- Apple unveiled the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, emphasizing its affordability. But there's something in this phone that's far more interesting than its price tag: The C1 chip is brand-new Apple Silicon that could spell the end for Qualcomm's modems in future iPhones.
Apple, which typically unveils its new iPhones in September, unveiled a new iPhone on Wednesday, called the iPhone 16e. It goes on sale next Friday, Feb. 28.
In its press release, in a video announcement, and on its website, Apple is advertising the price tag of the iPhone 16e front and center: The phone starts at $599 for 128 GB of storage, though it notably ranges up to $899 for 512 GB; that's the same price as the baseline iPhone 16 Plus, or the iPhone 16 with 256 GB of storage.
Apple says the iPhone 16e is the "most affordable member of the iPhone 16 family," and, for what it's worth, its base model will be the most affordable "new" iPhone you can buy from Apple when it goes on sale next week. (That said, you can find more affordable iPhones from Apple's Refurbished Store, which the company doesn't publicize often but is arguably the best-kept secret for saving money on Apple products.)
But the price tag is not the most interesting thing about this new phone.
The iPhone 16e design seems like a blend of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 16 eras. It has a 6.1-inch OLED screen, like most modern iPhones, but still has the old-school "notch" for Face ID—sorry, no Dynamic Island here. It's got a USB-C port like the rest of the iPhone 16 family, but notably has a single camera lens, which is a significant departure from the iPhone's rear-camera systems from past years that have two or three lenses. Apple says the iPhone 16e's 48-megapixel "Fusion" camera "is like having two cameras in one," according to the company's press release.
But still, none of these features are incredibly novel.
What is truly new in the iPhone 16e is something most consumers won't even notice.
The iPhone 16e is the first iPhone with brand-new Apple Silicon: The C1 modem is the first Apple-designed cellular modem, which provides 5G connectivity. Apple claims it's the most power-efficient modem ever in an iPhone; paired with a revamped internal design, the company says, the iPhone 16e is able to achieve 26 hours of video playback. Even the more expensive baseline iPhone 16 is only able to get 22 hours of video playback from a single charge.
Besides the improvements to battery life, the C1 chip may not provide a substantial change to the iPhone user experience, but Apple replacing Qualcomm, which traditionally produced cellular modems for the iPhone, with its own silicon is a significant move. Apple did something similar with Intel in 2020 when it transitioned away from using Intel chips to Apple's own processors built on ARM architecture. According to Investing.com, Intel’s stock price hovered around $59 per share on June 22, 2020, the day Apple announced its transition away from Intel chips to Apple Silicon. As of Wednesday, Intel's stock sits around $26 per share—a drop of about 56% over that span. Assuming Apple starts using its own C1 chips in future iPhones from here on out, that could have a serious effect on Qualcomm's bottom line.
Apple did not immediately respond to Fortune's request for comment about the company's current and future business plans with Qualcomm. A spokesperson for Qualcomm provided the following statement to Fortune:
“The best commercial smartphones currently feature our leading 5G-Advanced modem-RF system, which uses AI to optimize for the fastest and highest-capacity networks in every country. We'll soon be unveiling the future of connectivity at MWC [Mobile World Congress] Barcelona,” an annual mobile-communications trade show, the person said.
The iPhone 16e starts at $599 for will be available for pre-order starting Friday, Feb. 21. It goes on sale one week later, on Feb. 28.
