Key Takeaways:

• Features: Apple might include MagSafe on the iPhone 17E.
• Release date: Possibly at Apple's March 4 event in New York, London and Shanghai.
• Price: The iPhone 17E is rumored to start at $599, just as last year's iPhone 16E did.
• Processor: The iPhone 17E could have the A19 processor seen in the iPhone 17.
• Design: Could get the Dynamic Island and look more like an iPhone 15.

Apple's lower-cost iPhone line is expected to continue with an iPhone 17E reportedly releasing early this year. If that's true, the sequel to last year's $599 iPhone 16E has a lot of room to step up.

Some rumors point to improvements borrowed from Apple's iPhone 15, such as Dynamic Island and MagSafe. If these are true, it could make the lower-cost iPhone 17E a compelling value option with fewer trade-offs needed to hit a lower price.

Watch this: Apple's iPhone 17E Is Near: Here's What We Expect

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Apple's $599 iPhone 16E was a bit of an oddity when it was released last year. It replaced Apple's $429 iPhone SE, effectively retiring the older iPhone SE design that included a home button with Touch ID. Apple's new "budget" device was a pricier amalgamation, featuring the body of an iPhone 14 with a display notch. It also had the USB-C port from the iPhone 15 and the A18 processor from the iPhone 16 to support Apple Intelligence features. 

To save money, Apple scaled back on features by including only a single 48-megapixel main camera and omitting Apple's MagSafe clip-on capability (though it kept standard wireless charging). While the iPhone 16E is a solid starter iPhone, I found these omissions to be confusing, especially given that Apple increased the price of this entry-level iPhone from $429 to $599. 

An iPhone 17E could follow a playbook closer to Samsung's Galaxy S25 FE. It would have many of the same features as the iPhone 16 and iPhone 17, like the smaller screen notch and an A19 processor, along with smaller downgrades to the hardware that might be less noticeable. 

Apple hasn't confirmed whether an iPhone 17E exists yet, but we're keeping an eye out. Here are the rumors we've heard so far, with features that could help or hinder the more budget-friendly iPhone 17E.

Watch this: iPhone 16E Review

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iPhone 17E release date: February or March 2026

The iPhone 17E could be announced as early as February, according to a Mashable report citing the Digital Chat Station Weibo account. While this could still happen, it feels more likely that this iPhone would be part of Apple's upcoming March 4 event, which is also rumored to feature products like a lower-cost MacBook. This would align with the iPhone 16E's February 2025 announcement, establishing winter as Apple's preferred launch window for cheaper iPhone models. 

There are even rumors suggesting the base iPhone 18 will launch in the first half of 2027, but let's not get too ahead of ourselves.

iPhone 17E design: Gets a Dynamic Island

One aspect that made the iPhone 16E stand out was Apple's new design, which featured the iPhone 14's body, a USB-C port and a single camera. 

The iPhone 17E, however, will allegedly look more like 2023's iPhone 15, with a smaller Dynamic Island cutout, according to the same Digital Chat Station Weibo post. The iPhone 17E is rumored to have a 6.1-inch display with a cutout, including dynamically sized notifications for timers and app alerts, such as Uber pickups. That display could have thinner bezels surrounding it compared with the iPhone 16E, says The Elec. 

This design is corroborated by the Smart Pikachu Weibo account, which also notes that the iPhone 17E will have a 60Hz refresh rate screen rather than the 120Hz one seen across the iPhone 17 line and the iPhone Air. It'd be nice to see a 17E with a 120Hz display, dubbed ProMotion by Apple. But this is one area that could be less noticeable to people coming from a former iPhone SE or an older base model like the iPhone 14.

While Apple's ProMotion displays have been available on Pro models for years -- as well as on almost every Android phone that costs $300 and more -- the smoother animations and always-on displays it provides won't be as noticeable when switching from a phone that never had them.

iPhone 17E features: A19, MagSafe 

Apple's iPhone 17E should get the A19 processor seen in the more-expensive iPhone 17. According to Mark Gurman's Power On newsletter, the phone is expected to include the chip, which would be powerful enough for Apple Intelligence features. The iPhone 17E is also expected to get Apple's new in-house cellular and wireless chips, which would continue on from the C1 modem seen in the iPhone 16E and the C1X modem included in the iPhone Air.

It baffled me that Apple didn't include MagSafe with last year's iPhone 16E. The feature, which allows for sticking magnetic accessories like chargers and wallets without a case, has been on most iPhone models since 2020. It felt like a strange omission, since Apple contributed MagSafe's charging and magnetic profiles to the Qi2 standard, both of which are on Google's Pixel 10 phones, HMD's Skyline, and the upcoming Clicks Communicator.

The iPhone 17E is rumored to have a glass back that supports magnetic wireless charging -- likely meaning the phone would gain the ability to magnetically attach to MagSafe and Qi2 accessories, according to a report in The Information spotted by 9to5Mac. This would be a major improvement for someone coming to this phone from an iPhone SE or the iPhone 11, both of which do support Qi wireless charging but do not include magnets for attaching accessories and cases. 

While we would need more details, hopefully, the inclusion of MagSafe also means the iPhone 17E's wireless charging speed would increase to at least 15 watts, matching the iPhone 15.

iPhone 17E pricing

Apple's iPhone 17E is expected to start at $599, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. This would keep the same pricing as last year's iPhone 16E, but with the addition of new features like Apple's newer A19 processor and support for MagSafe accessories. There's no word on if storage configurations would also carryover from the iPhone 16E, but if it did then the $599 price would be for a 128GB storage model. I'm hoping the iPhone 17E starts at 256GB of storage, like the base iPhone 17. And for reference, Apple does still sell last year's base iPhone 16 at 128GB, with the latter starting at $699.