Unlike my hero Anton Ego , I get very niggling pleasure from electronegative criticism . Slamming 2022’s10th - gen iPadfor its gamy toll , underwhelming bombardment animation , and lack of a laminated concealment hurt me , I ’m sure , more than it suffer Tim Cook . And I was delighted a year and a half later when it engender a $ 100 price cut and became , once again , the most recommendable model in the range .
It ’s with a sense of well-chosen optimism , then , that I presage that the iPhone 16e will keep up a likewise heartening flight . Right now , it does n’t make a whole fate of sensation . But give it a year …
At its launching last week , the iPhone 16e caused more than a fewgrumblingsin the tech heavens . Amid the rushing to AI - proof its integral lineup , Apple was forced ( or choose ) to drastically kick upstairs the price of entry into the world of the iPhone , with the cheapest model now costing $ 599 rather than $ 429 . Whether you think the 16e is a good mountain in isolation — and the single rearward camera and want of MagSafe do make me wonder — its effect on the ecosystem is certainly a negative one . Do we really need to see Apple abandon the budget market and turn its products into exclusive luxuries ?
The iPhone lineup will make a lot more sense next year.
In many way , however , this is a one - off problem . Apple want to replace the iPhone SE ( which had been banned in the EU , along with the iPhone 14 , because it does n’t have a USB - hundred larboard ) and need to fight Apple Intelligence , which meant the replacement model required an A18 processor and 8 GB of RAM . Every new equipment has to be capable of suffer Apple ’s AI platform , therefore everything is at least reasonably expensive . But Apple Intelligence is n’t probable to get more demanding in terms of hardware , at least not presently or suddenly . So this was an obstruction that had to be cleared this once , and thing will get easier from now on .
Next saltation we ’ll learn whether Apple has vary the beat of its SE / e phone launches . I imagine it has , and that we can look forward each natural spring to an vitamin E - branded version of whatever iPhones total out the late fall . But even if that does n’t happen , spring 2026 is roughly when we can start to think about the 16e bewilder a $ 100 damage cutting , and suddenly piss a lot more sense as both a one - off purchase and an entry period to the range . Round about then the iPhone 16e will have its 10th - gen iPad present moment : its faults will of a sudden seem less of a headache , its strengths more persuasive than ever .
A short-term problem
Once theiPhone 17generation arrives in late 2025 , things will part to shift back to some kind of normalcy . There will be more phones on sale at the same time , which will countenance Apple to start repopulating the middle and lower end of the range . Do n’t expect the 16e to get a monetary value cutting that soon , but there ’s a decent chance the iPhone 15 , which is reallynot very appealingat the minute , will drop to the low - toll slot , at least temporarily .
The iPhone 16 Pro will most likely disappear , the 16 and 16 Plus should get Mary Leontyne Price cuts , and four shiny novel 17 - series iPhones will seem at the top ( not reckon the iPhone 17 Air , which is its own thing ) . The lineup could attend something like this :
That ’s already more lucid than we ’ve sire at the moment : a mountain range from which someone has unceremoniously lopped off ( and refused decent to interchange ) the two cheapest phones . But it ’ll get just still in 2026 .
The iPhone lineup will make a lot more sense next year.
The iPhone batting order will make a lot more sense next class .
IDG
Apple needs its Modern iPhones to be AI - ready now , even if I object to Apple Intelligence being the priority , rather than the indigence of customers . But in the long campaign , client might terminate up benefiting too . In 2026 , that level of processing baron will be more of a necessity . And AI ? We humans should cross our fingers that this is n’t the case , but AI just might have rise to the level of ubiquitousness its cheerleaders currently call .
Even beyond AI , part of my current skepticism about the 16e stems from its oddly cockeyed feature set , a blending of an older blueprint and specs with state - of - the - art processing . The iPhone 16e is like that not because Apple think it was the best combination of features for users but because it correspond with the Apple Intelligence rollout strategy . But one positive side effect of this thinking is that the 16e is surprisingly well future - proofed for a non - flagship smartphone .
