Apple Unveils iPhone 17e

Alongside the M4 iPad Air, Apple has announced the iPhone 17e. Apple’s budget smartphone model features the A19 chip, the C1X cellular modem (which Apple says is 2× faster than the 16e’s C1), and a 48MP Fusion Camera, and it starts at $599.

Kaiann Drance, Vice President of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing, is quoted in Apple press release as saying:

iPhone 17e combines powerful performance and features our users love at an exceptional value, making it a compelling option for customers looking to upgrade to the iPhone 17 family. We know our customers want a product that will last, and iPhone 17e delivers just that. With A19 for incredible performance, double the entry storage, a smarter camera system, and enhanced durability, iPhone 17e is designed to stay fast, secure, and valuable for years to come.

The iPhone 17e also includes Apple’s Ceramic Shield 2 to protect the front of the device, an improved anti-reflective coating, and IP68 water resistance. The OLED display measures 6.1” diagonally and can achieve up to 1200 nits of peak brightness when using HDR. We’ve seen the A19 before, but as a refresher, it’s a 6-core, 3-nanometer process chip with a 4-core GPU with Neural Accelerators and a 16-core Neural Engine.

The camera is Apple’s 48MP Fusion camera with a 2× cropped telephoto mode. The camera can take 48MP images but defaults to 24MP. Other familiar camera features are available, too, including Night mode, the latest generation of Apple’s HDR processing, and Portrait mode.

Unlike the iPhone 16e, the 17e also supports MagSafe and Qi2 wireless charging at up to 15W. When used with a 20W or more wired charger, the 17e will fast-charge, too, filling the battery to 50% in about 30 minutes.

The iPhone 17e, which can be ordered beginning March 4, starts at $599 with 256GB of storage and comes in black, white, and soft pink matte finishes, with the option to upgrade to 512GB of storage. Deliveries and in-store availability begin March 11.