MagSafe is not included in the iPhone 16e because “most people in the iPhone 16e’s target audience exclusively charge their phones by plugging them into a charging cable.”
…well how did they determine that?
Poor people obviously can’t afford a MagSafe charger. Target market is poor people who can’t afford a $1000 phone. Ergo.
But seriously, i suspect that it’s something along those lines. People who hold onto their phone longer and/or buy older model phones may not use MagSafe. Personally, I only use it in the car. I’m not a huge fan of the idea of charging losses, and I’ve had trouble finding chargers that fit my desires (ie desk charger; I don’t own a watch or AirPods).
If their target market is poor people why did they increase the price by $170 USD?
I suspect it’s for all the usual reasons. They explicitly removed features to create a distinction from higher end models and hit a specific price point. Same reason the iPhone 16 gets archaic file transfer speeds.
Artificial segmentation is definitely part of the reasons. However I would have imagined that potential magsafe accessory sales and the (minor) additional longterm lock-in effect into the ecosystem those provide might be large enough to outweigh the need to cut this particular feature.
The archaic file transfer speeds serve the additional purpose of up selling iCloud storage to customers. Particularly those, who dare to use a windows or Linux PC, which make transferring anything a pain.
Predictable.
Then again, the only MagSafe accessory I have is my phone case; I’d argue that Apple’s reasoning applies to most iPhone users, not just the 16e’s target audience.
I’m really still struggling to understand who the 16e’s target audience is, really. It’s too expensive for the SE crowd, and missing the Pro features. Is it really a 16 adjusted to be what the 16 should have been?
*edjusted
I wonder if they want a lower volume product to roll out their in-house modem for the first time, so positioned it a bit awkward like that on purpose.
I see the “e” in the 16e as “essential”, so I guess it makes sense if MagSafe is regarded as a bit of a luxury. However, MagSafe has made wireless charging so much simpler that it’s something of a game changer.
