The iPhone 16e was supposed to be a mid-segment hit, but it’s barely remembered anymore

Not long ago, Apple was promoting the iPhone 16e as the premier affordable smartphone with Apple Intelligence – “intelligence in your pocket.” It didn’t arrive in 2024, but already this year, just after the Galaxy S25 series. Yet today it feels like the device has fallen out of history.

How the iPhone 16e ended up forgotten

The iPhone 16e wasn’t originally designed to be a flashy or iconic device. Its purpose was to be a low-cost way to introduce Apple Intelligence to a mass audience. But since the launch of the major AI features didn’t happen, the smartphone is in limbo: a device designed for a strategy that’s effectively stalled.

What Apple was planning

Apple initially built Apple Intelligence as a cloud-based system using Private Cloud Compute, an encrypted exchange of data between a smartphone and Apple’s cloud-based supercomputer. This required an A17-level chip or newer with a high-performance Neural Engine.

To expand the audience for AI features, the company decided to revamp its “entry” lineup. So the familiar iPhone SE series disappeared, and the iPhone 16e – with a new A18 processor and more memory – took its place. At the time, it seemed like one of the rare pleasant consequences of Apple’s shift to an AI strategy.

Update Disruption and Change of Course

Apple has been making serious announcements about the launch of Apple Intelligence, but the updates have been repeatedly delayed and the patches that have come out have been far more modest than promised. The major release, which was supposed to completely revamp Siri and add practical AI features instead of the not-so-useful “smart” notifications, was supposed to come in March 2025 – just as the iPhone 16e began to take a steady place on store shelves.

Apple Intelligence was supposed to be released in March 2025, just as the iPhone 16e was beginning to take a stable place on store shelves.

Organizational difficulties and the lack of a unified plan for Apple Intelligence have been hotly debated behind the scenes, but there’s no official confirmation. The fact remains that the company boldly renamed its AI direction Apple Intelligence, but the launch was a failure, and the iPhone 16e was a device stuck between old expectations and new reality.