This is the budget-friendly iPhone you've been waiting for.
Apple iPhone 17e review: Hard to fault, easy to recommend
The iPhone 16e was more than just Apple’s last affordable iPhone. It was the company’s first to shift gears away from the approach to hardware that defined the earlier iPhone SE. Instead of being an old iPhone with new parts inside it, the iPhone 16e paired up fresh looks, a few compromises and a thrifty price.
The iPhone 17e makes similar tradeoffs, but a willingness to raise the bar where it counts helps make this sequel better than the original. The iPhone 17e still lags behind its premium counterparts in a number of ways, but as the rest of the mid-range market creeps upwards in price, it’s looking like better value by the day.
How much does the Apple iPhone 17e cost in Australia?

In Australia, the iPhone 17e starts at $999 for the entry-level model. This comes with 256GB of storage. If you want to double that to 512GB, it’ll cost you $1,399 all up.
Given that asking price, it might make more sense for some Aussies to pick up the Apple iPhone 17e on a postpaid plan instead of buying outright. If that's you then be sure to check out the widget below for a round-up of the cheapest options available.
Apple iPhone 17e review - Design and Features

Like the iPhone 16e before it, the iPhone 17e is built around a 6.1-inch OLED edge-to-edge display and respectably thin bezels. There's no home button or Dynamic Island to be found here. Still, there's a notch on the top, a USB-C port on the bottom, plus an Action Button on the side.
It’s unfortunate that Apple hasn’t upped the refresh rate on the iPhone 17e, because other than that, the screen on the device is pretty excellent. The Super Retina XDR panel here is bright, colorful and doesn’t take long to leave a positive impression.
On this front, the device is more or less a match for the entry-level iPhone 17. That’s not the case across the board, though. For example, Apple has held back from giving its latest stab at an affordable iPhone the UWB connectivity found in other iPhones as standard. That means you won't be able to make use of the precision finding features and proximity AirDrop functionality that's been included as standard for the past three generation of Apple smartphones.
On the other hand, Apple has upgraded the iPhone 17e to include MagSafe connectivity. As part of this, the device supports wireless charging of up to 20W via selected chargers and other MagSafe accessories. This is a welcome upgrade as it makes the wire-free, worry-free add-ons that have become such a big part of the Apple ecosystem as applicable to entry-level devices as the flagship ones.
Other improvements here include the addition of the second-generation Ceramic 2 screen protection introduced by the iPhone 17 series. This offers 3x the scratch resistance found on the iPhone 16e, which should help Apple’s latest affordable iPhone last a little longer.
The iPhone 17e is also IP68 rated for water and dust resistance. The exterior of the device features aluminium edges, plus a single rear camera setup that combines a telephoto lens and a regular wide-angle lens into a single 48MP “fusion” sensor.
Aside from some tweaks when it comes to the portrait mode (as well as the gains that the new processor brings to the image processing pipeline), this camera setup here is more-or-less identical to the one found on last year’s iPhone 16e. That’s not a bad thing, though. Like the iPhone 16e before it, the iPhone 17e manages to swing above its weight. As far as $999 smartphone cameras are concerned, it’s fairly competitive.
In practice, I was pretty satisfied with what the iPhone 17e could offer in terms of daylight situations. Its low-light performance was a little more of a mixed bag - though I’d still err towards calling it fairly competitive with the rest of the mid-range market.


















Apple iPhone 17e review - Performance

Once you get past the MagSafe support and additional durability, the biggest upgrade that the iPhone 17e has over its predecessor is the A19 processor. This silicon is the same as what you’ll find under the hood of last year’s iPhone 17. Even so, I can’t really say that the iPhone 17e felt like that much of a speed up. Compared to the rest of the market – and especially relative to the mid-range market – Apple’s house-made processors are just so far ahead of where the average consumer’s performance needs sit.
Still, if you are considering the iPhone 17e over its siblings or last year’s iPhone 16e then chances are you want it to last as long as possible, and the inclusion of a more recent processor is a promising sign in that specific sense.
It’s worth noting the iPhone 17e also starts at a higher 256GB of storage at a minimum rather than 128GB seen with the iPhone 16e. Despite that change, the minimum spent here remains the same at $999 for the cheapest version of the device.
I suspect that, for many considering the iPhone 17e, this detail might be one of the most exciting things about the handset. Right now, even budget and mid-range devices are struggling to hold their prices amid the ongoing components crisis. Apple haven’t just broken out of their usual habits of charging consumers more here, they’ve done so at the perfect moment to maximise the iPhone 17e’s potential value to consumers.
All this is to say that the specs offered by the iPhone 17e more than live up to the price tag involved. When it comes to everyday performance, the handset left with few complaints. Even if the lack of ProMotion and smaller screen sometimes feel like a speed limit, the experience offered by the latest version of iOS and Apple silicon is still one that will easily be able to serve the needs of most consumers. Even gamers will likely find plenty to like here, as even more graphically intensive games like Destiny Rising and Diablo Immortal really well and without issue.
As for battery life, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the lean form-factor here didn’t come with much of a cost to the longevity of the typical charge. I had no issues making it through a day of typical use with the iPhone 17e. A second full day might be a bit of a stretch, but depending on your specific usage habits, you can likely get fairly far with the slim battery found inside the iPhone 17e.
Burned down via streaming video from YouTube over Wi-Fi, the device took 20 hours and 14 minutes to go from a full charge to zero. That result isn't particularly impressive by the standards of modern mid-rangers, but it's not a shock given the smaller battery inside the iPhone 17e.
Is the Apple iPhone 17e worth buying?

While some budding photographers may still bristle up against the constraints of the camera on the back of the iPhone 17e, most will come away pretty happy with what it has to offer. If you’re after a better camera or features like the Dynamic Island then it might be worth considering upselling yourself to the standard iPhone 17.
Otherwise – and in a time when consumers are looking to save money – the iPhone 17e delivers more for less in a way that’s becoming increasingly and genuinely out-of-character for Apple.
Where last year’s iPhone 16e was easy to like and hard to recommend, the iPhone 17e does almost everything it could to drift in the opposite direction. There are plenty of reasons to spend more, but budget-buyers should not look past what the iPhone 17e has to offer.
This is the wallet-friendly iPhone you’ve been waiting for.
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