Apple (AAPL) on Monday announced its iPhone 17e, the company’s latest entry-level smartphone, along with two new iPad Airs, as part of an expected three-day product release schedule ahead of a planned event on March 4.
The 17e is Apple’s most recent attempt to attract customers looking for a relatively inexpensive iPhone with a starting price of $599 with 256GB of storage. That’s $200 less than the base iPhone 17, which costs $799. It’s also a step up in memory from last year’s iPhone 16e, which also started at $599 but came with just 128GB of storage.
A few trade-offs come with the 17e, though. You’ll get a smaller 6.1-inch display versus the 6.3-inch panel found on the iPhone 17, and rather than Apple’s Dynamic Island at the top of the screen that houses the phone’s front-facing camera and can display information like sports scores and the status of your Uber, the 17e gets the old camera cutout.
The iPhone 17e also has only a single rear camera, unlike the iPhone 17, which has two.
Apple did, however, give the iPhone 17e the same durability upgrades as the iPhone 17, including better scratch resistance and improved anti-reflection that reduces glare in strong lighting.
The iPhone 17e also comes with Apple’s A19 processor, the same as in the iPhone 17, but gets one fewer GPU core. It also includes the company’s C1X cellular chip.
That, Apple said, means the iPhone 17e gets up to 26 hours of battery life, just shy of the iPhone 17’s 30 hours. Improved charging technologies mean the phone can charge up to 50% in 30 minutes.
Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup has been a strong seller for the company, bringing in record revenue of $85.3 billion in Q1, well ahead of the $78.3 billion analysts were anticipating at the time.
But the company said it is also facing the same memory shortage problems as the rest of the consumer tech industry, which could eat into margins over the next several quarters.
In addition to the iPhone 17e, Apple debuted its latest iPad Air, which runs the company’s M4 processor, up from the M3 chip in the prior generation.
Available for $599 with an 11-inch screen or $799 with a 13-inch panel, the iPad Air also features Apple’s N1 and C1X wireless modem and cellular chips.
Apple said the latest Airs are up to 30% faster than the iPad Air with an M3 processor and 2.3 times faster than the model with an M1 chip.
Memory now tops out at 12GB, a 50% jump, which should help with AI applications. The iPads also feature Apple’s Center Stage front camera, which keeps you in the center of the frame even if you move slightly.