It was only a matter of time before we got the first sales reports for the new iPhone 16e, the latest iPhone released by Apple. It’s the model that replaced the iPhone SE generation to become the new entry-level model for the bitten apple brand. Apple can rest easy, at least in Europe, as it has achieved good numbers, making it the ninth best-selling smartphone.
The start of sales was not the best, but they picked up at the end of March in 2025
Counterpoint Research has been closely monitoring the iPhone 16e, a reading that provides a somewhat short-term perspective but is sufficiently in-depth for analysis. According to its data, it accounted for 8% of Apple’s sales and only 2% of total sales in the region last March. Looking solely at Western Europe, the iPhone 16e achieved better sales, scraping into seventh place.
Why didn’t it rank higher within its first month on sale? Counterpoint’s Associate Director, Jan Stryjak, said the “relatively high price” compared to previous entry-level generations has limited its sales in Europe.” To put this into context, the final price of the iPhone 16e is €699, a considerable increase from the €479 of the 2020 iPhone SE and the €519 of the 2022 generation. The impending increase is due to the fact that the versions
The problem is that it’s also up against a previous flagship model in the iPhone 15. While it has a few specs above the iPhone 16e, and it doesn’t matter that it’s not supported by Apple Intelligence, the iPhone 15 is in a similar price range to Apple’s latest entry-level model.
This is how it fared for other iPhone models and close competitors
Other reasons why the iPhone 16e didn’t climb higher are due to a “general market slowdown” in Europe, in addition to the fact that refurbished models have represented an important alternative when upgrading an iPhone.
In the same month of March, the iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, and iPhone 16 took the top three spots above the Galaxy S25 Ultra, S25, and S25. Before the iPhone 16e are the Galaxy A55 5G and A16 5G, models that have been in part direct competition for Apple’s entry-level iPhone, although both devices achieved 2% of sales.
Those in Cupertino can rest assured that their flagship devices are at the top of the sales charts, although if they’re focused, in part, on achieving good positions with their most affordable model, they’re far from the target. Probably because Apple Intelligence hasn’t been able to go further in terms of functionality, the iPhone 16e is just another phone within the range. That’s why the iPhone 15 still manages to sell despite not being the most up-to-date, but having a slight difference in validity. It will barely be 2 years old since its launch.