MacRumors

Apple hasn't introduced a major update for the AirPods Max since the headphones came out in 2020, but last year there was a minor refresh with new color options and an upgrade to USB-C charging. With no additional new features on the horizon, we thought we'd take a look at whether the AirPods Max are worth picking up in 2025.

The transition to USB-C didn't upgrade any other internal hardware, so reviews from 2020 about Active Noise Cancellation and sound quality are still valid. The AirPods Max sound great even after five years, but nothing has improved in terms of the overarching listening experience, and with no design updates, the AirPods Max are still on the heavy side for ANC over-ear headphones, and some people find them uncomfortable.

USB-C charging is definitely more convenient than the Lightning-based charging from the prior model, but there is one other change that could draw audiophiles to the AirPods Max. With a USB-C wired connection, the AirPods Max support 24-bit 48kHz lossless audio and ultra-low latency, which means you can listen to music the way the artist intended it to sound in the studio.

The latency improvement is notable if you want to use your AirPods Max for things like gaming or editing with a Mac, because there's no longer a Bluetooth listening delay. Unfortunately, you need the USB-C version of the AirPods Max to use these new features, so if you have older Lightning-based AirPods Max that you bought sometime in the last five years, you won't get the lossless and latency improvements.

AirPods Max are still stylish and you get Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos, which go a long way toward improving the listening experience, plus the ANC is still competitive with other brands. If you can get the AirPods Max on sale so you're not shelling out over $500, the USB-C model is worth considering, but make sure you like the fit.

Netflix recreated an Apple Store from the ground up for its newly released thriller "iHostage," a dramatization of the real-life hostage crisis that took place at Apple's Leidseplein retail store in Amsterdam in 2022.

Since filming inside an actual ‌Apple Store‌ was not possible, Netflix and the production team behind "iHostage" reconstructed a full-scale replica of the Amsterdam location. The recreation was designed to match the original ‌Apple Store‌'s layout and architecture, using advanced virtual production techniques to replicate the store's surrounding environment.

To build the replica, the production team constructed the interior set on a soundstage, surrounded by a high-resolution LED wall. This display allowed the filmmakers to render a photorealistic virtual version of the Leidseplein area in real-time, simulating outdoor lighting, reflections, and movement visible through the store's large glass façade. This technique has been popularized by productions such as Disney's "The Mandalorian," enabling dynamic camera movement and lighting changes without requiring location shooting. Apple's store design and branding were faithfully recreated based on publicly available references, floorplans, and photographs.

The real-life incident occurred on February 22, 2022, when a 27-year-old armed man entered the Amsterdam ‌Apple Store‌ and took a customer hostage with a firearm, claiming he had explosives. The perpetrator demanded €200 million (approximately $227 million at the time) in cryptocurrency and a safe exit. Dutch authorities responded by cordoning off the area and deploying special police units. Over 70 people were evacuated from the building during the five-hour standoff, including customers and employees who had concealed themselves in storage spaces and other rooms. "iHostage" is available to watch on Netflix now.

Last week, Apple introduced a special offer on Apple TV+, allowing customers a chance to get the service for just $2.99 per month for three months. This offer is still live today, but it will expire for good tomorrow, April 24.

Only new and qualified returning customers can gain access to this offer. After the three month period ends, your subscription will return to the regular pricing of $9.99 per month.

The offer is available in the Apple TV app, and at tv.apple.com, through April 24. Unfortunately, existing subscribers are not eligible to receive the discount.

The promotion is running in other countries, too. In Canada, for example, the special price is set at $3.99 per month. In the U.K., it is set at £2.99.

With an Apple TV+ subscription, you can watch all of Apple's original shows and films. You can also watch select MLB and MLS games with weekly Friday Night Baseball and Sunday Night Soccer doubleheaders, at no additional cost.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

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Apple shipped significantly more MacBooks during the first quarter of 2025, outpacing the broader PC market, according to new estimates from Counterpoint Research.

While the overall PC market grew 6.7% compared to the same period in 2024, Apple led major vendors with a 17% increase in unit shipments. However, the report attributes much of the industry's first-quarter gains to accelerated shipments as manufacturers moved to avoid new tariffs expected to be implemented by the United States later in the year.

