The iPhone 17e is official, and based mostly on what we’re seeing on paper, it might be one among Apple’s greatest sub-$600 telephones but. This new inexpensive handset retains the modern design and promising efficiency of final 12 months’s iPhone 16e, all whereas addressing a few of our largest want checklist objects, together with handy MagSafe charging, twice the beginning storage and a pretty new colour choice.
Is this the appropriate iPhone for you? And can it tackle more and more sturdy price range competitors just like the just-launched Google Pixel 10a? Here’s every little thing you should know concerning the iPhone 17e earlier than it goes up for preorder on March 4 and hits shops on March 11 alongside the brand new iPad Air M4.
The iPhone 17e improves on Apple’s $599 cellphone with the addition of wi-fi MagSafe charging, twice the beginning storage of its predecessor and quicker processors.
Same slick design, now with MagSafe and a pleasant new colour
Last 12 months’s iPhone 16e acquired numerous issues proper out of the gate, together with a premium-feeling design, a pointy 6.1-inch OLED show, quick efficiency and many of the key options of the usual, more costly iPhone 16. As such, it’s no shock to see Apple merely refine issues for 2026, with even higher inner specs and a handful of perks that carry the 17e even nearer in parity to its premium counterparts.
Its aluminum design is essentially unchanged, although I welcome the addition of the engaging new Pink Gold choice after knocking the 16e for under coming in primary black and white. The Action button is again, providing you with a handy solution to do issues like open the digital camera app or Shazam a music with a single click on. But the one largest change, at the least in my view, is the addition of MagSafe charging. This will can help you simply snap in your favourite MagSafe battery pack or wired MagSafe puck for handy wi-fi charging, with out having to spring for a particular case or adapter this time round. It’s among the finest iPhone options round, and whereas Google is lastly arriving to the social gathering with its personal PixelSnap tech, you received’t discover such performance on the price range Pixel 10a.
Faster speeds, more storage and an upgraded digital camera
The iPhone 17e is powered by the identical speedy A19 chip as the usual iPhone 17, which earned its spot on the prime of our best smartphones rankings thanks partially to its nice total efficiency. It’s acquired the identical 26-hour battery ranking as final 12 months’s iPhone 16e, which endured a formidable 16 hours and 32 minutes of 4K video playback on our personal battery take a look at (it even beat the usual iPhone 16 by about an hour). As such, we’re anticipating nice efficiency and battery life from Apple’s newest $600 cellphone. The iPhone 17e packs Apple’s new C1X modem that guarantees as much as twice the mobile speeds of final 12 months’s mannequin, and now begins with double the storage at 256GB versus 128GB — a welcome worth add at a time when most issues are getting more costly.
Apple’s inexpensive handset acquired a couple of digital camera upgrades for this 12 months, together with a 48-megapixel Fusion digital camera system that’s much like the one you’ll discover on the usual iPhone 17. The firm can be promising the identical “next-generation portrait” pictures with focus and depth management such as you’ll discover on its full-priced units. We discovered the iPhone 16e’s total digital camera chops to be corresponding to the usual iPhone 16, although its restricted zoom performance was a little bit of a disadvantage, and nothing’s altering in that division for the 17e.
The iPhone 16e was a superb reentry into the price range cellphone house for Apple, however the iPhone 17e is shaping as much as be the cellphone we actually needed final 12 months’s to be. Changes like MagSafe charging and twice the beginning storage make a significant distinction, and we all the time welcome more colour choices for people who need a cellphone that appears enjoyable. Couple that with a premium iPhone design and the identical nice efficiency chops because the common iPhone 17, and you will have a critical contender for the title of greatest price range cellphone.
However, the iPhone 17e faces sturdy competitors from the newly launched Google Pixel 10a, which makes our present price range choose within the Pixel 9a even higher and is available in at $100 much less. And if options just like the Camera Control button, the handy Dynamic Island for at-a-glance information and a clean ProMovement show matter to you, chances are you’ll need to think about springing the additional $200 for an iPhone 17. We’ll have a a lot more definitive verdict on the iPhone 17e as soon as we get our palms on one, so keep tuned for more.
Our favourite total MagSafe battery pack may give your iPhone a speedy wi-fi cost and has an built-in USB-C cable for wired charging.
This clear-but-durable case was one among our favorites for the iPhone 16e, and it will additionally match the 17e simply high quality.
Our favourite USB-C charger for telephones, this Belkin mannequin gives two ports and is ideal for making the most of the iPhone 17e’s improved charging speeds.
The iPhone 17e goes up for preorder on March 4, with a full release to comply with on March 11.
The largest additions to the iPhone 17e in comparison with final 12 months’s mannequin embody MagSafe charging, a brand new Pink Gold colour, double the beginning storage and the newest A19 processor for even quicker efficiency. Otherwise, this new cellphone sports activities the identical total design and characteristic set because the iPhone 16e.
NCS Underscored has a workforce of expert writers and editors who’ve a few years of expertise testing, researching and recommending merchandise, and we guarantee every article is fastidiously edited and merchandise are correctly vetted. We speak to prime specialists when related to make sure our product testing is correct as we converse to the professionals and cons of every merchandise.
NCS Underscored senior tech editor Mike Andronico has written product reviews of tech devices for 13 years, and has been monitoring and overlaying all issues Apple for simply as lengthy. He can’t wait to bother his associates as he brings his iPhone 17e (and a bunch of different telephones) in every single place he goes for testing.