Mixed reviews 😬

iPhone 16e and Powerbeats Pro 2 face real-world testing.

Author

Lewis Wallace
February 27, 2025

Early reviews of the iPhone 16e and Powerbeats Pro 2 serve up a mixed bag of pros and cons about the two new Apple products.

The iPhone 16e fares fairly well, with reviewers calling it capable enough for most users. Its best feature seems to be its battery life.

Its worst? The $599 price tag, which nearly everyone considers on the high side for a “budget” phone. Especially one that misses out on many marquee features found in the rest of the iPhone 16 lineup.

Read the review highlights to find out more about Apple’s newest iPhone.

Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds, on the other hand, come in for a bit of a drubbing. The new earbuds’ biggest feature — heart-rate monitoring — apparently doesn’t work so well. (Who wants their fitness-oriented earbuds to record accurate data? Um … everyone.)

The new Beats earbuds also apparently work better with Android devices than iPhones, which sounds pretty appalling. And here’s the biggest shocker for gym rats, as confirmed by Apple itself: “You cannot listen to music with your iPhone while also paired with the gym equipment for heart rate.”

Read our Powerbeats Pro 2 review roundup for more on what sounds like a fundamentally flawed product.

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— Lewis Wallace, managing editor

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One more thing ...

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I love it when you can bring really great design and simple capability to something that doesn't cost much... It was the original vision for Apple. That's what we tried to do with the first Mac. That's what we did with the iPod

— Steve Jobs, 2011.

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