Temporary exemptions on tariffs for certain electronic products allowed companies to front-load shipments during the exemption window. As a result, the increase in shipped units does not necessarily translate to higher sales to end users, and many of the products delivered in the first quarter are expected to remain in inventory throughout the coming months.

For Apple, the launch of the M4 MacBook Air in March 2025 also contributed to its shipment volume. Despite Apple touting the M4 chip's AI capabilities, the report notes that the shipment gains are not necessarily a sign of growing consumer interest in AI PCs.

Apple reportedly increased its share of global PC shipments from approximately 9% in the first quarter of 2024 to 10% in the first quarter of 2025. Lenovo retained the largest market share overall. Apple typically reports product revenue rather than unit shipments, making third-party estimates an indirect measure of market activity.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Whisky, a popular open-source front-end for Wine that made Windows gaming on Mac more accessible, has ceased development. The project's 18-year-old creator, Isaac Marovitz, announced the shutdown and encouraged users to switch to the paid CrossOver app instead.

In offering the reasons for his decision, Marovitz expressed concern that Whisky was potentially harming the Wine ecosystem by competing with CrossOver, a commercial product from CodeWeavers that helps fund Wine development.

"Whisky, in my opinion, has not been a positive on the Wine community as a whole," he wrote on the project's website. He said that Whisky contributed "practically zero" to Wine development while potentially threatening CrossOver's financial viability.

Marovitz is also a full-time student currently attending Northeastern University, and so he has had to balance the increasing demands of the project with his academic responsibilities. "I lost interest in the project," he admitted. "And as I'm still a student and also not being paid for work on Whisky, it becomes hard to justify working on it if I no longer enjoy it." He said that occasional updates to Whisky may still come if macOS "fundamentally breaks the main app," which happened with macOS Sequoia 15.4.

Writing on the Codeweavers blog, CEO James B. Ramey said in response that he appreciated Marovitz's work. "We 'tip our cap' to Isaac and the impact he made to macOS gaming," Ramey wrote, acknowledging that Whisky, like CrossOver, was "a labor of love built by people who care deeply about giving users more choices."

During its run, Whisky gained popularity for its user-friendly interface that simplified running Windows games on macOS. The project highlighted the potential of Apple's own Game Porting Toolkit, which is based on the same Wine technology that powered both Whisky and CrossOver.

Despite stepping away from Whisky, Marovitz told Ars Technica he isn't done with Mac gaming: "Right now I'm working on the recompilation of Sonic Unleashed and bringing it fully to Mac."

The European Commission has fined Apple 500 million euros ($570 million) and Meta 200 million euros ($230 million) for violating the Digital Markets Act (DMA), in the first penalties ever issued under the new EU tech regulation.

Apple was penalized for restricting app developers from informing users about alternative payment options outside the App Store. The Commission said it had determined that Apple's policies prevented developers from taking full advantage of distribution channels beyond Apple's ecosystem, limiting consumer access to potentially cheaper offerings.

"App developers distributing their apps via Apple's App Store should be able to inform customers, free of charge, of alternative offers outside the App Store, steer them to those offers and allow them to make purchases," the European Commission stated.

The Commission said it had ordered Apple to "remove the technical and commercial restrictions on steering" and to refrain from perpetuating the non-compliant conduct in the future.

Today, the Commission also closed the investigation on Apple's user choice obligations, thanks to "early and proactive engagement by Apple" on a compliance solution. Apple now gives users more options to delete apps that come preinstalled on iPhones.

Meta's fine stems from its "consent or pay" model implemented in November 2023, which forced European users to either consent to personal data combination for targeted advertising or pay a monthly subscription for an ad-free experience on Facebook and Instagram.

The Commission ruled that Meta's approach failed to provide users with a genuine choice regarding their personal data, as required by the DMA. Meta has since introduced a modified version of its advertising model in November 2024, which the Commission is currently evaluating.

Both companies have been ordered to comply with the Commission's decisions within 60 days or face additional periodic penalty payments.

Apple said it plans to appeal the decision. The company called it "another example of the commission unfairly targeting the company" with actions that are "bad for the privacy and security of our users."

Meta also indicated it would likely appeal. Joel Kaplan, Meta's chief global affairs officer, said that "the Commission forcing us to change our business model effectively imposes a multi-billion-dollar tariff on Meta while requiring us to offer an inferior service."

