Apple iPhone 16e - Welcome to the Family

It's been almost three years since Apple last released an "entry-level" handset.

At the time, although I was impressed with its performance, aesthetically the design was an out-and-out throwback to a much earlier era of iPhones; the ones with small screens sandwiched between two inexplicably large blank spaces top and bottom - and yes, although by then the "Home Button" was long gone on the iPhone flagships, the SE still had one. How quaint.

And the camera? Well. Enough said,

Still, at just NZ$799.00 it was a pretty cheap iPhone.

Well, finally there's a new pretty cheap iPhone. It's not AS cheap. But it's way prettier.

The Apple iPhone 16e doesn't look, feel or behave anything like previous SE models which is presumably why Apple didn't call it the next generation iPhone SE.

And after using the 16e for a week or so, I can certainly understand why they were determined to make it clear this new device is a legitimate member of the iPhone 16 family.

Holding it and looking at it front-on, there's very little to distinguish it from the base-model iPhone 16. The 6.1-inch super retina display is the same size and it's protected by the same Ceramic Shield that makes all modern iPhones so hard to destroy.

When you turn the iPhone 16 on you'll notice there's a notch at the top of the display which has morphed into the slightly less-intrusive "Dynamic Island" on the other late-model flagships. While it has its uses, I'm betting the vast majority of iPhone owners consider the Dynamic Island a nice-to-have rather than a must-have - that's if they even know what it is. So no great loss there.

Just like its more expensive siblings, the 16e has an Action Button, the programmable shortcut that can launch your favourite app, set the phone to silent or call your mum. It doesn't have the Camera Control shortcut sensor all the other 16-series devices have, so you'll have to zoom and change filters the old-fashioned way.

Which brings us to the most obvious compromise on this handset, the camera itself. 

You won't find too many single-lens shooters on today's smartphone shelves which is why Apple has labelled this one a Fusion camera. To be fair, somehow they have managed to integrate 2x optical telephoto zooming abilities into this 48MP sensor, so it does indeed behave a bit like "two cameras in one."

To prove it, here's a shot of the view outside my window. Admittedly, it'd be better if it was Ultra-Wide, but that's definitely off the table here...

Pretty much what you'd expect from any iPhone; natural colours, excellent light-and-shade balance - especially on the tree in the foreground.

Now let's zoom...

This is the some shot at 7x zoom. Despite a generous helping of digital assistance, the row of houses about 1km away looks pretty damn clear to me.

You can still shoot in Portrait mode, although you have to switch to it manually in the camera app. Those of you lucky enough to own a recent iPhone flagship will know you can just press the little f symbol to achieve the same bokeh effect as I have here with doggo in the back seat.

So no little f... what a tragedy.

Look, I get it. If you're super fussy about your photos, this probably isn't the iPhone for you. And as far as video goes, I'm afraid I have to tell you, the 16e does 4K in Dolby Vision.

Wait...

What?

Yes, as you'll see in my video at the bottom, only true video aficionados are really going to care too much about any shortfalls here.

But what about Apple Intelligence and all its cool tricks? Image Playground? Genmojis? Clean Up for your photos?

Not to worry. As a genuine member of the iPhone 16 clan, the 16e even has the same generation of chip; the A18. In fact, the 16e has something the other 16s don't; Apple's in-house C1 cellular modem. This means more efficient mobile data and Wi-Fi connectivity on top of the already speedy A18 CPU - that all adds up to some very welcome battery life statistics.

You may also be surprised to hear the 16e can charge wirelessly too, although it isn't MagSafe compatible so if you have invested heavily in magnetic chargers and accessories, you'll also need to invest in a 3rd-party MagSafe-friendly case.

When I first saw the iPhone 16e's specs, I thought it was too good to be true. Practically nobody is going to spend an extra $400 just to get MagSafe or Dynamic Island. Sure, there's just no way the camera setup can physically compete with the iPhone 16, Plus, Pro and Pro Max. But it's certainly not bad.

And I guess that's why this isn't really a "budget" option. Remember how I said 2022's iPhone SE was only NZ$799.00? The 16e starts at NZ$1199.00. In saying that, there's no longer a 64GB version, so the gap closes pretty quickly when you start at 128GB.

I think the iPhone 16e is worth every penny, and then some. It's fast, it's durable, it has excellent battery life and a fabulous display. If you're not a professional photographer, this is the mid-range phone I'd be considering right now.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Apple iPhone 16e.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra - AI Takeover Almost Complete

What does A.I. mean to you?

Is it a genuine suite of tools you can easily access to increase your productivity? Or is it just a glorified search engine, presenting you with occasionally inaccurate information, albeit in a more accessible, conversational tone?

Personally, even now, I'm still an A.I. sceptic. I don't see how "learning to use" a specific set of A.I. features helps me save time, especially when I can't trust the factual integrity some of the results.

But I might be the Lone Ranger here. Certainly if Samsung's latest flagship launch was anything to go by.

Tuning into last month's Galaxy Unpacked event, I was left feeling it wasn't really about the phones at all. There's been a seismic shift. The focus was squarely on Galaxy A.I. and Gemini. The S25 handsets were merely the latest conduits to access those A.I. tools.

Which is a shame, because after spending a week or two with the new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, I have no doubt it'll be one of the phones of the year - regardless of how much A.I. has been bundled into it.

Critics will claim this year's Ultra isn't that much different to last year's - but then, they say stuff like that every year. At least there's no confusing the 2025 version with the 2024 one; the titanium edges have been squared off while the corners of the handset are now curved, no longer the sharp points reminiscent of the Galaxy Note devices of yesteryear.

