How Apple’s lower-cost iPhone 17E matches up with its more-expensive sibling phones.
Apple's latest addition to its iPhone 17 lineup is the lower-cost iPhone 17E. Just like last year's iPhone 16E, the iPhone 17E is priced at $599 and is meant to be Apple's entry-level offering for the year. But the 17E has a number of upgrades over its predecessor, such as double the starting storage space at 256GB, MagSafe compatibility and a faster A19 chip. It's still fairly basic compared with the Air and the rest of the iPhone 17 lineup, though.
The 17E only has one camera, no Dynamic Island and no Camera Control button. Also, even though it has a 12-megapixel selfie camera, the 17E lacks the Center Stage feature — which automatically switches between portrait and landscape — that's on the Air and the rest of the iPhone 17 series. With a 6.1-inch OLED display, the iPhone 17E has the smallest display compared with the rest of its siblings.
Both the iPhone 17 and the 17 Pro have a slightly larger 6.3-inch display, while the iPhone Air has a 6.5-inch screen, and the 17 Pro Max has the biggest screen of them all with a 6.9-inch OLED display. While the Air and the rest of the iPhone 17 models have a 120Hz variable refresh rate, the iPhone 17E is the only one with just a 60Hz refresh rate. That means the animations won't be quite as smooth, and you won't get an always-on display.
However, if you're upgrading from an older iPhone like the iPhone 16, you might not notice as big a difference. Design-wise, the iPhone 17E lacks the Dynamic Island that's on the Air and the rest of the iPhone 17 series. It doesn't have a physical Camera Control button either. It does, however, come in an aluminum frame and is protected by the Ceramic Shield 2, which is on par with the rest of the iPhone 17 lineup.
The exception is the iPhone Air, which has a titanium frame. At 0.31-inch thick, the iPhone 17E is just as slender as the iPhone 17 — definitely not as skinny as the 0.22-inch thick iPhone Air. It is quite light, though, at 169 grams (5.96 ounces), which is just a bit heavier than the Air's weight of 165 grams. Like the 16E, the iPhone 17E only has a single 48-megapixel rear camera. It does have sensor cropping, which offers 2x magnification.
The iPhone Air also has only a single 48-megapixel rear camera. The iPhone 17 has two: a 48-megapixel wide and a 48-megapixel ultrawide. Both the 17 Pro and the 17 Pro Max have three: a 48-megapixel wide, a 48-megapixel ultrawide and a 48-megapixel telephoto that has 4x optical zoom but can double up to 8x at 12 megapixels. The 17E has a 12-megapixel front-facing camera, while the Air, the 17, the 17 Pro and the 17 Pro Max all have an 18-megapixel selfie shooter.
Additionally, the 17E lacks the Center Stage feature that automatically switches between portrait and landscape orientations. The iPhone 17E starts with a base storage of 256GB, which is double that of the 16E and brings it up to par with the Air and the rest of the iPhone 17 series. All the phones are also available with 512GB, while the Pro and Pro Max are the only ones available in a 1TB configuration.
The 17E is powered by Apple's latest A19 chip, which is the same as on the iPhone 17, except the 17E has a quad-core GPU while the 17 has five cores. The iPhone Air, 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max are all powered by Apple's A19 Pro. As for battery, the 17E has the same battery as the 16E, with a 4,005-mAh battery and roughly 26 hours of video playback, according to Apple. That's actually slightly larger than the iPhone 17's 3,692-mAh battery and the Air's 3,149-mAh battery.
The 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max top out the battery charts with a 4,252- and 5,088-mAh battery, respectively. Still, the iPhone 17E's battery should hold up well thanks to the A19 processor, C1X cellular modem and the power management of iOS 26. The 17E gets MagSafe, which was sorely missing in the 16E. This lets the iPhone 17E work with magnetic chargers and accessories. It also has up to 15 watts of Qi2 wireless charging.
The iPhone Air and the rest of the 17 lineup offer fast charge up to 50% in 30 minutes using a 30-watt adapter or higher with MagSafe charging.
Summary
This report covers the latest developments in iphone. The information presented highlights key changes and updates that are relevant to those following this topic.
Original Source: CNET | Author: Nicole Lee | Published: March 9, 2026, 11:25 pm
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