Apple’s new iPhone 17e hits stores on Wednesday, and reviews for the latest $599 model have arrived. Reviewers are praising the new color option, doubled storage capacity, and inclusion of MagSafe. However, what the iPhone 17e lacks is also making the standard iPhone 17 look even better for those who can afford it.
First up, Brian Tong has a video review that calls iPhone 17e a “solid upgrade” for iPhone SE and iPhone 11 users, especially thanks to the bump in storage and addition of MagSafe:
Meanwhile, TechRadar calls the new soft pink option “an excellent color addition” while describing the A19 chip as “plenty fast,” but the lack of an always-on display or 120Hz refresh rate is a negative for the iPhone 17e:
The Apple iPhone 17e isn’t a total reinvention of Apple’s budget iPhone — rather, it’s a refinement of the formula introduced by the Apple iPhone 16e. That phone did the heavy lifting by modernizing the design and retiring the Home button that defined the Apple iPhone SE (3rd generation); the 17e simply makes the package more compelling.
Some of that freshness comes with a new Soft Pink color option alongside Black and White, but the bigger upgrades are under the hood. The iPhone 17e runs on Apple’s A19 chip and feels consistently fast in everyday use, and now starts with 256GB of storage — double the base capacity of its predecessor — while keeping the same $599 / £599 / AU$999 starting price.
The Verge says the iPhone 17e is “good, but you probably shouldn’t buy it” because the $200 jump to the standard iPhone 17 is “well worth it.”
The main thing to know about the 17E is that the iPhone 17 exists, it costs $200 more — or maybe more significantly, an extra $9 per month on a two-year payment plan not including whatever discount your carrier offers — and it comes with a long list of upgrades. And if it’s within your means to put down that extra money, you should.
CNET cleverly calls the iPhone 17e appeal “magnetic” thanks to MagSafe, while framing the $200 compromises as not too glaring for most people.
Other aspects of the 17E serve as a reminder that you get what you pay for. The bezels are noticeably thicker than on Apple’s more premium options. There’s no Dynamic Island for system notifications and Live Activities, but rather an old-school notch at the top. A fixed 60 Hz display also means there’s no always-on display, so I can’t quickly glance at the time or my notifications — something that’s been hard to get used to.
There’s a lot that makes the iPhone 17E feel like a worthy lower-priced option. And for most people, the compromises shouldn’t feel too glaring, especially when you’re saving a couple hundred dollars.
Engadget sums iPhone 17e up simply as “the economical choice” by being an entry-level smartphone that “checks the boxes for the basics.”
With the current state of global economics, Apple’s focus on lower cost devices like the iPhone 17e and newly launched MacBook Neo is timely. Most people probably don’t make full use of the high-powered machines in their pockets and on their laps, and might be reconsidering whether they need to spend as much money on the Pros and the Airs of Apple’s product lineup. At $599, the iPhone 17e is about half the price of an iPhone 17 Pro or the iPhone Air. It’s $200 cheaper than the base iPhone 17, too.
You can find more reviews at The Telegraph, MobileSyrup, PCMag, Tom’s Guide, and Wired.
iPhone 17e is available for pre-order now ahead of the official release on Wednesday, March 11.
Apple has three new accessories for the iPhone 17e:
What do you think about Apple’s latest $599 iPhone so far? Let us know in the comments.
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