The penalties represent approximately 0.1% of each company's annual revenue, which is significantly below the potential maximum fine of 10% allowed under the DMA.

The rulings come amid ongoing trade negotiations between the EU and the US, which could potentially add another layer of complexity to the transatlantic tech regulations.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

xAI has launched a new Voice Mode for its Grok chatbot, introducing a feature called Grok Vision that lets users interact with the world through their smartphone camera. Much like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, Grok can now interpret what your phone sees and respond in real time.

Using Grok Vision, iPhone users can point their camera at an object and ask "What am I looking at?" – and the chatbot will reply aloud with a context-aware response. The feature is now available on the Grok iOS app, but Android users will need to wait a little longer for access.

In addition to visual recognition, Voice Mode now supports multilingual audio, allowing users to converse with Grok in multiple languages. Real-time search is also integrated, giving the chatbot the ability to provide instant answers that reflect the latest information.

The enhancements follow last week's rollout of Grok's new memory feature, which enables the chatbot to recall past interactions – including user preferences and previously asked questions – to deliver more personalized replies and suggestions.

xAI also recently released the first version of Studio, providing a workspace for generating documents and code, similar to ChatGPT's Canvas. Studio opens in a separate window and is designed to give users a more focused environment for content creation.

Grok is available now as a free download on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Instagram today launched Edits, a video editing app that fills the void left by the removal of the ByteDance-owned CapCut app earlier this year. CapCut was pulled from the App Store when TikTok was, but it has not returned.

Just after CapCut was removed from the ‌App Store‌, Instagram announced that it was working on Edits, but it has taken several months for the app to be ready to debut. Edits is made for creators, and it can be used with Instagram or other social media apps like TikTok.

Edits is designed for video creation, and it has a full suite of tools for filming videos, editing, and adding effects like AI-powered animations and cutouts. There's a section for keeping track of ideas, managing projects, and exporting content, plus an inspiration feed of reels with performance insights.

Instagram says that it worked with creators to streamline the app's design and functionality so that it would meet the video editing needs of those who make content for social media.

In the future, Edits will get support for keyframes, AI modifications, collaboration tools, and more fonts, text animations, voice effects, and filters.

Edits is a free download from the ‌App Store‌. [Direct Link]

U.S. carrier T-Mobile today introduced two new higher-end plans that include additional hotspot data and satellite connectivity, with the plans replacing its previous Go5G Plus and Go5G Next plans.

Experience More replaces Go5G Plus, and it has an additional 10 GB of hotspot data (60 GB total) and satellite connectivity that will be available through the end of the year. Customers can continue to upgrade every two years. Experience More is priced at $85 for a single line, but that price does not include taxes and fees.

Experience Beyond is T-Mobile's highest-end plan, replacing Go5G Next. It includes 250 GB of hotspot data instead of 50 GB, and 30 GB of high-speed data per month in Canada and Mexico, twice as much as before. It also includes satellite connectivity and the option to upgrade your smartphone each year. Experience Beyond is priced at $100 for a single line including taxes and fees, but prices are lower with more lines.

Both of the new plans come with a 5-year price guarantee, with T-Mobile promising that the price of their talk, text, and data will stay the same for five years. T-Mobile includes Netflix with ads, Apple TV+, MLB.TV, and MLS Season Pass with both plans, and Hulu with ads is also available with the Experience Beyond plan.

The Experience More and Experience Beyond plans will be available starting on April 23. Customers who already have Go5G Next or Go5G More will get the additional benefits at no extra cost.

Google's cellular service Google Fi Wireless is today being updated with a new Unlimited Essentials plan, priced at $35 per month for a single line. The plan includes unlimited calls, text, and data, with 30 GB of high-speed data.

The new plan comes as Google Fi celebrates its 10th anniversary. Google Fi is an MVNO that uses T-Mobile's network, providing lower-cost service for smartphone users. When it launched, it was only available for select Android devices, but it has been available on the iPhone since 2018.

Other Google Fi plans are being updated alongside the introduction of the new plan. The $50/month Simply Unlimited plan is now Unlimited Standard, and it includes 50 GB of high-speed data, up from 35 GB, plus 25 GB of hotspot data, up from 5 GB.

The Unlimited Premium plan (formerly Unlimited Plus) includes 100 GB of high-speed data, up from 50 GB, along with 50 GB of hotspot data.

