After months of speculation, the iPhone 17e exists, and it's right around the corner. During Apple's March showcase, CEO Tim Cook unveiled the new iPhone 16e successor in three colorways: black, white, and soft pink. It contains a few key upgrades over the previous model, but as I mentioned, it isn't far away. In fact, pre-orders begin on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, with a full rollout hitting stores a week later on March 11.
So what's new this time around for iPhone users? Well, Apple is including MagSafe support and improved charging speeds. If you're an iPhone 16e owner, you'll know it offers a modest 7.5W, but the 17e is bumping that up to 15W with Qi2. That means you'll be able to use it with a variety of MagSafe accessories, while enjoying far better speeds to top up your battery. That's a big deal if you're soaking up power by playing free mobile games like Call of Duty: Mobile or Zenless Zone Zero.
Under the hood, the iPhone 17e utilizes Apple's A19 chipset, with a 16-core Neural Engine, four-core GPU, and a six-core CPU. It also features the C1X modem from the M5 model cellular iPad Pro. You'll also reap the positives of hardware-accelerated ray tracing.
Moving to the Super Retina XDR 6.1" display, it still borrows some improvements from some of the best iPhones, namely the notch from the iPhone 13. However, you can expect better protection thanks to the addition of Ceramic Shield 2. That alone gives us at least three times better scratch resistance.
The iPhone 17e has an aluminium frame, with the action button remaining part of Apple's design ethos. Camera-wise, it isn't quite as premium as the iPhone 17 or iPhone Air, as the front-facing option is a 12MP TrueDepth camera, compared to the 18MP Center Stage front camera. The rear-facing camera shares a lot in common with the Air, as you'll be using the 48MP Fusion camera system, with functionality for "next-generation portraits with Focus and Depth Control", according to Apple.
Like the rest of Apple's roster, it also bundles in Dolby Vision video, which goes up to 4K at 60fps. Retailing at $599/£599, iPhone 17e pre-orders kick off at 6:15 am PT, 9:15 am PT, and 2:15 pm GMT on March 4. As always, you can trade in your current model to get up to $685/£585 off your iPhone 17e launch purchase.