Apple’s been toying around with the idea of a cheaper iPhone in the lineup for quite some time, though it’s never been a consistent thing. Obviously, there was the iPhone 5c back in 2013 as a cheaper offering compared to the iPhone 5s. It didn’t sell too well, but it was certainly its first venture into this market.
Afterwards, there was the iPhone SE lineup, which had an average of 3 years between each refresh. Now, it’s looking like the ‘cheaper’ iPhone will become a regular part of the iPhone lineup, per recent reports.
The launch of the iPhone 16e earlier this year had a lot of people wondering if it’ll become an annual iPhone launch. Now, a new report from Bloomberg seemingly confirms that’ll be the case. That leaves the question, what’s in the pipeline for next spring’s iPhone 17e?
iPhone 17e upgrades
As of now, the main upgrade for the iPhone 17e will be the chipset. It’ll take the jump from the current iPhone 16’s A18 chip to the upcoming iPhone 17’s A19 chip. That’ll likely come in handy down the road for eventual Apple Intelligence upgrades, plus it never hurts to have the latest and greatest processor.
Other than that, there aren’t many concrete rumors for iPhone 17e.
It seems quite likely that it’ll continue to utilize the exact design as the current iPhone 16e, including a single 48MP and a notch with Face ID. Dynamic Island would be a welcome upgrade for many, though it probably isn’t coming.
It’s also possible that the iPhone 17e will be the first iPhone to adopt the C2 modem, though at the moment rumors suggest that’ll debut in the iPhone 18 later in the year – so it might not be ready quite yet.
Release date
Per Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, iPhone 17e will launch next spring, alongside a flurry of other new Apple products, like new M5 MacBook Pros, new iPads, and a new external monitor for Mac:
The iPhone 17e will look similar to the 16e model but include the A19 processor to match this year’s iPhone 17 line. Today’s version has the A18 chip. The new device, code-named V159, is on track for release early next year. The current model was introduced in February.
What would you like to see with the upcoming iPhone 17e? Are you pleased with the current model? Let us know in the comments. Personally, I’d like to see the value proposition improved a tad bit.
My favorite Apple accessory recommendations:
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