With no more pointy corners stabbing into your palm, the S25 Ultra is now more comfortable to hold, despite still being one of the largest phones around. 

The 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display provides sublime viewing in all light conditions (as usual) - in fact, just like Samsung's flagship TVs, the S25 Ultra now boasts an even more effective anti-reflective coating which means improved outdoor performance.

Speaking of performance, as you'd expect, there's been a chip upgrade too; despite early rumours of an in-house Exynos chip running the show, a bespoke collaboration between Samsung and Qualcomm sees the introduction of the Sanpdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy instead. I won't linger on the significant gains in power, speed and efficiency this new processor offers - obviously there's a noticeable bump when doing things like gaming and video editing.

Samsung has done a lot of work to keep the S25 Ultra cool too, with a 40% larger vapour chamber and every other available space jam-packed with some kind of magical thermal material to keep operating temperatures at their optimum.

Strangely, neither all this extra cooling or a more efficient chip seem to have done much to improve battery life. The 5000mAh cell is the same capacity as last year's and if there have been any improvements in how long a full charge lasts, I haven't exactly been blown away. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the S25 Ultra won't get a heavy user through a long day, it just won't get you through two.

Another notable (excuse the pun) design decision was to strip the on-board S-Pen stylus of its bluetooth abilities. For years now the S-Pen has been able to double as a remote; playing and pausing media, clicking through slides in Power Point presentations and wirelessly firing off selfies - always easier to control than setting a timer and hoping you get back in shot in time. But now the S-Pen is just a pen. Samsung must have gleaned that most users either chose not to use the S-Pen's bluetooth functions or more likely, didn't even know about them. While I've read some disgruntled customers have penned a petition to bring the supercharged S-Pen back in 2026, given I too never used it much, I can't really complain.

Perhaps the S25 Ultra's most significant upgrade (other than the god-like neural processing power we'll come to shortly) is the improvement to the Ultra Wide camera, going from 12MP to 50MP. This not only means a more detailed, higher resolution result but in my testing I felt the new sensor took pics that were much more consistent in terms of colour and contrast with those taken with the 200MP primary shooter.

For example, this was shot on a bright day with the excellent 200MP main camera...

Now let's go wider...

You'll see the sky is perhaps ever so slightly more blue, but in terms of brightness and contrast, very consistent... and lots of detail.

Speaking of which, what happens when we compare the Ultra Wide with the Zoom sensor?

Tricky in such bright light to see doggo in much detail - except...

The Zoom lens nails it. I think I zoomed in even more than 10 x here and yet there's no real noise or graininess to my eye. Pretty impressive.

When it comes to video, 10-bit HDR recording is now applied by default. This makes it one of the best low-light shooters I've used to date. Again, that super-duper new chip is hard at work, reducing noise and boosting clarity.

Wait, is that A.I.? I'd argue it is, and it's my preferred kind; the A.I. I don't know is happening. Don't worry though, there are plenty of more obvious examples baked into this device.

Like Audio Eraser - which could be my new favourite feature. You know how these days most camera apps offer you the option to delete distracting people and objects from the background of your pictures, using A.I. to fill in the space? Audio Eraser is a similar tool, except it works with the sound on your videos. The classic example is concert footage. Presumably when you play it back you'd prefer to hear the artist who's performing, rather than the group of drunk teenagers forgetting all the words, just out of shot beside you. Now you can use the Audio Eraser function to extract an editable, multi-track audio master from your recording. Then you can boost sounds like music while reducing crowd noise - or perhaps muting it completely. It's like having a sound-editing suite squeezed into your phone.

There are a host of other A.I. tricks you can access (assuming you can remember what they are and how to use them). Many, like Circle-to-Search, rely on Google Gemini, not just Galaxy A.I. to work. This all gets very confusing, very quickly. I mean, I know I can now circle anything on my screen and Gemini will list off all sorts of relevant information, be it an app on my home screen or a car caught in freeze-frame in a movie. But who do I thank for that? Galaxy A.I.? Gemini? Or both?

Samsung has also made a big deal about inter-app functionality. In theory, this allows Gemini - or Galaxy A.I. - or both? - to access a photo you took of fish tacos from your Gallery, look up the location of a restaurant that serves them nearby using Google Maps, then arrange a dinner date using information from your Contacts and sending a calendar invite through Google Mail.

Seriously, even if it worked first time - is that something you're going to trust your phone to do for you just by asking it? And what if I'm using non-Google or non-Samsung apps like Outlook and Waze? I've had varying degrees of success playing around with some of these new tools. Yes, they're starting to become more intuitive but when my phone still thought I was trying to call Tim on my way home instead of Time Saver Traffic to report an accident, I think there's a way to go yet.

As I so often find with freshly-launched flagship handsets these days, it's hard to figure out which of these fancy A.I. features are specific to the newly released handset and which will eventually become available to previous generation models in future software updates.

Which all means as far as I'm concerned, A.I. alone is not a good enough reason to upgrade.

I can't help thinking if Samsung had spent extra time highlighting more traditional features like camera and processor upgrades, that'd make a more compelling argument. Not to mention the completely superficial - yet no less valid - cosmetic changes like rounded corners and an impressive seven different colours to choose from. (Three are online-only, but they're still options)

A.I, by its very nature, is constantly evolving and refining itself and I'm not denying its exponentially growing importance as part of any piece of tech like this. But you'll still need the best phone to get the best out of it and let me assure you, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is definitely one of the best.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.