Google is adding support for data-only eSIMs, which means iPad users can sign up for Google Fi as a data option. Previously, Google had data-only options, but only for physical SIMs. Google Fi 5G coverage is expanding to more than 92 international locations for Unlimited Premium users, which more than doubles previous availability. International 5G connectivity is also now available on iPhones with Google Fi, so it is no longer limited to Android users.

iPhone users will also soon be able to listen to their Google Fi voicemails on the Phone app instead of being required to use the Fi app, thanks to new iPhone integration that Google is introducing.

OpenAI would consider purchasing the Chrome browser if Google is forced to sell it as a remedy for anticompetitive search practices, ChatGPT product lead Nick Turley said today.

According to The Information, Turley provided the detail as part of a court hearing that will determine remedies to address Google's antitrust violations.

The United States Department of Justice wants Google to divest Chrome after the DoJ won an antitrust lawsuit against Google last year. The court decided that Google has an illegal monopoly on search, and the judge overseeing the case is now deciding on the punishment (or remedies) that Google will face as a result.

The DoJ pointed to OpenAI as company that's growth has been hampered by Google's hold on search. Last year, OpenAI asked Google for access to search data to bolster SearchGPT, but Google refused.

Along with potentially being forced to sell Chrome, Google could be forced to allow rivals to access its search data. Turley said that access to Google's real-time data would allow OpenAI to "build a better product faster."

Google is also likely to be prohibited from entering into search related deals with Apple and other companies. Google has long paid Apple billions of dollars per year to be the default Safari search engine, giving Google a significant advantage in the search market.

The DoJ is also recommending that Google divest Android, but only if the other proposed remedies are not effective at keeping Google from "improperly leveraging" the operating system, or if Google tries to circumvent the other requirements put in place.

During his testimony, Turley also said that OpenAI offered to pay Apple a portion of the revenue generated by the Siri ChatGPT integration, but it is not clear if Apple has accepted payment, and prior reports suggested that it was a deal that does not see Apple paying OpenAI, or OpenAI paying Apple.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

A little more than half of respondents in a recent survey said they would be willing to pay at least $10 per month for unlimited access to Apple Intelligence.

In an online survey conducted in February and March, investment firm Morgan Stanley asked thousands of consumers in the U.S. to indicate the maximum amount of money per month that they would be willing to spend for unlimited access to Apple Intelligence. Approximately 1,400 of the 3,300 respondents were current iPhone owners, including 450 owners of iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models that are compatible with Apple Intelligence.

The breakdown was as follows:

• $15 or more per month: 22%
• $10 to $14.99 per month: 30%
• $5 to $9.99 per month: 17%
• Less than $5 per month: 11%
• Not willing to pay: 14%
• Don't know/too early to tell: 6%

Morgan Stanley analysts shared the survey results today in an Apple-focused equity research note, obtained by MacRumors. It said the survey's total sample represents the general population in the U.S. in terms of age, gender, and region.

The rollout of Apple Intelligence features has not gone smoothly so far. Apple was hit with class action lawsuits in the U.S. and Canada over its delayed personalized Siri features, and the company recently complied with the National Advertising Division's recommendation to remove "available now" wording from the Apple Intelligence web page. Apple also had to disable notification summaries for news apps after some of the summaries generated false information, and it has yet to re-enable the feature.

Even with Apple Intelligence getting off to a rocky start, this survey suggests that many customers would still be willing to pay for access to the features. However, it is unclear if Apple will ever charge for any of the features.

Following the introduction of the iPhone 16e in February, along with new iPads and Macs in March, what will Apple's next product announcement be? Based on rumors, a second-generation AirTag item tracker is potentially next up.

Last year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that a new AirTag would be released around the middle of 2025. More recently, a leaker known as Kosutami claimed that Apple plans to release a new AirTag in May or June this year. Both of those timeframes suggest that the next AirTag is up to a month or two away from launching.

Three upgrades have been rumored for the AirTag 2 so far:

• A second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, for up to 3× longer range compared to the current AirTag. The chip debuted in the iPhone 15 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. On the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, there is a Precision Finding for People feature that can help you to find your friends in crowded places, and it offers a range of up to 200 feet (approximately 60 meters).
• A more tamper-proof speaker, as a safety measure to reduce stalking.
• Improved integration with the Apple Vision Pro.

No major design changes are expected.

