After five years with the iPhone SE, there’s a new “budget” iPhone at the Apple Store today, the iPhone 16e. Not only did Apple completely shake up the low end of its lineup, it also bid farewell to several things that once defined the iPhone. Here are five things Apple killed now that the iPhone 16e is here:
Lightning port
Entering 2025, Apple sold three devices with Lightning ports—the iPhone SE, the iPhone 14/14 Plus, and the PowerBeats Pro. With the launch of the iPhone 16E, Apple now sells none. The only evidence that it ever existed is the 1st-gen Apple Pencil and its Lightning connector.
Home button
Since we met the Home button in 2007, Apple has sold at least one product with one. The last remaining device was the iPhone SE, and now that it’s gone, we can officially retire the Home button for good. It served us well and earned its spot in the annals of Apple’s history alongside the Click Wheel and mouse.
Qualcomm modems
Six years after Apple made a splash by scooping up the majority of Intel’s smartphone modem business for a cool $1 billion, it has something to show for its purchase: the C1 modem. Apple describes it as “the most power-efficient modem ever on an iPhone, delivering fast and reliable 5G cellular connectivity… (with) extraordinary battery life.” Like the previous SE, it doesn’t support the faster mmWave connections, but buyers should care more about the insane 26-hour battery life.
The C1 may be exclusive to the iPhone 16e for now, but Qualcomm modems are not long for the Apple world. We might see the C1 appear in some of the iPhone 17 models, the cellular versions of the upcoming iPad updates and maybe even the Apple Watch Series 11. So take note Qualcomm, the clock is ticking.
Old iPhones
The most surprising thing about the iPhone 16e is that it isn’t just an iPhone SE replacement—it’s also an iPhone 14 replacement. If you walk into the Apple Store today you’ll find just one older model, the iPhone 15. Ever since the iPhone 6, Apple has sold two generations of iPhone models with $100 and $200 discounts off the original MSRP. Now Apple now sells just one older iPhone generation, and we expect that to be the model going forward. Even if Apple cuts the price of the 16e next year when the iPhone 17e arrives, you still won’t be able to buy a two-year-old iPhone anymore.
The 12-month wait for a new iPhone
For as long as the iPhone has been in existence, there has been a new model every 12 months. There have been exceptions—the Verizon iPhone 4s, the iPhone SE, the occasional new color–but for the most part, we’ve always waited a year to get a new iPhone release. For the first time, that’s no longer the case. By naming the new iPhone 16e, it implies there will be a 17e, 18e, 19e, etc., which we assume will arrive each February or March, cutting the wait for new models in half.
