Apple already has the iPhone 17e on its drafting board, in line with rumors. Surveys point out the corporate has a brand new technique that’ll deliver far more frequent updates to its most inexpensive iOS handsets.
Right here’s when to count on the substitute for the iPhone 16e, and what {hardware} modifications are coming.
The top of the iPhone SE
For years, Apple’s technique to enchantment to finances smartphone consumers centered on the iPhone SE line. These got here out roughly each three years and have been reasonably up to date variations of older iPhone fashions. It’s a tactic that didn’t work — the iPhone SE 3 by no means made up greater than a tiny proportion of Apple’s gross sales, for instance.
So the corporate dumped the entire concept by launching the iPhone 16e. That is based mostly on certainly one of Apple’s newest merchandise however with many noncritical options eliminated. And fairly than getting solely occasional updates, Apple apparently intends to refresh the road yearly.
Latest rumors level to the iPhone 17e coming in spring 2026. Each Bloomberg and TheElec predicted this previously few days. That’s a 12 months after the iPhone 16e launched in February 2025.
Given three new technique, an iPhone 18e, 19e, 20e, and so forth. are anticipated on an annual foundation. The obvious purpose is a gentle income stream from the product line.
iPhone 17e rumors: Retaining the notch
Regardless of Apple’s subsequent finances handset being over half a 12 months away, a number of options have leaked out already.
Most notably, TheElec stated, “The iPhone 17e, which is scheduled to be launched subsequent spring, makes use of the 6.1-inch OLED that was used for the iPhone 16e once more.” The 16e is the final with the display screen notch that debuted within the iPhone X — all different fashions have since moved to the Dynamic Island. Apparently, the 17e will embrace the identical characteristic.
However a quicker processor is on the way in which. In his Energy On e-newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote Sunday that iPhone 17e consumers ought to “count on a near-identical design to the iPhone 16e, however with the A19 chip to match this 12 months’s iPhone 17 lineup.”
Different particulars stay cloudy. An open query is whether or not Apple can preserve the 16e’s $599 value for the successor within the face of Trump tariffs. iPhones made for U.S. launch are actually assembled in India, however that doesn’t imply there aren’t appreciable import taxes on merchandise made within the South Asian nation.