The original AirTag was announced during an Apple Event in April 2021. In the U.S., an individual AirTag costs $29, and a set of four costs $99.

New Siri lead Mike Rockwell is overhauling the ‌Siri‌ management team in order to step up development on Apple Intelligence features, reports Bloomberg. He is demoting or replacing the managers who previously worked on ‌Siri‌ after the ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features demonstrated at WWDC 2024 failed to launch as expected.

Rockwell, who worked on the Vision Pro software, took over the Siri team in March, with former ‌Siri‌ chief John Giannandrea being reassigned to artificial intelligence research. Rockwell is replacing ‌Siri‌ managers with members of the Vision Pro software group, while also restructuring ‌Siri‌ teams that handle speech, understanding, performance, and user experience.

Longtime Vision Pro engineering lead Ranjit Desai will oversee ‌Siri‌ engineering, including the platform and systems groups. Vision Pro senior director Olivier Gutknecht will lead the team that designs the ‌Siri‌ user experience, and Vision Pro engineering director Nate Begeman and Core OS senior director Tom Duffy will work on ‌Siri‌'s underlying architecture.

Employees were told that the management overhaul would help Apple reach its ‌Siri‌ development goals, as the additions to the team are considered some of Apple's top software engineering talent, according to Bloomberg.

Rockwell is still overseeing the development of visionOS while he works on ‌Siri‌, while the Vision Pro hardware team continues to report to John Ternus. Teams that were led by the executives moving to the ‌Siri‌ team will be overseen by Geoff Stahl, who has worked for Rockwell for years.

Under Rockwell's lead, Apple is rearchitecting ‌Siri‌ to use an LLM-based system that will streamline the personal assistant's underlying technology and outward-facing capabilities. To ensure that ‌Siri‌'s planned functionality for integrating more extensively with apps is ready to go on time, Apple plans to work with third-party app developers.

Woot today has brought back its sale on Apple Watch Solo Loop and Braided Solo Loop bands, but with a twist. This time, when you buy any Solo Loop or Braided Solo Loop at a discount on Woot, you'll get up to two extra bands for free.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Woot. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

The way it works is when you purchase any Solo Loop band for the discounted price of $19.99 ($29 off), you will get two additional Solo Loop bands for free. When you purchase any Braided Solo Loop for the discounted price of $29.99 ($69 off), you will get one additional Braided Solo Loop band for free.

The catch here is that you won't be able to pick out the color of the bands. You start by selecting the size of the band and Apple Watch model, then Woot will randomly select three Solo Loop bands or two Braided Solo Loop bands to send to you.

Woot guarantees that each band will be a unique color and there will be no duplicate colors in each box. These are also in new condition and come individually packaged in their original Apple retail packaging, as well as with a one year Apple manufacturer limited warranty.

Although there's a bit of risk at play in Woot's new sale, these are massive discounts on the Apple Watch bands, and it's a great way to expand your band collection and try out new colors. This sale will run through April 25 at 11:59 p.m. Central Time.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "‌iPhone 17‌ Air" will be.

The ‌iPhone 17‌ Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick (with a thicker camera bar area), making it the thinnest iPhone to date. With the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ models rumored to be around 8.725mm thick, there will be a notable difference between the ‌iPhone 17‌ Air and the rest of the ‌iPhone 17‌ models.

Hilsenteger was impressed by the thinness of the ‌iPhone 17‌ Air, speculating on whether it would bend because of the minimal casing. Rumors suggest that Apple will use a titanium and aluminum chassis for the iPhone, with the aim of ensuring it's strong enough not to bend. Back in 2014, Apple dealt with "bendgate" after some users found that the iPhone 6 Plus started bending from being tucked inside a pocket. Hilsenteger's YouTube channel even went viral after he did one of the original iPhone 6 bend test videos.

Apple also decided to keep the display size to 6.6 inches because of fears that a larger display would make the ‌iPhone 17‌ Air too susceptible to bending. Originally, Apple wanted to use a 6.9-inch display, which would put sizing on par with the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max. That Apple tweaked display size during development suggests it took the potential for bending into account while creating the super thin iPhone.

Hilsenteger also questioned what the ‌iPhone 17‌ Air's battery life will be like because of the thinness of the design, but Apple is eliminating features like extra camera lenses in order to ensure enough room for the battery, as well as using a more efficient Apple-designed C1 modem and optimizing through software. Battery life is expected to be on par with current iPhone models.

