I’d buy this iPhone over any Android phone for my parents

I love to obsess over new iPhone releases as much as I do for new Android flagships, but not everyone cares about smartphones as much. If your life doesn’t revolve around tech, you’ll find that phones have become increasingly complex and overkill. Huge sizes to accommodate big displays, multiple cameras shrouded in megapixels and marketing, AI this and AI that, and a price tag that breaks the bank — it can be rather overwhelming to pick your next smartphone if you see them merely as a tool to use and not a cult to follow.

A large part of the world just wants a phone for simpler use cases like basic apps, media and social media consumption, and the occasional calls and texts. My parents are part of this demography, and to them, spending over $1,000 on a fragile phone every couple of years is a rightfully preposterous idea.

For a long time, the base iPhones were my go-to recommendations for people like them who just wanted a clean and simple phone to use as a tool. However, the base iPhone 16 at $799 is an expensive option for their simple use case.

Enter the iPhone 16e, a phone that manages to tick a lot of boxes thanks to its no-nonsense approach.

The iPhone 16e’s biggest advantage against the iPhone 14, the iPhone 15, and even Android competitors is that it comes with Apple’s A18 chip, making it a powerful but affordable option for those who don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on a phone.

Having Apple’s latest generation SoC (albeit in a slightly gimped avatar) on a $599 device gives my parents an option to have a cheaper iPhone that works almost just as well as the regular iPhone 16, gets updated for as long, and should continue to have a rich feature set in the years to come. It helps them avoid getting relegated to an older iPhone just for budget’s sake. If Apple Intelligence becomes indispensable in the coming years, the iPhone 16e will remain as relevant as the 16, unlike the iPhone 14 and 15, which will never get any AI features.

There’s also the matter of gaming. My parents aren’t the audience for a gaming smartphone, but they do spend a lot of time putting together digital jigsaw puzzles and matching candies on Candy Crush. The iPhone 16e’s A18 chip is absolutely fantastic for this job, with the right amount of overkill processing to ensure they can continue Sudoku-ing for years.

The phone also has a pretty great battery life, so my dad can spend less time hugging the wall when he decides it’s time for Gardenscapes and Two Dots. The 60Hz display is the only thorn on the phone’s side, and Apple is inexcusably behind the curve there.

For cameras, my mom has loved the iPhone 16e’s simplicity. Even though this is technically the “worst” camera in the iPhone 16 lineup, it is still pretty good for snapping the occasional picture of my nephews when they come over, showing off the lovely Chicken Biryani she made before Eid over on a video call, or any documents that need scanning ever so often. There aren’t a ton of options in the camera interface to confuse her, and there are no zoom levels to obsess over, leaving her free to simply point and shoot. Give the iPhone 16e’s camera enough light, and it works without any frills, and that’s precisely what is needed in this case.

My parents also appreciated that the iPhone 16e is (relatively) compact and lightweight, at 167g, but still premium and not flimsy. These are important characteristics for people who don’t want to carry bricks in their pockets and also for those who are facing a general decline in their motor skills as they inevitably age. I’ve witnessed both of them handling the iPhone 16e with confidence and grace, something that I don’t see when I hand them my Pixel 9 Pro XL or Galaxy S24 Ultra. Big and heavy phones are just not for them, and while phones like the Galaxy S25 would be perfect, they aren’t the best choice because of their added complexity and $800 price tag.

Apple’s excellent after-sales service is one of the biggest reasons I am considering the iPhone 16e for my parents. It’s incredible and truly unmatched by anything on the Android side of the market, and I say this as a decade-long Android user who has spent many unfortunate hours dealing with customer care. Apple is known for charging a premium for its products, but when it comes to my parents, I will take the peace of mind of knowing that they are well taken care of if they ever break their phone or just need some patient troubleshooting support.

Apple also has widely available AppleCare Plus, which is excellent for covering accidental damage in the initial years of ownership. Apple’s warranty is also international, so I am relatively worry-free if something befalls during my parents’ trips abroad.

But going to Apple isn’t the only option if something breaks. Compared to most popular Android flagships, iPhones are generally easier to repair and service, to the point of ubiquity. You can easily find iPhone spare parts years after the phones have launched and locate skilled iPhone repair technicians in practically every city on the planet.

Yes, you can also repair a Pixel, and Google does sell spare parts. However, not every technician has experience repairing a Pixel, and my parents certainly aren’t going to attempt to self-repair by looking up guides on iFixit. Google has also made grand promises to ensure spare parts availability late in the product cycle, but do you trust Google to follow through? Only time will tell, but I can’t risk that with my father’s wallet.

Another point in Apple’s kitty is that iOS has better guardrails than Android. Yes, Android has progressed a ton in keeping users secure and stopping them from installing harmful apps from random pop-ups or ads, but I appreciate iOS’s walled garden more, and it’s better to be safe than sorry in this case.

Apple also shows impeccable resistance to switching things around in iOS. All the minute Android changes that I love to dig into and track as an Android journalist are a hellish experience for my parents. They just want things to work like they always did; they don’t care for icon changes, reorganized settings, or Google’s incessant need to redesign the quick settings shade or its various apps. I realized Apple and iOS’s stagnancy works out wonderfully when I had to explain to my parents why the power button no longer shut down their Android phones.

The beauty of Android lies in its choice, but it’s fair to say that we don’t have a lot of uncomplicated phones that make similar spec decisions as the iPhone 16e. Samsung’s latest phones, like the Galaxy S25 or even the Galaxy S24 FE, are a bit too complicated and/or expensive for what they are. If you move further down the mid-range, you end up greatly compromising on performance and long-term usability.

A phone like the Nexus 5 with its flagship Snapdragon chip would be almost perfect in this era — simple and undemanding. Yes, Google just launched the Pixel 9a, which is cheaper than the iPhone 16e, but it’s a phone that is bigger, heavier, slower, arguably more complex, and there are still considerations like after-sales servicing that Google has yet to nail down.

Apple has perfected the iPhone 16e as the simple iPhone for most people. When will Android get its true iPhone 16e competitor?