The iPhone 16e is on its manner, and forward of the brand new cellphone’s announcement on February 19, I rounded up 4 traditional iPhone options that may seemingly be killed off by Apple’s newest mannequin. Sure, I bought the iPhone 16e’s identify mistaken in that article (iPhone SE 4, who?) however the iPhone 16e has certainly put the ultimate nail within the coffin of some beloved (and never so beloved) items of iPhone historical past.
The Home button, Touch ID, the Lightning port, and sub-6-inch shows have all been consigned to the historical past books following the iPhone 16e’s arrival, and though the iPhone 16e’s upgrades make it an objectively superior cellphone to the iPhone SE (2022), you’d be forgiven for feeling nostalgic in regards to the latter’s suite of traditional options.
But which iPhone options will you genuinely miss, and that are you glad to see the again of? To discover out, I requested the TechRadar WhatsApp channel this very query. A whopping 1,484 of you responded, and the outcomes are fairly conclusive…
As you’ll be able to see above, the Home button was the most well-liked reply by some margin. Of 1,484 respondents, 791 mentioned they’d miss the Home button probably the most, adopted by 385 for Touch ID, 191 for small iPhone screens, and 117 for the Lightning charging normal (which is sensible – Lightning sucked!).
Home button-less shows have been a characteristic of all mainline iPhones for the reason that iPhone X, however Apple’s iPhone SE fashions – together with the now-discontinued iPhone SE (2022) – had caught by this traditional piece of iPhone historical past within the identify of affordability.
As unhappy as a few of you might be to see it go, I believe we’d all agree that Apple was proper to ditch the Home button on the iPhone 16e. The firm’s gesture-based navigation is straightforward, seamless, and now not the protect of the perfect iPhones. There was a time when many individuals most well-liked the simplicity of a bodily Home button, however the sheer variety of iPhones with out one as of late makes the iPhones that do have one feel and look extremely outdated (sorry, SE homeowners).
The similar is true of Touch ID. Yes, it’d nonetheless work barely extra successfully than Face ID (some say it is sooner), however the latter expertise has improved immeasurably in recent times, and the elements wanted to facilitate Touch ID on an iPhone (learn: a Home button) simply aren’t value the price to show dimension. Would you significantly be pleased with a sub-6-inch display screen in 2025?
All informed, then, the iPhone 16e is – on paper, at the very least – an enormous enchancment over the iPhone SE (2022), not least as a result of it brings Apple’s least costly iPhone providing in step with fashionable requirements.
Sure, we’re all nostalgic for the iPhones of outdated, however that doesn’t imply they have been higher merchandise than the supercomputers we’ve in our pockets these days. As Proust mentioned, “remembrance of the previous isn’t essentially the remembrance of issues as they have been.” Maybe we have been all simply happier then…