More on what's expected from the ‌iPhone 17‌ Air models can be found in our iPhone 17 Air roundup.

Apple today seeded the second public betas of upcoming iOS 18.5, iPadOS 18.5, and macOS Sequoia 15.5 updates, allowing the public to test the updates ahead of when they see an official launch. The public betas come a day after Apple provided the third betas to developers.

Public beta testers can download the updates from the Settings app on each device after opting into the beta through Apple's public beta testing website.

iOS 18.5 and macOS Sequoia 15.5 are relatively minor updates, and few new features have been discovered. The iOS Mail app has options for toggling off Contact Photos and Group by Sender for a look that's more like the iOS 17 Mail app, and there are some minor changes to how AppleCare info is displayed.

The software likely focuses on bug fixes and security improvements that are not outward facing. We're expecting Apple to release iOS 18.5, iPadOS 18.5, and macOS Sequoia 15.5 sometime in May.

Upon the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple discontinued the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. Despite arriving two and a half years apart, the iPhone 16e actually borrows a large number of features from the iPhone 14. Many iPhone 14 users may now be considering an upgrade to Apple's latest iPhone, so is it worth it?

The iPhone 16e's frame is the same shape and size as that of the iPhone 14, and it also carries over its notch, display, and more. Yet there are 35 notable differences between the devices. Here's everything that's different between the iPhone 14 and iPhone 16e:

iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus (2022)	iPhone 16e (2025)
Aluminum chassis with squared-off edges	Aluminum chassis with contoured edges
Glossy glass back	Color-infused frosted glass back
6.1- or 6.7-inch display	6.1-inch display
Available in Yellow, Blue, Purple, (PRODUCT)RED, Starlight, and Midnight	Available in White and Black
Ring/Silent switch	Action button
12-megapixel main camera with ƒ/1.5 aperture	48-megapixel main camera with ƒ/1.6 aperture
	24- and 48-megapixel super-high-resolution photos
12-megapixel Ultra Wide camera
0.5x or 1x optical zoom options	1x or 2x optical zoom options
Sensor-shift optical image stabilization	Optical image stabilization
Smart HDR 4	Smart HDR 5
Macro photography
Night mode and Night mode portraits	Improved Night mode and Night mode portraits
Cinematic mode for recording videos with shallow depth of field (up to 4K Dolby Vision at 30 fps)
Action mode
	Improved audio quality on phone calls
	Wind noise reduction
	Audio Mix
Stereo recording	Spatial Audio and stereo recording
A15 Bionic chip with 5-core GPU	A18 chip with 4-core GPU
	Apple Intelligence support
	Visual intelligence
Qualcomm Snapdragon X70 modem	Apple C1 modem
mmWave 5G connectivity
Thread connectivity
Ultra Wideband chip for Precision Finding
	Precision Finding for Find My friends
20- or 26-hour battery life	26-hour battery life
Lightning port	USB-C port
MagSafe wireless charging up to 15W with 20W adapter or higher
	Setting to prevent charging above 80%
	Battery manufacture date, first use, and cycle count information in Settings
Compatible with ‌MagSafe‌ cases, wallets, wireless chargers, and more
Now discontinued	Starts at $599
Released September 2022	Released March 2025

The iPhone 16e represents a good move for iPhone 14 users, with significant enhancements such as the Action button, 48-megapixel camera, A18 chip, ‌Apple Intelligence‌ support, Visual intelligence, and much longer battery life. However, the iPhone 14 should continue to be useable for a while longer. As a result, it may be better to wait for when the iPhone 16 drops in price upon the launch of the iPhone 17 lineup if you want a more substantial upgrade, or even a future "iPhone 17e" model.

The only substantial losses when upgrading from the iPhone 14 to the iPhone 16e are the Ultra Wide camera, ‌MagSafe‌ connectivity, mmWave 5G connectivity, the Ultra Wideband chip, and fewer color options. If you feel these features are vital, you should consider purchasing an ‌iPhone 16‌ instead of an iPhone 16e, although this will add to the price. The iPhone 15 is also a good option, since it offers all of these features that are missing on the iPhone 16e, but at the expense of features like ‌Apple Intelligence‌ support and prolonged battery life.