back to article Apple dares users to fix 'budget' iPhone 16e themselves

Apple has launched a new budget iPhone. Rather than discussing specifications or the price hike, the real question is whether the company's latest and cheapest can be repaired. Terrors of the Torx screw iFixit tore Apple's iPhone 16e apart and found good news and bad. First, the bad news. Besides the price hike, which takes …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    USB-C

    This is mandatory in the EU. Doh. That's why they had to replace the iPhone SE.

    Since when has any Apple phone had magsafe? Come on now El Reg, give us the evidence.

    What an epic fail

    1. doublelayer Silver badge
      1. cyberdemon Silver badge
        Trollface

        Re: USB-C

        Oh, you mean the MagnetronSafe wireless charging standard! Yes, you can put your Apple iPhone into any standard Microwave Oven and it will charge in only 2 minutes! Try it! It just works!

    2. IGotOut Silver badge

      Re: USB-C

      Wow the a/c troll are getting real lazy these days.

      1. Casca Silver badge

        Re: USB-C

        They are exhausted with defending maga and russia

        1. Strahd Ivarius Silver badge
          Coat

          Re: USB-C

          How can we become MAGA-safe?

  2. mostly average

    I would never

    Purchase a refurbished phone. It's too difficult to verify the integrity of the software. It's the one device I always get new and only from verified sources. I'm paranoid.

    Also poor, so that rules out fruity devices anyway, even refurbished ones.

    1. IGotOut Silver badge

      Re: I would never

      More fool you.

      I've been using 2nd hand phones for well over a decade, as have my kids and parents. Throw in a couple of iPads and all my PC's for close on 15 years.

      Never had any issues.

      But feel free to keep buying new, im going need a replacement for this 6 year old Huawei at some point.

    2. Grunchy Silver badge

      Re: I would never

      I only buy 2nd hand. Well, because the depreciation is ungodly severe! I still use the 64GB iPhone SE that I bought used for $100 in 2017.

      (New phones still don’t have FLIR. My $100 iPhone has FLIR. New phones don’t do anything new or different, or even as good as my old phone. Sorry, just stating the facts of the matter!)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re:I still use the 64GB iPhone SE

        I would be be using mine still (purchased far more recently) for work. But it hasn't bee usable with company portal for six months. Since I need two instances of company portal, I need two work devices the second is an iPod touch 7. These provided a very good solution to the 2 device requirement, same size (in cases) same UI same peripherals, and fine in pockets. Two modern Apples to do the same job are too expensive and far too big. So currently I have a Jelly Star and the iPod is still able to use Teams for the second company.

        Hopefully Microsoft will fix that limitation, before the iPod becomes unusable on Teams too.

    3. GNU Enjoyer
      Angel

      Re: I would never

      >It's too difficult to verify the integrity of the software.

      For demon rectangles, the software is totally compromised whether it's new or refurbished, as all of them run proprietary malware that spies on you and has backdoors.

      (Not many people go looking for these proprietary backdoors, but they have been found; https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/SamsungGalaxyBackdoor).

      If the devices ran free software, you could just format any storage mediums completely and install GnuPG verified free software onto it and know it's safe, but of course not.

  3. The Onymous Coward

    More minis please

    They will have to prise my iPhone 13 mini from my cold, dead hands.

    1. goblinski Bronze badge

      Re: More minis please

      As an English as a fourth languager and wrong-side Ponder I am delighted to learn a new word which sounds better than pry. Long live El Reg.

    2. Headley_Grange Silver badge

      Re: More minis please

      Me too. I bought a spare last year just in case mine gets nicked or lost. It's an Apple refurbished one - they still have them occasionally so if you need another it's worth keeping an eye on the Apple site.

  4. goblinski Bronze badge

    ...There's no MagSafe, a baffling omission that will irritate consumers using wireless charging...

    So wait - no MagSafe, or no MagSafe and no wireless charging ?

    One is fixable with a case which probably everybody and their brother will be releasing soon, the other is a no go on a $600 phone (unless it's a Sony but these guys are nuts anyway).

    1. Headley_Grange Silver badge

      No Magsafe, but it's got wireless charging - same as the 3rd gen SE. Limited to a lower max charge rate and less efficient (cos no magnetic alignment) but if you just leave the phone on the charger overnight it'll be OK.

  5. elsergiovolador Silver badge

    Compromised

    Why would you get an iPhone given they are compromised in the UK?

    Is it easy to bring your own encryption or "walled garden" stands in the way making the phone useless from security and privacy point of view?

    1. IGotOut Silver badge

      Re: Compromised

      So you'll use an Android?

      Okaaayyyy.

    2. Number 39

      Re: Compromised

      For personal use, I'd only get a device that I can install a privacy OS on. (Currently CalyxOS on a Pixel 6a and IodéOS on a Pixel 3).

      Work is a totally different situation, and I have a separate device.

    3. Lazlo Woodbine Silver badge

      Re: Compromised

      Alternatives for Apple encryption covered in an article on here last week...

      https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/24/apple_adp_replacements_e2ee/

  6. DrXym

    Well of course its hard to repair

    Apple you to buy a new phone, not fix or service an old one. This has always been their intention from the moment they sealed in the battery and every other dick move they've pulled since.

  7. IGotOut Silver badge

    I'm not sure....

    ...this is the phone people wanted.

    It's like saying hey, replace your three year old iPhone with a new one, that's not any better.

    Do the SE / mini and they'll sell a mountain of them

    1. Chz

      Re: I'm not sure....

      "Do the SE / mini and they'll sell a mountain of them"

      It's a common opinion, but the actual fact is that both the SE and the Mini are poor sellers - the discounted previous year's iPhone usually sells much better than them.

      You could argue that this has a lot to do with Apple's pricing model rather than the devices, but that's just how Apple is and they're not going to change.

  8. User McUser
    Childcatcher

    Home Button

    *I* want a home button - I hate not having a hardware method of switching out of an app. Touch screens are the devil; half the time I can't get them to do what I want because the device can't know my intent (or, apparently, where my finger is.)

  9. ecofeco Silver badge
    Facepalm

    What's that famous quote?

    A quote that everyone seems to have forgotten?

    "Never give a sucker an even break."

    So if people keep wanting to buy crap, why WOULD any company care?

  10. DS999 Silver badge

    I think the price increase is misunderstood

    Apple has traditionally kept the low end phone around for a couple years and dropped prices by $100 each year.

    I expect when iPhone 17 comes out that ALL of the iPhone 16 line announced in September goes away (something which has never happened before) and the 16e fills the slot of "last year's phone" that the iPhone 15 currently does in their price list (and some years they've gone two years back and would have had the iPhone 14 also)

    Then next spring when 17e comes out 16e goes to $499. Then when 18e comes out the 16e goes to $399 (which was where the SE line started) and they keep three 'e' phones for sale at the same time from then on.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like