I’ve used the brand new budget iPhone 17e – should you make it your next buy over the iPhone 17?

At the London leg of the Apple Event (for the launch of the MacBook Neo) we also got the chance to get hands on with iPhone 17e in the demo area. Once again, it’s impressive for a mid-range smartphone, but it doesn’t offer a huge advance over last year’s decent iPhone 16e.

Does that matter? Not particularly, as nobody who bought an iPhone 16e should upgrade to this. Instead, it’s what it represents in terms of an upgrade for those using older iPhones from a few years back. Indeed, for anything before – say – iPhone 11, it represents a chunky step forward and it’s great value at that $599/£599 starting price.

Indeed, the design is very similar to the 16e though it’s a bit simplistic to say the outside of the device is exactly the same because it isn’t quite.

You still get the 6.1in Super Retina XDR OLED display with 60Hz and there’s still a notch at the top of the display rather than Dynamic Island. I’m slightly surprised that hasn’t changed, but it does mean there is a clear visual distinction between the 16/17e and more expensive iPhones.

What has changed is that the display is more scratch-resistant thanks to the same Ceramic Shield 2 coating also used in other iPhone 17 series phones.

There’s also this new pink colour which Apple refers to as ‘soft pink’. It definitely adds to the appeal of the 17e rather than just black and white, but I find it surprising that there’s no other alternative color such as blue.

The key upgrades are inside – MagSafe charging is very welcome and with Qi2 support as well you can now juice up wirelessly up to 15W. For many this will be the key practical advantage over its predecessor.

The storage is also doubled by default to 256GB while it uses the newer A19 chip (versus A18) and a newer version of Apple’s modem, the C1X. The camera is physically unchanged and retains the software-enabled 2x telephoto effect achieved by sensor cropping.

Instead of switching to a separate, dedicated zoom like on the more premium iPhones, the camera crops into the centre 12 megapixels of the 48 megapixel main sensor (as on the iPhone 17). The portrait mode and processing has been improved, again this is through software. The $799/£799 iPhone 17 is still a better bet for photography thanks to its additional 48MP ultra-wide rear camera (plus an 18MP front camera with Centre Stage, too).

The iPhone 17 also has a few other things in its favour if you can afford the extra $200/£200 – a bigger 6.3-inch always-on OLED display with a 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate. This display also has the Dynamic Island interface rather than the notch.

The key thing the iPhone 17e has going for it is it gives you almost all the experience of the iPhone 17 but with that cheaper price point. And even though the 17e isn’t a great leap forward over the 16e, there are some nice to haves, notably MagSafe. If you were considering a 16e before, then the 17e just makes it an even better deal.

Here’s how the iPhone 17e spec sheet stacks up against the 16e

Specification	iPhone 17e	iPhone 16e
Display size	6.1-inch OLED	6.1-inch OLED
Display resolution	2532 x 1170 pixels	2532 x 1170 pixels
Refresh rate	60Hz	60Hz
Processor	A19 chip	A18 chip
Neural Engine	Next-gen Neural Engine	Neural Engine
RAM	8GB	8GB
Storage options	256GB, 512GB	128GB, 256GB
Rear camera	48MP wide	48MP wide
Front camera	12MP TrueDepth	12MP TrueDepth
Video recording	Up to 4K Dolby Vision HDR	Up to 4K Dolby Vision HDR
Wireless charging	MagSafe and Qi2 (up to 15W)	Qi wireless charging (up to 7.5W)
Wired charging	USB-C	USB-C
Cellular modem	Apple C1X modem	Apple C1 modem
5G	Sub-6GHz	Sub-6GHz
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6E	Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 5.4	Bluetooth 5.3
Biometrics	Face ID	Face ID
Build material	Aluminium frame, glass back	Aluminium frame, glass back
Display protection	Ceramic Shield 2	Ceramic Shield
Water resistance	IP68	IP68
Operating system	iOS 19	iOS 18