On February 20, Beijing time, Apple launched the new iPhone 16e on its official website, available in black and white, with a starting price of CNY 4,499 for China mainland. Pre-orders will begin at 9 PM on February 21, and the phone will be officially released on February 28.
According to Apple's official website, the iPhone 16e is equipped with the Apple A18 chip and the new Apple C1, the first cellular modem designed by Apple, and supports Apple Intelligence.
For Apple, this may be a groundbreaking product: in the nascent stage of "AI phones," it expands the boundary of Apple Intelligence ahead of time; at the same time, with the application of its first self-developed baseband, it completely get rid of external constraints.
Currently, Apple's iPhone sales are under pressure. On January 31, Apple's financial report released showed that in 2024 Q4, iPhone revenue was USD 69.14 billion (CNY 502.31 billion), down 0.8% year-on-year; revenue in China was USD 8.51 billion (CNY 61.85 billion), a year-on-year decline of 11.08%. The decline in revenue in China may be related to the underwhelming sales performance of the iPhone 16 series. As an AI-focused phone, Chinese consumers cannot enjoy the full functionality of Apple Intelligence.
To address the decline in sales in China, Alibaba co-founder and Chairman Joe Tsai confirmed the AI collaboration between Alibaba and Apple at the World Government Summit 2025 in Dubai on February 13, local time, which means iPhones sold in China by Apple will adopt Alibaba's artificial intelligence technology.
This is Apple's first relatively inexpensive phone launch compared to the autumn's new models in nearly three years, following the release of the iPhone SE 3 in March 2022. China Securities Co., Ltd. (CSC) believes that the launch of Apple's new low-priced model at this time is expected to reduce the pressure on Apple's shipments during the off-season and will also accelerate the penetration and popularization of Apple Intelligence.