What a shame the Apple iPhone 16e isn’t more fun. I don’t mean exciting, and I’m not talking about the specification, or that a modem is the most technically interesting aspect (it’s important, but modems are inherently a bit dull) of the phone. I mean fun, and I’m specifically talking about it coming in only two colors, and the ones Apple chose are as vanilla and ordinary as you can get.
Two colors
The iPhone 16e is available in black or white. These are the most Apple colors it could have chosen, and fitting as the brand which arguably launched the white smartphone craze in 2008 with the iPhone 3G, when it joined the safe choice black iPhone 3G. What’s old is new again, but things have moved on since the days of a white iPhone capturing attention. Apple has actually moved on too, as we’ll soon show, which makes the whole situation feel out of place. There just can’t be any fanfare around a new 2025 iPhone where the choice is either boring black, or overdone white.
Unlike the previous iPhone SE models Apple hasn’t even included a “Product (Red)” version of the 16e. Apple has been a long-time supporter of the global organization committed to supporting healthcare around the world, and has released a range of products including various iPhone models and even an Apple Watch band where a portion of the proceeds goes to the fund. But like the iPhone 16, no Product (Red) iPhone 16e is in sight. What a shame, as this would have instantly lifted the range.
I know what many of you are thinking. First, it’s only a color and everyone just buys the black version anyway. Second, people use cases and Apple has a range of brightly colored silicone cases in its store ready to give the iPhone 16e some pizazz. Neither points are incorrect, but neither excuse the lackluster showing, or how out of step the 16e’s basic hues are with the rest of the iPhone range.
What about the other iPhones?
Pop over to the Apple Store, whether online or in person, and you can immediately see where Apple has embraced both brightly colored, and subtly hued iPhone models over the past few years. The iPhone 15 comes in five colors — blue, pink, yellow, green, and black — and the iPhone 16 comes in similar colors with some fluffier names — Ultramarine, Teal, black, pink, and white.
It’s unfortunate such vivid choice isn’t offered with the iPhone 16 Pro models, but there are still two more shades — Desert Titanium and Natural Titanium — to go with the expected white and black titanium finishes. They look good too, and I’m still sad I didn’t order the Desert Titanium version instead of the White Titanium iPhone 16 Pro Max.
I suppose this makes me part of the problem, and adds some hypocrisy to my argument, but I went for the white version because I love the simple, classy polished titanium chassis, which isn’t available on any of the other colors. The thing is, I deliberated for a while over my choice at the time, something I could do only because there was a genuine choice.
Things were better in the past
Do two colors represent a choice? When they’re black and white, not so much, and when you scan across to the iPhone 16e on Apple’s sales page or shelves, it looks out of place among the far more colorful choices. It feels half-hearted, and does the product and the buyer a disservice. Just because it’s now the cheapest way to get a brand-new iPhone through Apple, shouldn’t mean the iPhone 16e isn’t treated well.
Right, time to shout at some clouds and say things were better back in my day. I noted Apple missed a fun chance to call the iPhone 16e the iPhone 16c, connecting it not only with the old iPhone 5c, but also referencing the new C1 modem that currently makes the 16e unique. The iPhone 5C went in a whole new direction, jazzing up the low-cost iPhone in blue, green, yellow, pink or white, and the special cases made the most out of the colors too. It made the iPhone 5C fun, but the iPhone 16e is not fun at all.
Apple’s not stupid. Fun probably doesn’t sell, but there’s obviously something in making a phone in different colors, otherwise we’d only have black and white iPhone 16 and 16 Pro models. I’m sure producing alternative colors costs more too, which won’t work on a price sensitive device like the iPhone 16e. However, adding even just one actual color to the launch lineup would have injected some much needed jollity into an otherwise ordinary-looking phone with some less than exciting specs, and may have given us more of a reason to go out and buy it instead of settling for a gently used iPhone 14, preferably in the wonderful yellow.
