AI, that RAM lets Safari keep pages in memory longer before discarding them, and lets you run more apps and switch between them without being run over by iOS.
The 16e has 8GB of RAM, like the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro. Depending on the model, refurbished models may have less. The iPhone 15 Pro has the same 8GB of RAM, but the regular 15 and earlier have only 6GB. More RAM is better, especially if it can’t be upgraded. If you want to use Apple Intelligence, you’ll want to get as much RAM as you can.
Repairability
We won’t know how repairable the new iPhone 16e will be until we tear it apart, but we expect it to be, given the improvements Apple has made in recent years. Its rear glass should be removable without digging into the entire phone’s internals, and it’s expected to feature Apple’s new (iPhone 16-specific) electrically debonded battery adhesive, which you can “close” with an electrical current using our own USB-C-powered VoltClip. This avoids having to disassemble other components in order to use the usual adhesive release tabs.
If you’re opting for an older, used or refurbished model, though, repair is a given. Spare parts are plentiful, your local repair shop may have replaced hundreds of screens and batteries of your model, and you may be able to swap in parts salvaged from a broken phone (depending on whether Apple has locked those parts through parts matching). That’s the essence of repairability.
The iPhone SE starts at $429, so its price is obvious, and if price is your only concern, this is the one to buy. Now that the iPhone 16e is firmly in Apple’s regular price range at $599, it’s not as good a deal. If I were buying a new iPhone, I’d go with a refurbished iPhone 14, perhaps bumping up the storage to 256GB for $619.
Refurbished phones are a great bargain. You get essentially a new phone, tested, with a brand new battery and casing, and a full warranty, for about 20% less than a new phone (Apple and Back Market offer similar warranty terms in the U.S.). If you want, you can also find older models that Apple no longer sells.
Or, in a bit of an Inception-style scenario, I might wait a while until a refurbished 16e becomes available. After all, I’m pretty happy with my mini iPhone from a few years ago, and it’s only just now getting its first battery. And even buying a refurbished phone is worse than not buying a new one.