This week saw Apple introduce the newest member of the iPhone 16 family, the iPhone 16e, as a new low-cost option to replace the iPhone SE. The iPhone 16e delivers a number of key improvements as well as Apple's first custom cellular modem.
Apple also began seeding the first beta versions of its next round of operating systems, and there are a number of tweaks and improvements in iOS 18.4 while visionOS 2.4 will bring Apple Intelligence to the Vision Pro headset, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more!
Apple Announces iPhone 16e With A18 Chip and Apple Intelligence, Pricing Starts at $599
As expected, Apple this week introduced a successor to the third-generation iPhone SE, and it arrived with a name change: iPhone 16e.
The iPhone 16e features a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, up from a 4.7-inch LCD on the iPhone SE. The display has a notch for Face ID, completing Apple's move away from the Touch ID fingerprint button on its iPhone lineup.
The iPhone 16e is powered by an A18 chip, enabling support for Apple Intelligence features, such as notification summaries and Genmoji for creating custom emoji. In the iPhone 16e, the A18 chip has a 6-core CPU and a 16-core Neural Engine, but a binned 4-core GPU. The A18 chip in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus has a 5-core GPU.
Apple Unveils 'C1' as First Custom Cellular Modem
One notable feature of the iPhone 16e is the inclusion of Apple's first custom cellular modem, dubbed C1. Apple says it's the most power-efficient modem ever in an iPhone, helping the iPhone 16e to achieve the longest battery life ever in a 6.1-inch iPhone.
While the C1 is the culmination of seven years of work for Apple, it's also just the first in a family of chips that will see Apple iterate and improve upon the C1. In fact, a C2 modem chip is reportedly already in testing.
iPhone 16e vs. iPhone 16 Buyer's Guide: 25+ Differences Compared
While the iPhone 16e starting at $599 is considerably more expensive than the iPhone SE it's replacing, it's still $200 cheaper than the iPhone 16.
For those weighing whether to purchase an iPhone 16e or an iPhone 16, we've put together a buyer's guide highlighting the over 25 differences between the models to help you decide.
Everything New in iOS 18.4 Beta 1
Apple this week finally released the first beta of iOS 18.4 to developers for testing purposes, and while the beta is lacking some of the Apple Intelligence features we were hoping for, there are some notable new additions.
Priority Notifications powered by Apple Intelligence, the addition of the Sketch style to Image Playground, numerous new languages for Apple Intelligence, and Ambient Music functionality built into Control Center, and more are included in iOS 18.4 so far.
Apple Releases First visionOS 2.4 Beta With Apple Intelligence, Spatial Gallery and More
Apple Intelligence is coming to the Vision Pro with visionOS 2.4. Supported Apple Intelligence features include Writing Tools for generating, proofreading, and summarizing text, Genmoji for creating custom emoji characters, an Image Playground app for generating images, Memory Movie for creating custom slideshows, smart reply for generating quick responses to texts and emails, Priority Notifications and Notification Summaries, ChatGPT Siri integration and new Siri features, and Image Wand for adding images to the Notes app, complete with gesture support.
There's also a dedicated Spatial Gallery app coming to the Vision Pro, which will include a curated selection of spatial videos, spatial photos, and panorama images from artists, filmmakers, and photographers. A new Vision Pro app for iPhone will also allow users to get Vision Pro support and feature help, download apps to the Vision Pro, add content to a watch list, and get device info like serial number. The app can also be used to manage Guest Mode on Vision Pro.
Apple Discontinues iPhone 14 and 14 Plus
While it's unsurprising that Apple discontinued the iPhone SE alongside the introduction of the iPhone 16e, Apple also discontinued the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, simplifying the overall lineup.
The discontinuation makes sense considering the pricing on the iPhone 16e and the fact that the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus would have been the only models in the lineup to still be using Lightning rather than USB-C.
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