The iPhone 17E is a better value than the 16E was when it arrived, but that should matter to basically nobody.
The main thing to know about the 17E is that the iPhone 17 exists, it costs $200 more — or maybe more significantly, an extra $9 per month on a two-year payment plan not including whatever discount your carrier offers — and it comes with a long list of upgrades. And if it’s within your means to put down that extra money, you should.
The 17E replaces the 16E in Apple’s lineup. The 16E was the first in a new series: not an older chassis with some refreshed internals for a steep discount, like the iPhone SE was. Instead, the 16E was a full member of its iPhone generation, just a bit worse and ultimately slightly too expensive. Its $600 price tag felt too high for a phone missing one of Apple’s core iPhone features: MagSafe.
7 Verge Score Apple iPhone 17E $ 599 $ 599 The Good Now with magnets!
Healthy 256GB of storage in the base model
Capable, if basic, camera system
Basically the same processor as iPhone 17 The Bad No always-on display
Screen limited to 60Hz
No ultrawide camera or upgraded selfie cam $599 at Apple How we rate and review products
Now, Apple has righted the wrongs of that device. The 17E comes with MagSafe, as well as a base storage bump up to 256GB, and it still starts at $600, which is nothing to sneeze at given the memory crisis and all. But Apple did something else in the time between the 16E and the 17E: it released the iPhone 17.
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