No Ultra Wideband Chip

Along the same lines as MagSafe, the iPhone 16e entirely lacks an Ultra Wideband chip. To be clear, it’s not just missing the latest “U2” chip from the iPhone 15 era; it doesn’t even have the U1 that was first added to the iPhone 11 in 2019.

Again, that’s something that the iPhone SE has never had, even though two models were released in the U1 era. Apologists may suggest it’s another problem with Apple’s new C1 modem chip, but we’re chalking it up to another cost-cutting measure.

The lack of a U1/U2 chip shouldn’t be a deal breaker for most people. In practical terms, this means you won’t get precision finding for AirTags, so you’ll have to rely on making them emit a sound and tracking them audibly. There’s also no support for Apple’s precision friend-finding feature, which requires the newer Ultra Wideband chip that was introduced in the iPhone 15.

iPhone 16e owners also won’t be able to take advantage of Car Key and Home Key features that rely on Ultra Wideband. That shouldn’t be a big problem considering that Car Key support is limited to higher-end BMW, Genesis, and Mercedes vehicles, and we have yet to see the first UWB Home Key locks arrive.