I was convinced a discounted iPhone 15 was the best ‘budget' iPhone to buy in 2025 but, after 2 weeks with Apple's iPhone 16e, I'm a complete convert
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As the proud owner of an iPhone 15 for almost two years, I've had no issues with the handset since I bought it. It runs perfectly for my needs – music, YouTube, texting and aimless doomscrolling social media – and seamlessly integrates with my other Apple devices.
Other than its Pro siblings and a handful of Android competitors, the iPhone 15 was top of the line when I bought it. I'd just been paid, so I plonked down AU$1,499 ($799 / £799) to purchase it outright to replace my broken iPhone 12 Mini.
(That's a purchase I cringe at after experiencing the value on offer from the best cheap phones, but I digress…)
The iPhone 16 marked a larger upgrade over its predecessor than usual thanks to the addition of Apple Intelligence – even if its launch has been less than smooth, with many parts of the promised Siri upgrade still up in the air.
Still, the iPhone 15 is an excellent smartphone in 2025, which is why it caught my eye when I found it for AU$1,077 here in Australia where I'm based (which converts to around $692 / £519). There's similarly enticing deals abroad, too – like in the US, where it's just $100 when switching to T-Mobile.
However, in February, Apple threw a curveball at the iPhone 15 when it introduced another option for Cupertino loyalists looking to save on an upgrade when it launched the iPhone 16e for $599 / £599 / AU$999.
Like the iPhone 5c and the three iPhone SE models, this new 'budget' Apple handset has made small concessions to keep the price down, while still allowing buyers to purchase a truly new iPhone that can access the latest iOS features. The iPhone 16e is arguably even more enticing than its SE forebears, as it offers the power to handle Apple Intelligence.
This creates an interesting conundrum – if I needed a new phone and didn't want to splurge on the iPhone 16, which device is the better choice: the iPhone 15, or iPhone 16e?
TechRadar has an entire iPhone 16e vs iPhone 15 comparison article based on this question and it concludes that, for most people, it's worth spending a little extra and go for the older iPhone 15.
But after spending a week with the iPhone 16e, I disagree.
For many smartphone buyers, camera quality is key – but for me, battery life is far more important and the iPhone 16e dominates the iPhone 15 in this category.
While Apple doesn't disclose exact battery capacity, third-party reporting shows that the iPhone 16e has a 3,961mAh battery compared to the iPhone 15's 3,349mAh.
It's not just that larger size that makes the 16e longer lasting either. The iPhone 16e's C1 cellular chip – which is exclusive to the device – processes power more efficiently, resulting in a significantly improved stamina.
This was very noticeable in my time with it. Granted, my iPhone 15's battery capacity is slightly degraded down to 91% these days, but I limit its overnight charging to stop at 85%. As a result, after about three hours of listening, watching, scrolling and texting, my iPhone 15's often sitting at less than 30% by 9:30am.
It's 3:30pm as I write this, and with the same battery settings and general screen-on time, the iPhone 16e I'm currently using is sitting at 44%.
My experience seems to fully back up Apple's own claims, with the brand boasting that the iPhone 16e offers 26 hours of video playback – 15% better than the iPhone 16's 22 hours and a 23% increase over the iPhone 15.
We're still waiting for AI Siri – and Apple might have to let users swap Siri for another default voice assistant party alternatives – I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Apple Intelligence on the iPhone 16e, a set of features the iPhone 15 lacks.
Visual Intelligence is helpful, letting you quickly search for or ask ChatGPT about any object you take a photo of. And the Clean Up feature is useful for removing photo bombers or objects from any given image, like Samsung's similar Object Remover tool as found on newest Galaxy devices.
And, while I rarely used them, I appreciated the (mostly) constructive AI-generated message replies and smarter phrasing suggestions. Highlighting your written text opens an array of AI-powered options by clicking the Apple Intelligence logo (or 'Writing Tools'). In any app it can proofread or rewrite your text to sound more friendly, professional or concise.
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Moreover, and especially helpful when writing up notes, is its ability to format text into key points, a list or a table. You also have the option to compose text with ChatGPT.
However, I think my favorite thing about Apple Intelligence is the ability to create my own emojis. Called Genmojis, it lets you turn anything – like my own face and other regularly found faces in my camera roll, or a highland cow surrounded by flowers – into an emoji or sticker.
As someone who uses emojis quite sparingly, I'm now a Genmoji-making dynamo. While the AI tools and features of the iPhone 16 family are far from revolutionary, they're both fun and generally useful. It's a small but significant advantage for the iPhone 16e over the iPhone 15.
The last little feature that I think puts the 16e above the 15 is the Action Button. It, like Apple Intelligence, is exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max and the iPhone 16 series.
This handy little button replaces the mute/silent switch from older iPhones. There's nothing revolutionary here: all it does is offer shortcuts for commonly used features like Silent Mode, Focus, Camera, Visual Intelligence, Torch and any other app, like Instagram.
Personally, I didn't find myself using any of those preset options, and instead set the Action Button to control my Do Not Disturb mode.
It's such a small difference – after all, unlocking the device, bringing up the Control Center and activating Focus is hardly a laborious task. However, it's a small quality-of-life change that I thoroughly appreciated – letting me turn it on without even directly looking at my phone.
The iPhone 16e vs iPhone 15 contest is by no means a knockout by the newer model. There are two main reasons that the older iPhone may be the better choice for some people: display and camera.
The iPhone 16e only has a single 48MP Fusion camera, while the iPhone 15 pairs a 48MP main camera with a 12MP ultrawide lens that's equally useful for grand nature shots and trying to fit the whole family into one photo. More importantly, the 16e's single lens means you can't take silly up-close photos of your friends or dog with the 0.5x zoom.
The 15 also has a (small) lead on the 16e in terms of display, as the latter reverts back to the iPhone 14's notched display rather than the Dynamic Island found on subsequent devices. Personally, I don't mind it, but for some users it could be the reason to spend a little more for the iPhone 15. The latter's display is brighter and (slightly) higher res too – 1179 x 2556 with a max brightness of 2,000 nits compared to the 16e's 1170 x 2532 and 1,200 nits.
MagSafe charging is also missing from the iPhone 16e. It was rumored this was to make room for the C1 chip, but that has since been denied by Apple according to Macworld. The 16e can still wirelessly charge, but it lacks the magnet.
I'd never much required MagSafe until I recently purchased a magnetic power bank – which is now all but useless with the iPhone 16e. And users who have a magnetic car mount will probably sorely miss this functionality.
The iPhone 15 still has a place, then, and it's a wonderful purchase if you can get it for close to the same price as the iPhone 16e.
It's still ultimately more expensive than its new sibling, though – and unless you really need a telephoto lens, I think the iPhone 16e is the budget iPhone to have.
The best iPhone 2025: which Apple smartphone reigns supreme?
The iPhone Fold is apparently being tested with a feature we've been waiting years for
iPhone 17 Air leak hints at how the super-slim phone might solve its potential battery life issues
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