iPhone 17e: 5 reasons to buy and 3 to skip
The iPhone 17e is officially here, and the return of that $599 price tag has some people wondering if we’ll ever see a truly budget-conscious iPhone again. There’s a lot more to spend, especially considering the iPhone 17 is, at least, $200 more. So is it worth it?
We’re here to help you find that out. The iPhone 17e may add some much-needed upgrades, while offering everything the iPhone 16e can, but making some trade-offs to lower the price.
Reasons to buy
I’m a little worried that the iPhone 17e still costs $599, but I like the fact that Apple copied one of its best ideas in the iPhone 17. That is, it doubled the amount of basic storage without increasing the price. So while the 256GB iPhone 16e would cost $699, the equivalent iPhone 17e is actually $100 less.
As someone who struggles to keep enough free space on a 128GB phone, the fact that Apple offers this upgrade at no extra cost is very exciting. It’s incredibly generous of a phone company to do something like this, so it’s worth celebrating when it happens.
MagSafe
Every iPhone Apple sells officially supports its own magnetic wireless charging standard for the first time, and that’s pretty exciting. The biggest advantage to have is that MagSafe officially doubles the speed of wireless charging, allowing the iPhone 17e to charge up to 15W instead of the 7.5W the iPhone 16e had to suffer from.
Magnetic rings on both phone and charger also ensure perfect alignment, improving the efficiency of the charging session. Less energy is lost as heat, which increases your charging speed and prevents your phone from getting hotter than it should. And, of course, you can get magnetic accessories and stop whenever you want.
The iPhone 17e also supports Qi2 at 15W, opening up a number of chargers and accessories beyond what Apple has stepped up to in its approval.
Available in pink now
The problem with the iPhone 16e and the iPhone SEs that preceded it is that Apple didn’t really get creative with the colors. You got a black, white and maybe a red model later if you were lucky. So the fact that the iPhone 17e is available in light pink is cause for celebration.
At the very least, it means you can enjoy more color on your phone without using a case or accessories.
A19 operation
Apple doesn’t compromise on performance with the iPhone 17e, and the obvious upgrade from the iPhone 16e’s A18 chipset is the A19. It’s the same A19 you’ll find in the iPhone 17, and it managed to impress during benchmark performance tests.
We haven’t had a chance to test the iPhone 17e for ourselves, but if it can come close to the iPhone 17’s scores, we’ll be very happy. Especially in the photography department.
A durable display
Another upgrade that has been rolled out directly to the entire iPhone 17 series is the addition of Apple’s Ceramic Shield 2 display glass. According to Apple it is 3x more scratch resistant than the first generation Ceramic Shield.
In fact, the glass is so tough that noted phone abuser JerryRigEverything was able to make light scratches at level 7 on the Mohs hardness scale. Most phone screens go up to level 5 or 6, which just goes to show how much better Apple’s formula seems to be. This should prove to be very beneficial for the iPhone 17e.
Does it mean you can bypass the screen protector? Maybe not, but if you decide to go with a bare screen, you should go a lot better than buying an iPhone 16e.
Reasons for skipping
$599 is not cheap
There are a lot of good features here, including more storage, but it’s debatable whether this device is worth $600. Especially when you consider that the iPhone 17 offers a lot more for an extra $200, and can be found with some kind of deal or discount if you look hard enough. To top it all off, mid-range and mid-range phones like the Google Pixel 10a, Samsung Galaxy A56 and flagship budget phones offer comparable features and performance for under $500.
One camera
It’s rare to find a phone that only comes with one camera these days. Especially at the $599 price point. Yes, there’s a 2x “optical quality” zoom feature, but you don’t get a super-wide camera or a macro mode.
To make matters worse, it doesn’t look like the camera has had any meaningful updates this year. You get a single 48MP camera on the back and a 12MP camera on the front. You should enjoy better-looking portraits with improved segmentation and a natural-looking bokeh effect, complete with focus and depth control. But otherwise there is not much new.
There is not much improvement
It should come as no surprise to anyone that the new phone has arrived feeling almost identical to its predecessor. While the iPhone 17e offers more notable improvements than the Pixel 10a, it doesn’t have all the new features it has to offer. There are a few standard upgrades like the A19 chipset, MagSafe and more, but for the most part, it seems to offer a very similar package to last year.
Admittedly, we can’t do a full comparison without properly testing the iPhone 17e, and doing Tom’s Guide’s full review. But on paper, it looks like Apple hasn’t done much to try to make the iPhone 17e stand out. Considering the iPhone 16e may drop in price in the coming days and weeks, you might want to save some extra cash and try to get one of those before it sells out for good.
Outlook
There are many reasons to be interested in the iPhone 17e, especially if you haven’t bought a new iPhone in a very long time. Compared to the iPhone SE, or something older like the iPhone 13, this phone has a lot to offer without much compromise.
But at the same time, it’s hard to get over the fact that Apple doesn’t offer much new. And it doesn’t really offer a cheap, well-priced iPhone like it did with the iPhone SE series. It may cost less than the iPhone 17, but the iPhone 17e still doesn’t feel like it has enough to justify the $599 price tag.
Only time and a full review of the phone will tell if there are any secret improvements lurking beneath the surface.
Follow up Tom’s Guide to Google News again add us as a favorite resource to get our latest news, analysis, and reviews in your feed.
