- IPhone 17E will be tipped to arrive next year
- A slightly later launch date in May 2026 was jerked
- It suggests an annual update to the new ‘E’ series
Given that we had to wait three years between the iPhone SE 3 and its kind of successor iPhone 16E, it was unclear what the upgrade cycle would be for the most affordable iPhone in the future now it seems we are ready to get annual updates.
According to the well-known Tipster Fixed Focus Digital (via Macrumors), work on the iPhone 17E production line is now “on the agenda” (as per Google Translate) and we should see the phone in May 2026 according to a follow-up post.
It’s a little later in the year than iPhone 16E, which was obviously revealed in February this year. Perhaps Apple is rearranging its schedule to try to increase sales or accommodate the iPhone 17 and 18 or to deal with the current US customs problems.
This particular leak does not mention what we can expect from the iPhone 17E, although a speed bump is likely. Apple is likely to change too much in terms of the appearance of the handset, given that it got a pretty big design renewal this year.
What we will see
If Apple settles down for an annual update of its ‘e’ line-up-like ‘a’ line-up for Google Pixels-so, it should be welcomed. Having more options in terms of pricing and design when choosing smartphones is always good for consumers.
However, there are two rather obvious changes that Apple could make with the iPhone 17E. The first is to add Magsafe, which was quite strange left from the iPhone 16E and meant that the phone was immediately incompatible with a whole selection of accessories.
The second change (which might contradict the other) would be to drop the price for some real budget. IPhone 16E starts at $ 599 / £ 599 / AU $ 999, compared to $ 429 / £ 419 / AU $ 719 of its predecessor (albeit to 64 GB storage rather than 128 GB).
In our iPhone 16E review we called the unit “a bit of a frustrating conundrum” with some big pluses and some big minuses to talk about. In other words, there is definitely room for improvement with next year’s iPhone 17E.
