APPLE is trying to tempt you with its thrifty new iPhone 16e – and I’ve already had a go.

Currently the cheapest in Apple’s line-up, it is a bit of a spiritual ­successor to the old iPhone SE series, best-known as small, budget-friendly handsets.

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But this model has had a massive makeover (and a slight price hike), and is brimming with handy upgrades and clever features.

So, what’s new?

THE OUTSIDE

THE home button is gone. That will be the big shock for users of the old-style SE, though it was axed from the main iPhone range in 2017.

And it frees up so much more space, allowing for a generous 6.1-inch display on the 16e.

The touch ID fingerprint scanner is gone, too, replaced with a face ID sensor that scans your mug. Apple has also binned the old lightning port that first appeared with the iPhone 5.

Now we’ve got USB-C, in line with the main iPhone series and almost every other modern gadget.

Also dead is the old mute switch near the ­volume buttons, replaced with an action button, which was first seen on 2023’s iPhone 15 Pro.

You can use it for switching between ring and silent, sure.

But it can also open your camera, turn on the torch or do something else entirely of your choosing, such as launching any app, recording a voice note or identifying a song.

The iPhone 16e comes in two ­colours — white and black.

They’re safe, popular options that get a nice upgrade courtesy of a matte finish that looks great.

I’ve been using the white one and it’s beautiful. It reminds me a bit of a meringue. It’s also very lightweight.

You’ve got a 48-megapixel camera that takes lovely, impressive snaps — and seems to perform well even in ­rubbish lighting.

But Apple has also made it so the middle 12 megapixels of the camera can be used as a telephoto camera. This gives you a handy 2x zoom.

It’s an incredible camera squeezed into a relatively small and cheap device. And in the video era we now all live in, it does a brilliant job. Better still, you’ll now have a lovely OLED screen to watch stuff on.

It might even be better than your living room telly if you haven’t upgraded for a few years.

THE INSIDE

IT’S shipping with the A18 chip, which gadget fans will know is the same Apple processor inside last year’s iPhone 16.

This is an extremely powerful ­processor that will easily satisfy your needs. One perk is that you get access to Apple intelligence — a mega-upgrade packed with AI features.

It will let you create any emoji you dream of, edit people out of your selfies with a tap and give you a quick notification recap so you don’t have to read all of your texts. Dreamy!

It also means this iPhone model is fairly future-proof, as it’s on the right side of Apple’s big AI transition. And it’s a ­powerful enough chip that will keep your iOS and apps trucking for many years to come.

There are three storage options available: 128GB, 256GB or 512GB.

There’s also a brand new modem inside — the bit that lets your iPhone speak to the internet.

Apple has finally built its own modem called the C1 (after using Qualcomm chips for years) — that means it supports nippy 5G speeds and has a better battery life.

Official figures from Apple promise a whopping 26 hours of video playback. That’s even more than the 22 hours they say you’ll get from the more expensive iPhone 16.

With careful usage and a bit of low power mode, I reckon you could probably get two days out of it.

It supports fast charging (to 50 per cent in 30 minutes) if you have your USB-C cable plugged into a 20W adapter. And it’ll work with wireless chargers that use the Qi standard — as most of them do.

• The iPhone 16e starts at £599 and is available for pre-order now. It is officially released tomorrow.