SuntanIronMan

Basically half of the office was discussing the iPhone 16e just now. And when someone finally asked “How much is it?”, the answer immediately turned everybody off of the phone. Talk quickly changed to the “Sony (something)” or the “Samsung (not sure)”.

(I’m not trying to be dismissive of Sony or Samsung. I just not super-familiar with Android and don’t remember the names everybody said.)

Important to note that my office is a Japanese office. So we were discussing the price of phone in yen. At ever-so-slightly under ¥100,000 (¥99,800, tax included), everybody (that spoke up) instantly dismissed it completely.

In dollar terms, with the tax excluded, the Japanese price is basically the same as the American price. But maybe psychologically nobody wants to pay ¥100,000 for an entry level phone (and pricing it 200 yen below 100,000 doesn’t matter, lol). I have an Apple Balance of about $650 USD (in actual USD — on my USD Store Apple Account), so I was just simply thinking about the phone in USD terms. But in JPY terms… maybe it’ll be a tough sell in Japan. Though my sample size for saying that is just one small Japanese office’s worth of people, lol.

I’m curious now about the pricing in other regions of the world.

(Enough of that though. Coffee break over. Back to work!!!)

StrangeDays said:

“Gah the entry-level model doesn’t have all the features I want!” - okaaayyy…

Please don’t do that. Nobody has expressed that type of opinion in this comments section. (Not yet at least.)

It’s (my opinion) just genuinely surprisingly that it doesn’t have MagSafe. Not only does it not have MagSafe, it doesn’t even have Qi(1) at 15w (it’s Qi at only 7.5w).

It’s especially surprising because Apple cannot really sell MagSafe accessories to iPhone 16e users now. How is Apple going to sell a $59 FineWoven MagSafe wallet to iPhone 16e users without MagSafe?! I’m joking about the FineWoven wallet, but… yeah. Those type of accessories must be incredibly high margin for Apple, but Apple just… doesn’t like cheap to produce, expensive to buy accessories anymore, it seems, lol.

Apple isn’t even selling an official Apple MagSafe-ready case for the iPhone 16e. At least I don’t see one. I only see a normal (no magnet ring) iPhone 16e case on the Apple Store right now.

It’s not like MagSafe has been a Pro-level feature up until this point. The iPhone 12 Mini released in 2020 (which was kinda/sorta like the iPhone 16e of its time) has MagSafe. The iPhone 12 Mini is MagSafe compatible, Qi compatible, and Qi2 compatible.

There were at one point (a few years ago) countless rumors that Apple was going to ditch wired-charging completely and go MagSafe-only. This was back when Apple was fighting with the EU to keep Lightning around. Anybody remember those rumors? Well, I think we can finally put a nail in that rumor’s coffin. I mean… we probably could have nailed that coffin a while ago, but now we can officially do so.

entropys said:

randominternetperson said:

entropys said:

Missed it, but does it still have standby?

could just put it in a magnetic case if it does.

What is standby? Is that the horizontal night stand clock mode?  I would certainly think so.

Yes. If so that would be good. If it doesn’t need MagSafe all to the good.

StandBy (presumably) still works wired. StandBy works when doing wired charging (if you have the screen at a 90-ish degree angle and in a landscape orientation).

However, if you are probably asking: “Does it still have Standby when charging wirelessly without MagSafe?”

Yes, StandBy should (presumably) work wirelessly. However, without the magnets there is nothing to hold the phone up and horizontal (to active StandBy Mode). Without the magnets, a wireless charger would just slip-off from the iPhone in that orientation needed for StandBy mode (without something else to keep the phone place or one of those Qi chargers that also doubles as a non-magnetic smartphone holder). But if you were to get a MagSafe-ready case, StandBy (presumably) should work fine.

I only say “(presumably)” because obviously I don’t know for sure with this specific phone. I presume StandBy should work wirelessly as I described above, but I don’t know for sure because the phone hasn’t been released yet. But (presumably) StandBy should work fine wirelessly if you get a MagSafe-ready type case for the iPhone 16e. I suppose we will find out for certain in a week+ from now.

Lack of MagSafe is… probably a deal breaker. I was all set to buy this thing (before it was announced). I’m still reading more about it though. But lack of MagSafe… I use MagSafe all the time. I’m using it right now as I’m typing this.

Edit: Okay. I think I’m going to not buy the iPhone 16e. I just really like using MagSafe. I actually recently bought a few of the new versions of the MagSafe chargers (the 2024 updates).

It’s fine though. I don’t NEED a new phone. I’m getting close to needing a new phone, but I can wait a bit longer. My plan now is to wait for the iPhone 17’s release and then pickup the iPhone 16(normal) at a cheaper price. Maybe at Black Friday — Grab the iPhone 16 and the gift card deal that Apple usually has.

Thank you for the article. I just turned it off. Had no idea this was even a feature until just now (as I basically never use Apple Intelligence).

This feature does seem interesting. I might give it a try later, but I will want to learn more about it before I turn it back on. While I’m at it, I’ll see what else I might need to turn off in regards to Apple Intelligence. Thank you again.