Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., during the first day of in-store sales of Apple’s latest products at Apple’s Fifth Avenue store in New York, US, on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024.
Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Apple announced a new iPhone model on Wednesday that is priced lower than its main iPhone models, which usually come out in September.
The new iPhone is called iPhone 16e, and it will retail for $599 when it goes on sale later this month.
The new iPhone 16e doesn’t have a home button and fingerprint sensor, instead, it uses Apple’s FaceID scanner and modern design including a sensor notch at the top of the screen. It uses Apple’s A18 chip, which is also used in the main iPhone 16 models. The updated processor means that the iPhone 16e can run all the same apps and games that more expensive iPhones can run. It comes in black and white.
The phone also includes Apple’s first cellular modem, which it calls C1. iPhones have used Qualcomm modems for the past few years. It also has a single camera lens, versus as many as three on the most advanced iPhones.
Apple is releasing a new low-cost iPhone as sales have been mixed in recent quarters and Apple seeks growth for its most important product category. For the December quarter, Apple’s overall iPhone sales were down 1% on an annual basis. Apple still sold over $69 billion of phones in the period.
Low-end iPhones are important to Apple as it gets new customers into their ecosystem, and the new device supports Apple Intelligence, making it Apple’s least expensive new phone that can access features like image generation and notification summaries.
Apple’s current models are the iPhone 16, which starts at $799, and the iPhone 16 Pro, which starts at $999. Before Tuesday’s launch, only the iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 Pro models were the only phones with access to Apple Intelligence.
Apple has released a less-expensive iPhone model to round out the bottom of its lineup since 2016. The iPhone SE, as it was called then, got further updates in 2020 and 2022. Generally, the iPhone SE reuses an older design than the newest iPhones, but Apple updates its components such as its processor so it can receive ongoing software updates.
After the old iPhone SE sells out, there won’t be any new iPhones with a fingerprint scanner. It was also less expensive than the iPhone 16e at $429.
The launch also marks a new approach to Apple’s famous product launches, which garner media attention around the world. Previously, Apple would reveal new products live and on-stage, at a presentation on its campus in California. In 2020, Apple stopped inviting people to live launches and started screening marketing videos on its website and YouTube instead.
In recent years, Apple has started to quietly release new products through press releases, such as the new Macs it announced last September. It may be testing how much buzz it can get for one of these quieter launches. Last week, ahead of Wednesday’s launch, Apple CEO Tim Cook posted a message on social media: “Get ready to meet the newest member of the family.”