iPhone 16e lags behind its SE series predecessors in sales

The new iPhone 16e, which was released in February 2025, has become one of the most popular smartphones in Europe, but its sales are not up to the results of previous SE series models.

Here's What We Know

According to Counterpoint Research, in March, the iPhone 16e became the 9th best-selling smartphone in Europe. It accounted for 8% of all iPhone sales in the region and 2% of the overall smartphone market. In Western Europe, the device was even more popular - 7th in the ranking.

For comparison, the 3rd generation iPhone SE (2022) was in 6th place in its debut month and had a 12% share of Apple's sales in Europe, and the 2nd generation SE (2020) was in 3rd place with 19% of sales. Thus, the iPhone 16e is 17% behind the SE (2022) and 20% behind the SE (2020).

Analysts say the main reason for the decline in sales is the much higher starting price of €699, which is almost €200 more than the SE (2022). In addition, European mid-segment customers are increasingly choosing refurbished or used iPhones, which makes it difficult for Apple to increase sales of new models.

The new iPhone 16e is powered by the flagship A18 chip, which delivers high performance, energy efficiency and support for Apple Intelligence. The 6-core processor is 80% faster than the A13 Bionic used in the iPhone 11 and easily handles any task - from everyday use to working with AI functions.

Source: Counterpoint Research