The iPhone’s distinctly mixed year continues, with a report on social media this week claiming that the iPhone 16e is in the same poor-sales category as the divisive iPhone Air.
In a Weibo post, the popular rumor account Fixed Focus Digital wrote (via Google translation) that “the iPhone Air and iPhone 16E haven’t sold very well, and iPhone’s attempt to lower prices has failed.”
Whereas Apple is believed to have responded to the Air’s struggles by delaying or cancelling the second version of the product, Fixed Focus says the follow-up to the iPhone 16e is still on track for “a normal spring iteration.” Presumably, that means spring 2026, since the account refers to the product as the iPhone 17e.
Don’t shed too many tears for Apple’s accountants. Reports suggest that the iPhone 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max are all selling healthily, and there’s no doubt that Tim Cook would give up any number of 16e sales to shift an equivalent number of far more profitable premium phones. In fact, Apple’s most recent quarterly earnings report set a record with revenue of $102.5 billion
In any case Fixed Focus doesn’t offer a source for its assertion, so it should be taken with a pinch of salt until we get corroboration. But it doesn’t come as a total surprise.
As I explained in my review, the issue is that the 16e has many of the compromises of a budget phone, but without a truly budget price. The often-derided iPhone 5c ended up being moderately successful because it was, by Apple’s standards, cheap and cheerful. The iPhone SE was popular because you could buy one for $429. But the 16e starts at $599 despite having a single rear camera lens and no MagSafe. You can see why customers would be unimpressed.
Author: David Price, Editor, Macworld
David has been writing about technology for well over two decades, and got on board the Apple hype train when covering the original iPhone launch in 2007. He is an enthusiastic Apple Watch evangelist and feels that the HomePod is misunderstood.