Apple introduced the all-new iPhone 16e earlier this year, introducing a new tier to its iPhone lineup. While this device does fill the shoes of the former iPhone SE line, the fact that it embodies the same number as the rest of the iPhone lineup has left people to wonder: will Apple release a new ‘e’ iPhone every year?
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple isn’t yet sure:
The iPhone 16e — while basically a stripped-down iPhone 16 — is a meaningful redesign from the SE 3. The other lever Apple pulled here was marketing it as an iPhone 16 variant rather than a new iPhone SE. That adds quite a bit more allure and makes it more interesting to consumers in places like China. The big question is whether Apple will update this new “e” line annually. Apple hasn’t yet made a final decision — and it’s still months from needing to.
If Apple were to launch an iPhone 17e, it’d likely come out around the same late-winter/early-spring timeline as previous iPhone SE models and the current generation iPhone 16e, so it’d be just under a year away.
What would Apple change with a new iPhone 17e? Not too much, realistically. The company would likely bump it up to the latest A19 chip and introduce a couple small features from the iPhone 17 lineup. Maybe they’d introduce Camera Control, which the iPhone 16e currently lacks.
In any case, Apple hasn’t yet decided whether or not it wants to make an iPhone 17e, so it’ll be a little while before there are any noteworthy rumors to follow. Gurman personally believes that an annual iPhone ‘e’ upgrade makes sense, in order to better keep up in the low-end smartphone market.
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