Apple iPhone 17e review: How much do you compromise?

Choosing between Apple’s iPhone models is no easy feat this year. The iPhone 17 is excellent, offering almost everything most people would need, but it would be easy to be tempted by the iPhone Air, with its super-slim design, or the iPhone 17 Pro, with its 8x optical zoom and performance prowess. 

Those four models were enough of a conundrum. Then Apple announced the iPhone 17e, and the decision became even harder. Do you save a couple of hundred quid by opting for Apple’s latest entry-point model and sacrifice a few features? Or should you spend the £799 asking price of the iPhone 17 and get yourself a superb all-rounder? 

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The Disconnekt Downlow

The iPhone 17e is an excellent entry point into Apple’s iPhone lineup, with great performance, a brilliant battery life, solid results from the single rear camera and a lovely compact and lightweight design. Its biggest problem comes from its own team in that the iPhone 17 is so good this year, it’s hard not to recommend stepping up to. But if £600 is your maximum budget and you’re looking for an iPhone experience, the iPhone 17e is a lovely phone and a great buy.

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The reasons you should choose the Apple iPhone 17e

There are many reasons to praise the iPhone 17e. Sure, the design hasn’t changed compared to the iPhone 16e, but don’t be too hard on it. If you are an Apple fan, you will know that the iPhone 16e marked a major design change from the dated iPhone SE, which still featured the Touch ID home button below the screen. It would be unfair to expect another dramatic redesign just 12 months on. 

Instead, the iPhone 17e has exactly same design and dimensions as the iPhone 16e, and almost the same weight, too, at 170g. The eagle-eyed among you might notice that’s 3g heavier than the iPhone 16e, but Apple has added MagSafe to the iPhone 17e, so I’m going to assume those extra grammes come from those built-in magnets that allow you to attach accessories and chargers to the back of the iPhone 17e. 

There’s also a new colour this year in the form of Soft Pink, and it really is soft. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s very subtle and a nice change from the Black and White only options the iPhone 16e offered. It seems pink phones are all the rage this year, too, with British-based company Nothing also introducing a pink option to its Nothing Phone (4a), and Google adding a far less subtle pink to its Pixel 10a lineup. 

Under that soft pink hood is the A19 processor, the same one that runs the iPhone 17 (aside from one fewer GPU core), resulting in a smooth, fluid experience. Meanwhile, storage options are now 256GB and 512GB, which means the base storage has doubled since the iPhone 16e, and absolutely no one is complaining about that, especially when the price has remained the same. 

The single rear camera continues to offer great results, too. Sure, you miss out on the ultrawide landscape shots of the iPhone 17 and iPhone 16, and you don’t get the telephoto capabilities of the iPhone 17 Pro, but if you’re upgrading from, say, an iPhone 11, the main camera here is going to offer significantly better results than what you’re used to. It delivers in all lighting conditions, with plenty of detail and good colour representation, and it continues to deliver the simple point-and-shoot approach Apple is known for.

The last thing I am going to highlight here is the software experience. The iPhone 17e runs iOS 26, like the rest of the iPhone 17 models, and it delivers a simple, slick experience. It also supports Apple Intelligence and while there are some features within that I could take or leave (like the AI image generation stuff) I love features like Priority Inbox, Priority Notifications and Clean Up in photos. There’s also the incoming smarter Siri that should be powered by Google’s Gemini and the iPhone 17e will support that too.

What the Apple iPhone 17e could do better

But while the iPhone 17e is an overall excellent performer for its price, you should know about a couple of compromises you will make by opting for it. Firstly, there’s the front camera. It has a 12-megapixel front camera that takes great selfies and is more than adept for video calling. It does the job it sets out to do, and it does it well. It’s just not the excellent 18-megapixel Centre Stage front camera that launched on the other iPhone 17 models, which lets you switch between portrait and landscape selfies without rotating your phone. 

The second thing to be aware of is that while you get the customisable Action Button (which I love and use to launch WhatsApp), there is no Camera Control button on the iPhone 17e. For those upgrading from older iPhone models or coming to iPhone for the first time, you won’t notice this or care, as you’ll know no different. But the Camera Control button is one I use regularly, so it is something I missed while using the iPhone 17e over the iPhone 17. 

Another feature I missed, but one that again won’t be an issue for those who don’t have an iPhone 14 Pro or newer, is the lack of Dynamic Island. The iPhone 17e has a notch at the top of the display – the same as on the standard iPhone 14. It’s a slightly more dated design compared to the screen within a screen all the newer iPhones have with the Dynamic Island feature, but it still looks good, and you get used to it within a matter of minutes.

The last thing to complain about is the 60Hz screen, and consequently, the lack of Always-On display. It’s not a surprise that the iPhone 17e didn’t switch to 120Hz and add the Always-On functionality as the iPhone 17 did – there would be little point in offering the iPhone 17 if it did – but it means that things aren’t quite as buttery smooth when scrolling and the screen is completely black when it’s not on. When it is, however, the 6.1-inch OLED panel is an excellent, compact size, with plenty of vibrancy and good punch, though it isn’t as bright as the iPhone 17.

Apple iPhone 17e vs iPhone 17: What’s the difference?

I’ve spoken about the iPhone 17e compared to the iPhone 17 a lot above, so I’ll break down here exactly how they differ to make it easier to understand exactly what you miss out on when you choose to save that £200.

The iPhone 17e comes in three colours, compared to the iPhone 17’s five, though both have an aluminium frame, IP68 water and dust resistance, and the Action Button in place of the silence toggle from older iPhones. The iPhone 17 has the Camera Control button too, however, allowing for quicker access to camera and video controls. 

Both the iPhone 17e and the iPhone 17 have a Ceramic Shield 2 front, said to offer better scratch resistance (I haven’t picked up any scratches yet), but the iPhone 17e is 6.1 inches and 60Hz, while the iPhone 17 is 6.3 inches and 120Hz with the Always-On display functionality. 

The A19 processor runs both the iPhone 17e and iPhone 17, but the iPhone 17 has an extra GPU core, so on paper, it should be better for gaming, though I had no issues with the iPhone 17e during my review period. It got a little warm at times, but that’s compared to the iPhone 17 Pro, which has a vapor chamber inside and is better for heat dissipation.

Elsewhere, the iPhone 17e has a 26-hour battery life compared to the iPhone 17’s 30 hours, but I thought the iPhone 17e did an excellent job on the battery front after I ended most 7AM to 11PM days on well over 40 per cent each night, so I wouldn’t worry too much about this. The camera capabilities are the biggest difference between the two phones and the reason you might spend the extra money on the iPhone 17. You not only get that secondary ultrawide rear lens, but you also get the new square sensor on the front, which is excellent in use. The iPhone 17e’s single rear setup is still great, but if you’re looking for more flexibility, the iPhone 17 gives you that.

Should you buy the Apple iPhone 17e?

That depends on who you are and what phone you are upgrading from. The iPhone 17e is an excellent entry point into Apple’s iPhone lineup, with great performance, brilliant battery life, solid results from the single rear camera and a lovely compact and lightweight design. 

If you are new to iPhone or coming from an older model, it offers most of the features many will need or want, and as such, it’s a great buy. The only problem this year is that the iPhone 17 is so good, it’s hard not to recommend stepping up to it. But if £600 is your maximum budget and you’re looking for an iPhone experience, the iPhone 17e is a lovely phone and an excellent performer.

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