In my opinion, the iPhone 16e is a test device.

Apple has owned its own 5G modem since acquiring technology from Intel for $1 billion six years ago. To test their modem, they may first use it in cheaper phones because integrating it directly into next year’s iPhone 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max models could be risky. If the modem fails, it would be a major issue, but if it succeeds, Apple could completely drop Qualcomm modems and manufacture its own. A past example of a hardware failure was the iPhone 4, which had a signal issue where covering the top of the phone with a finger would cause network loss. Apple may have feared a similar issue and decided to test the modem in a cheaper device first. Additionally, Apple may have done binning with processors, using chips with fewer cores in the iPhone 16e to minimize waste.( Same as intel or rtx ) As a multiple apple device owner I'm saying don't buy this device, get a 15 or 26 for this amount. Correct the sentence