iPhone 17e review: Apple upgrades its cheapest new smartphone

## Summary
Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian View image in fullscreen The iPhone 17e offers the familiar Apple experience with modern chips in an older design. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian Review iPhone 17e review: Apple upgrades its cheapest new smartphone Mid-range handset gets chip, storage and MagSafe upgrades to offer more essential iOS features for less The cheapest new iPhone has been upgraded for this year with a faster chip, double the storage, automatic portraits and MagSafe, providing even more of the core Apple smartphone experience for less. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian Specifications Screen: 6.1in Super Retina XDR (OLED) (460ppi) Processor: Apple A19 (4-core GPU) RAM: 8GB Storage: 256 or 512GB Operating system: iOS 26 Camera: 48MP rear; 12MP front-facing Connectivity: 5G, wifi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C, Satellite and GNSS Water resistance: IP68 (6 metres for 30 mins) Dimensions: 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8mm Weight: 170g Fast chip and long battery life View image in fullscreen The 17e has the Action Button, which can be used to toggle silent, turn on the torch, open the camera or a number of other features. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian The 17e has the A19 chip from the regular iPhone 17 but with one less GPU core, which reduces graphics performance slightly.

## Article Content
The iPhone 17e offers the familiar Apple experience with modern chips in an older design.
Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
View image in fullscreen
The iPhone 17e offers the familiar Apple experience with modern chips in an older design.
Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
Review
iPhone 17e review: Apple upgrades its cheapest new smartphone
Mid-range handset gets chip, storage and MagSafe upgrades to offer more essential iOS features for less
The cheapest new
iPhone
has been upgraded for this year with a faster chip, double the storage, automatic portraits and MagSafe, providing even more of the core Apple smartphone experience for less.
The iPhone 17e is an upgraded version of the mid-range “e” line launched last year with the
first iPhone 16e
and is the latest member of the
iPhone 17
family. It starts at £599 (€699/$599/A$999), undercutting the iPhone 17 and
iPhone 16
by £200 and £100 respectively to be the cheapest new iPhone sold by Apple.
The new 17e is the spitting image of the model it replaces, giving it the older
iPhone 14
-like design with a large notch at the top of the screen and a slower 6.1in OLED screen. The aluminium sides feel great and the screen glass has been upgraded to the latest Ceramic Shield 2, which is tougher and includes an extremely effective anti-glare treatment that makes it a lot easier to see outdoors.
View image in fullscreen
The 17e has MagSafe built into the back for magnetic accessories, such as Popsockets, wallets and chargers, which have been a key part of the
iPhone experience since 2020
.
Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
Specifications
Screen:
6.1in Super Retina XDR (OLED) (460ppi)
Processor:
Apple
A19 (4-core GPU)
RAM:
8GB
Storage:
256 or 512GB
Operating system:
iOS 26
Camera:
48MP rear; 12MP front-facing
Connectivity:
5G, wifi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C, Satellite and GNSS
Water resistance:
IP68 (6 metres for 30 mins)
Dimensions:
146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8mm
Weight:
170g
Fast chip and long battery life
View image in fullscreen
The 17e has the Action Button, which can be used to toggle silent, turn on the torch, open the camera or a number of other features.
Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The 17e has the A19 chip from the regular iPhone 17 but with one less GPU core, which reduces graphics performance slightly. Not that anyone will probably notice, as the phone is very fast and still capable of handling top-spec games. It also has a decent 256GB of storage as standard, which should be enough space for most with additional cloud backup.
The battery life is great, too, lasting a good 52 hours between charges with general usage across 5G and wifi, meaning most will need to charge it every other night.
The 17e lacks a few of the more advanced hardware features common to Apple’s other phones, including wifi 7, Thread and Ultra Wideband (UWB), the latter of which is used for the
precision finding tool
and for some digital car keys, among other features.
Sustainability
View image in fullscreen
The single camera on the back may be a deal killer for some.
Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The battery
should last in excess of 1,000 full-charge cycles
, with at least 80% of its original capacity, and can be
replaced for £95
. Out-of-warranty
screen repairs cost £225
. The 17e has repair guides available and was awarded
seven out of 10 for repairability
by the specialists iFixit.
It contains more than 30% recycled material including aluminium, cobalt, copper, glass, gold, lithium, plastic, rare earth elements, steel, tin and tungsten. The company breaks down the
phone’s environmental impact
in its report, and offers trade-in and free recycling schemes including for non-Apple products.
Camera
View image in fullscreen
The 17e has the same familiar camera app as other iPhones but lacks ultrawide and telephoto options.
Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The 17e has a single 48MP camera on the back and therefore, like the iPhone Air, lacks ultrawide and telephoto options, which means if you physically cannot move back or forwards to your subject you will not be able to get the shot.
The camera at least captures good photos across a range of lighting conditions and can manage a 2x crop zoom for a tiny bit of magnification. It also now automatically captures portrait shots from the main photo mode, allowing you to change the focus and depth of a picture after the fact. The 17e lacks a macrophotography mode, which is a shame. It also has the same 12MP selfie camera from older iPhones, which is fine, rather than Apple’s latest 18MP automatic panning Centre Stage camera.
Price
The iPhone 17e costs from
£599
(€699/
$599
/
A$999
) with 256GB of storage.
For comparison, the
iPhone 17
costs
£799
, the
iPhone Air
costs
£999
, the
Google Pixel 10a
costs
£499
and the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE costs
£499
.
Verdict
Apple is slowly adding more of the core iPhone features to its cheaper “e” line, which makes the iPhone 17e a better buy than last year’s iPhone 16e.
That includes most

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
- The aluminium sides feel great and the screen glass has been upgraded to the latest Ceramic Shield 2, which is tougher and includes an extremely effective anti-glare treatment that makes it a lot easier to see outdoors.

### Areas for Consideration
N/A

### Implications
- Not that anyone will probably notice, as the phone is very fast and still capable of handling top-spec games.
- It also has a decent 256GB of storage as standard, which should be enough space for most with additional cloud backup.
- The battery life is great, too, lasting a good 52 hours between charges with general usage across 5G and wifi, meaning most will need to charge it every other night.
- Sustainability View image in fullscreen The single camera on the back may be a deal killer for some.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers iphone, camera, apple topics. Notable strengths include discussion of iphone. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 1075.