The Apple iPhone 17e is, in my humble opinion, an example of what the company does best. It takes its premium wears and strips them back into an affordable, yet innovative offering – see the MacBook Neo. This is a tightrope walk of leaving you with just enough of what you need and dialing back, where possible, on flash. For phones, that means fewer camera lenses and perhaps a duller screen.
However, making room for the A19 chip has brought a world of innovative features to a modest budget. Add some clever buttons, MagSafe connection, and an almost nostalgic design, and you have an alarmingly attractive mid-range smartphone.
At $599 (£599), the iPhone 17e is considerably cheaper than the lowest Galaxy S26 device. And, going by the price of the S25 FE, it might endup being cheaper than the S26 FE (should there be one released later in the year).
Apple iPhone 17e: Design
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The easiest way to spot that this handset is the ‘e’ model of iPhone 17 is the single camera lens. I’m now at a point in life where that is an odd sight on a phone, as it’s normal for them to have two and three (or more). So the rear of the phone looks a little old-fashioned. The rest of the design is more akin to the iPhone 14; really compact, with flat aluminum edges. It fits nicely in the hand, in the same way that the iPhone 12 Mini did five generations ago.
Another noticeable difference is the notch on the display, which is considerably longer than on the standard 17. However, said display is tougher with the new ceramic compound and the latest Gorilla Glass shielding.
Other physical additions include the Action Button (above the volume ones), which I instantly loved. I like the name and its function(s). You can choose from a collection of different shortcuts, like the camera or the focus app – only one action can be used, however. You can use files and have the action button bring up a maximum of four apps/tools, but that makes it more like the drop-down software menu. Admittedly, the button could be even better with a double or triple-click function for extras. I used it for the camera initially, but I have also switched it to the torch. Why can’t I have both?
Apple iPhone 17e: Display
You get a 6.1in Super Retina XDR OLED display on the 17e, with a 2,532 x 1170 resolution. This is both far bigger than the 4.7in iPhone SE, and has a greater screen-to-body ratio than the iPhone 11.
You don’t get a 120Hz refresh rate or an always-on display, but that’s the only real omission here. You still get True Tone, Wider Color support, and a very bright panel. I recorded peak brightness at 535 cd/m2 with our colormitere.
For almost every use (streaming, photography, web browsing), you get a great show of color. It’s punchy when it needs to be, the blacks are deep and inky, and it has strong contrast. In truth, I didn’t really notice the low refresh rate as it was still very smooth when scrolling the socials.
We also recorded 97% for sRGB gamut color coverage, which backs our experience of using the 17e. It isn’t a groundbreaking device, but for a budget device, the display is great value for money. The larger-than-normal notch was also not that big an issue, despite cutting into the screen space.
(Image credit: Future)
Apple iPhone 17e: Specs and Performance
Having the A19 chip in the iPhone 17e is a bit of a cheat code. Although it’s a slightly different version from what is found in the iPhone 17, it’s still a 3nm chip with a 6-core CPU, 4-core GPU, and a 16-core neural engine. And that gives this budget phone a lot of premium features and operations. You also get double the storage compared to the 16e (128GB to 256GB).
In Geekbench 6, the 17e scored 3,648 for single core and 9,215 for multicore. Both benchmarks are a significant improvement over the Apple iPhone 16e, but also pretty close to the standard iPhone 17, which scored slightly above for multi-core.
The doubled storage also gives you plenty of room for apps, music, film downloads, and photos. Or even videos captured with the 48MP main camera – I was able to shoot and store enough for two videos.
In day-to-day use, I found the 17e to be lightning fast, responsive, and capable of getting me through my work day and beyond. It did seem to get quite warm on the back when downloading lots of apps in a row, during the setup, but that was the only time that issue came up.
In our looped video test, the 17e lasted 19hrs and 13mins, which is exceptional for a phone of this price. Again, having the A19 chip and its AI capabilities helps with optimization. In real terms, the phone lasted through work days, though it did noticeably drain quicker on days I shot video and transferred a high volume of files.
Apple iPhone 17e: Cameras
(Image credit: Future)
You get one camera lens on the rear of the iPhone 17e, but with two settings; it’s a 48MP ‘Fusion’ camera, as Apple calls it. The additional capability is a 2x telephoto zoom. It’s also capable of 4K video (fps?)
There are a couple of annoyances here; it’s a 4×3 aspect ratio by default, but can be switched to 16×9 or 1×1. Images don’t quite capture what you see before you hit the shutter button; they come out a little overexposed. And then there is a delayed enhancement that’s particularly noticeable when you take selfies, which is a bit hit and miss. You also don’t get a ‘Pro’ mode to tweak shutter speed or ISO. There’s just a toggle for ‘Exposure’ that didn’t seem to make much difference to the final shot.
Oddly, the video capabilities are much better. You can record in 4K at 60 fps, and it has a range of automatic features that help you, such as the wind noise reduction feature. You can also film multiple scenes in one, using the pause and record feature. We shot our most recent YouTube shorts on the iPhone 17e, and you can see the quality for yourself.
Apple iPhone 17e: Is it worth it?
The iPhone 17e seems like an internal challenge to Apple; how many of the most converted features can you fit into a budget handset? The answer this year is a lot. So you get an A19 chip and all its computational benefits. MagSafe. A pretty innovative camera system, with great video capabilities, and a rather long-lasting battery.
One could argue that the camera isn’t high-quality enough – Honor and Samsung are offering a lot more (lenses and software) for roughly the same price. But the overall experience of the iPhone 17e is superior, in our opinion. It comes down to what you want from your budget phone. If it’s a top-of-the-range camera with video capabilities, you would surely look at the premium models anyway.
For those who want a cheaper way into the Apple ecosystem, or businesses that want to find quality handsets that their employees will actually like, the iPhone 17e is undeniably a solid choice.
Apple iPhone 17e specifications
CPU A19 6-core CPU, 4-core GPU, 16-core neural engine
Display 6.1in Super Retina XDR OLED display
RAM 8GB
Storage 256GB or 512GB
Connectivity Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3
Cameras (Rear) 48MP Fusion Camera System (Front) 12MP
Dimensions (DHW) 7.8 x 146.7 x 71.5mm
Weight 170g
Operating system iOS 26
