Apple’s plan to sell you the iPhone 17e basically seems to be that it’s the most affordable option

The iPhone 17e, almost certainly coming out early next year, will be the budget successor to the iPhone 16e, which replaced the iPhone SE models this February. However, if you were hoping for some grand improvements and updates, you’ll be slightly disappointed with what the 17e is actually offering.The iPhone 16e looks like the iPhone 14, so at least in this aspect, the iPhone 17e is making a big jump: it will look a lot more like the base model iPhone 16. This means that the notch will be replaced with the Dynamic Island, and the 17e will look a lot more like a modern iPhone than its predecessor.

But that’s pretty much where the upgrades seem to stop for the most part. According to initial leaks (translated source) from within the supply chain, the iPhone 17e will have the same display as the base model of the iPhone 16 series. Which means that the 17e will have a 6.1 inch OLED panel with a refresh rate of only 60 Hz.

Furthermore, the cameras will also be the same as the iPhone 16e, as far as we know. The processor will see an improvement, of course, as the phone will use the A19 chip instead of the A18. We may also see the second generation of Apple’s in-house cellular modem, if we don’t already get to see it in action with some of the iPhone 17 models this September.

From the leaked specs, it seems that the main selling point for the iPhone 17e will just be the fact that it’s the most affordable model in the iPhone 17 lineup. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, and many people will be glad to buy the 17e instead of its more expensive counterparts.

The only problem I see here is that the iPhone 17e may just end up costing more than the iPhone 16e. We already pretty much know that the iPhone 17 Pro will be $50 more expensive this year, and there’s a lot of time till the release of the 17e for external factors to mess up Apple’s pricing plans.