A new report suggests the iPhone 17e may not offer the display upgrade some buyers were hoping for.
According to The Elec, Apple is giving the budget-friendly model slimmer bezels, but keeping the same iPhone-14-era OLED panel used in the 16e.
Most of those panels will reportedly come from BOE again, with Samsung Display and LG Display filling the gaps. What the report doesn’t mention, however, is the Dynamic Island, despite earlier leaks claiming the 17e would finally adopt Apple’s newer cutout. At this point, the slimmer bezels feel far more believable than a feature migration.
Retaining the older panel makes sense for cost-cutting. Apple can shrink the bezels by tweaking the frame and tightening the fit of the display without touching the panel itself, an easy way to make the phone look fresher without raising production costs.
But adding the Dynamic Island is a different story. It requires new camera modules, a reworked TrueDepth layout, updated display masking, and new tooling. All of that runs against the whole purpose of the “e” line, which relies on reusing mass-produced components to keep prices down.
Keeping the notch also helps Apple clearly separate the 17e from the flagship iPhone 17 models next year.
The report also lines up with other leaks suggesting the 17e will stick with a 6.1-inch OLED display and a 60Hz refresh rate. BOE still isn’t ready to mass-produce LTPO panels for Apple, so LTPS remains the only realistic option, and LTPS can’t deliver the variable refresh rates used in ProMotion displays.
For now, reliable sources including Ming-Chi Kuo, Mark Gurman, and The Elec all point to the iPhone 17e launching early next year. And unless things change, it looks like Apple’s affordable iPhone will offer a slightly sleeker front, just not a more advanced one.
