iPhone 16e vs R16,000 Androids — The winner is clear

Apple’s recently launched iPhone 16e does not offer good value for money compared to its similarly priced sibling or Android rivals.

The iPhone 16e is positioned as a lower-end offering but is a far cry from what can be considered “budget” — not only in South Africa but also in Apple’s home market.

Its price tag of $599 in the US is $170 higher than the iPhone SE 2022, which was only $30 more expensive than the iPhone SE 2020.

The $170 difference makes the device 40% more expensive than its predecessor.

The generational price jumps are even greater in South Africa. At R15,999, the iPhone 16e is R6,200 — or 63% — more expensive than the iPhone SE 2022 64GB at launch in South Africa.

The model with equivalent 128GB storage started at R5,000 less, which makes its successor about 45% more expensive in South Africa.

AppleInsider and Macworld have called the pricing of the new device “disappointing.”

Although the iPhone 16e offers some pretty incredible hardware in the form of the A18 chip, as well as the latest Apple AI capabilities, it is not the value-oriented device that some had been hoping for.

For just R1,000 more than the iPhone 16e, the Apple faithful can buy the company’s 2023 iPhone 15 base model, which comes with some significant additional features.

At the time of publication, Amazon.co.za and Takealot listed the iPhone 15 for less than R17,000.

iStore Pre-Owned also had “Best” quality second-hand models priced at under R16,000, with warranties similar to when the phone is bought new.

The iPhone 16e lacks several features available on the iPhone 15, including:

• Ultrawide camera
• Macro photography
• Faster 15W wireless charging
• MagSafe
• Sensor-shift optical image stabilisation
• Cinematic mode
• Sport mode
• Higher maximum brightness
• Dynamic Island instead of a notch
• Ultra wide-band support
• One more GPU core

Stepping onto Android turf

The iPhone 16e’s hardware also makes for a difficult sell against similarly priced Android smartphones from major brands like Oppo, Honor, Samsung, and Xiaomi.

One area where it really falls short is in the display department.

Whereas Android manufacturers have offered high refresh rate displays across many of their mid-range devices for years, Apple reserves anything above 60Hz for its Pro models.

All four of the competing Android models had 120Hz refresh rates, while three had higher peak display brightness than the iPhone 16e.

All the competing models also had larger displays, with the options from Oppo, Honor, and Xiaomi around the same size as the iPhone Plus and Pro Max models.

The iPhone 16e also has just one lens to handle both wide and telephoto photography. Apple said the “fusion” camera can zoom with “optical quality.”

The camera experts at Digital Photography Review believe that this is just marketing speak.

“This is a rather grandiose way of saying that it crops in to use the central quarter of its sensor,” the publication explained.

“Even with the benefits of combining multiple images, using a significantly smaller sensor area will mean lower image quality than using the full chip.”

One component that is likely to give the competing Androids a run for their money is the iPhone 16e’s chip — the Apple A18 — which also features in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.

However, the benefits of such a powerful chip are limited when considering its other hardware. One area where it may prove useful is in battery life.

While it lacks fast wired and wireless charging capabilities, Apple said the iPhone 16e has the best battery life of any 6.1-inch iPhone, which includes all base flagship models since the iPhone 11.

Therefore, the iPhone 16e might be the device for those who don’t necessarily want the best capabilities but emphasise long useability between charges.

Some might also regard its Face ID biometric authentication as superior to under-display fingerprint readers, which are the most secure methods of authentication available on comparable Android devices.

Below are key specifications and images comparing the iPhone 16e with similarly-priced flagship and mid-range Android smartphones.

Apple iPhone 16e

Oppo Reno 12

Honor 200 Pro

Samsung Galaxy S24