I’ve been playing with the iPhone 17e for a few days now, and my skeptical first impressions are gradually mellowing into a sort of indulgent fondness. It isn’t the best iPhone I’ve tested, or even close to that. But it’s bad in a good way.
Let’s quickly recap all the things that made me nervous about the 17e when Apple unveiled it earlier this month. It starts at $599, the same as the iPhone 16e, a lower price compared to the iPhone 17, granted, but a far cry from the budget appeal of the $429 iPhone SE. It has a binned processor (with one less functional core), and still has just a single rear-facing camera. And while it gains MagSafe, it’s an old version that is capped at 15W rather than the 25W you get on more recent models.
I’m still mildly depressed about the price tag, although it’s worth bearing in mind that the final iPhone SE model had plenty of issues and actually wasn’t a terribly good choice for budget buyers. (A better option was to buy a second-hand unit of a more upmarket model, and that remains an option worth considering today. The iPhone 15 costs $529 from the Apple Refurbished Store, and you can bet there will be cheaper options if you buy elsewhere, or are prepared to go back a generation or two further.) So it was always asking a lot for Apple to release an uncompromised phone for less than $500.
The binned processor, if I’m honest, was never that huge a deal to me either. In fact, my feeling about the iPhone 16e was that Apple focused too heavily on making it AI-ready, which meant a faster chip and more RAM than was strictly necessary at that price, and compromises in other areas. Sure, it was faintly annoying to be getting a binned processor among all the other limitations when the price was mid-market rather than budget, but even a binned A18 was fine for all tasks in the short term and most tasks in even the long term. And I feel largely the same about the 17e’s binned A19 now.
The real revelation, however, has been MagSafe. I was severely hacked off by the lack of MagSafe last year, because it’s one of those small conveniences you take for granted until it’s gone: fiddling with a non-magnetic charging puck and hoping the phone stayed on the sweet spot all night (or using a cable) was surprisingly annoying. So to have that on the 17e is a big improvement.
MagSafe being capped at 15W, meanwhile, like that binned processor, is more annoying in principle than in practice. I’m not entirely sure why this old version of the technology is being wheeled out again (you have to go back to the iPhone 15 for the last time it appeared in a new iPhone), but for me, as I’ve explained in a separate article, wireless charging speed simply isn’t much of a priority. At 15W, the 17e’s MagSafe is fast enough to charge the device from zero to full twice over during a single night’s sleep, and any time you need it to charge faster, you can use a cable instead. The value of MagSafe is convenience, not speed.
Would I like to have 25W MagSafe? Sure. Of course. But nothing is free, and if using a slower version means we can have MagSafe on a $599 phone, I’m on board with that decision. Having no MagSafe at all (while packing 8GB of RAM and a frontline processor) was a bad compromise. Having slow MagSafe is a sensible compromise that I fully support.
That’s not to say that all of my worries have been put to rest. The iPhone 17 has clearly spoiled me: The lack of an always-on display bothers me more than I expected, and I wish the camera setup were better, since that’s a high priority for most customers. But I will say that technology has advanced to the point where even single phone cameras will do the job for most people, most of the time. The e-class phones are worse than the flagships at portrait photos and cut out macro photography, but for day-to-day snapshots, they’re absolutely fine.
My review will arrive later this week, but my feelings about the iPhone 17e are a lot more positive than I expected. It’s particularly surprising because only one of my issues with the 16e (the lack of MagSafe) has been addressed. But Apple slipped in a bonus upgrade: it doubled the starting storage allocation without increasing the price. Between that, the new processor, the inclusion of 15W MagSafe, and a tougher version of Ceramic Shield on the display, I’m feeling quite happy about the iPhone 17e. Even if it’s not what you’d call a good phone.
Foundry
Welcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but it’s cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too.
Trending: Top stories
MacBook Neo is classic Apple, says Jason Snell: Moving fast and breaking stuff.
While its competitors burn cash on AI, Apple is taking its usual slow and steady approach. And it’s paying off, writes the Macalope.
Alex Blake offers 8 upgrades to make your old Apple gear feel new again.
Roman Loyola tried to push the MacBook Neo to its limit. But it handled a week of stress better than he did.
AirPods Max 2 may look old, but these big upgrades are inside.
First-time customers are scooping up Neos at a record pace. The Mac just posted its ‘best launch week ever’ with non-Mac users.
Podcast of the week
In the latest episode of the Macworld Podcast, we review the new M5 MacBook Air, M5 Max MacBook Pro, and Apple Studio Display. Tune in and get all the details.
You can catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Soundcloud, the Podcasts app, or our own site.
Reviews corner
The rumor mill
Big changes are coming to iOS 27, but Liquid Glass is here to stay. Sorry.
Software updates, bugs, and problems
DarkSword malware targets iPhones that haven’t been updated yet.
Here’s a mystery. Why did Apple just declare a 12-year-old iPhone obsolete?
And with that, we’re done for this week’s Apple Breakfast. If you’d like to get regular roundups, sign up for our newsletters, including our new email from The Macalope–an irreverent, humorous take on the latest news and rumors from a half-man, half-mythical Mac beast. You can also follow us on Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, or X for discussion of breaking Apple news stories. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.
