Apple iPhone 17e Review: MagSafe Makes a Difference

Perfectly large performance. Reliable day-long artillery life. Solid camera. Now has MagSafe. Improved surface durability.

Screen stuck astatine 60 Hz. Still nary ultra-wideband chip. Single rear camera is limiting.

Would you rather bargain a brand-new MacBook Neo—a full computer—or Apple's cheapest iPhone 17e smartphone for the aforesaid magnitude of cash? It feels weird that a laptop could outgo arsenic overmuch arsenic thing truthful small, but I'd reason that smartphones person a bigger occupation successful being much versatile.

It needs to beryllium connected to the net everyplace you go, and the iPhone 17e adjacent adds Emergency SOS via Satellite for other bid of mind. It needs bully capable cameras to drawback pics of everything important—your dog, that sunset, those receipts for your expenses—and a selfie camera that looks bully connected FaceTimes and Zooms. The artillery needs to tally each day, it needs GPS for navigating, and NFC for mobile payments. The database goes on.

The iPhone 17e tin bash each of this reasonably good for $599. Heck, information beryllium told, the iPhone 16e could too. But determination are a fewer upgrades connected the latest exemplary that assistance marque it worthy the $599 price. If outgo were the lone factor, Google's Pixel 10a is $100 cheaper with other niceties—it should perfectly beryllium astatine the apical of your list. But no. You privation an iPhone. If you're not funny successful the refurbished oregon utilized market, past the iPhone 17e is simply a respectable choice.

MagSafe Magic

The worst omission from past year's iPhone 16e was MagSafe. For much than 5 years, the iPhone has built an ecosystem of fantabulous MagSafe accessories that fto you magnetically connect assorted items, similar wireless powerfulness banks and magnetic wallets, to the backmost of your iPhone. Yes, it means faster and much businesslike wireless charging, but MagSafe adjacent makes it acold simpler to equine the iPhone to anything, utilizing a MagSafe tripod oregon adjacent a car mount.

Upgrading to an iPhone without this accessory strategy feels … wrong, adjacent if you're coming from an iPhone 11 that ne'er had the capability. It's 1 of my favourite iPhone features, and I see it a must-have, which is wherefore I presumption its inclusion successful the iPhone 17e arsenic a large worth boost.

Other upgrades successful this exemplary see Ceramic Shield 2, Apple's proprietary solid substance that makes the show much durable. It's what's disposable successful pricier iPhone models, truthful it's bully to spot it present connected the cheaper phone. (Anecdotally, I person recovered acold less scratches connected my iPhone 17 Pro since motorboat than erstwhile models.) You besides get higher basal retention starting astatine 256 GB, and Apple's customized C1X modem means cellular connectivity is faster and much vigor businesslike (though remember, it inactive lone supports sub-6 5G, and not mmWave).

While Apple has stuck with the modular notch design, I don't find it arsenic large a deal, adjacent if I bash bask the Dynamic Island connected the pricier iPhones. What is a small much problematic is the deficiency of a 120-Hz surface refresh rate. Unlike astir each smartphone sold astatine this price, Apple inactive uses a 60-Hz refresh rate, meaning the surface displays an representation 60 times per 2nd alternatively than 120, which is present the modular successful the smartphone world. It whitethorn not beryllium evident to some, but the smoother surface is 1 of those things that's hard to admit until you acquisition it. After you do, it's hard to spell back.

Performance is hard to kick about. You get Apple's latest-generation A19 chip, with 1 little graphics halfway than the A19 connected the iPhone 17. That means a tiny deed to graphics performance, but I didn't find it excessively lacking. I loaded up Genshin Impact, a demanding mobile game, and ran it with lone a fewer stutters. I was playing connected the game's default settings, but surprisingly, adjacent aft maxing retired the graphics, the gameplay was inactive reasonably smooth. You'll consciousness a bottleneck the longer you play, though, since the iPhone 17e doesn't dissipate vigor arsenic good arsenic the iPhone 17 Pro.

Battery beingness has been reliable for me. Even connected dense days of usage wherever I'm navigating, streaming music, snapping videos and pictures, the iPhone 17e lasts a afloat time with astir 20 percent near earlier bedtime. With lighter use, you tin astir apt widen it to 2 days connected a azygous charge.

The past omission that whitethorn annoy immoderate is the deficiency of the ultra-wideband chip. This is what Apple uses to assistance you precisely find AirTags aft you've misplaced an item. Without it, you'll spot vague instructions connected wherever your mislaid point is. It's weird that this iPhone doesn't enactment an important capableness of Apple's wide fashionable tracker.

Lone Camera

I cognize respective radical who bash not attraction astir the camera connected their smartphones. They seldom instrumentality pictures, and I ideate their telephone room is conscionable afloat of receipts and different mundane documents they've tried to scan. If that's you—no judgment—then the iPhone 17e volition service you well. For everyone else, it's a antithetic story.

Buy a precise inexpensive phone, and you'll astir apt spot that it has 3 cameras connected the back. Two of them are astir apt useless, and the main camera is passable. Apple's attack is to worldly 1 precise bully 48-megapixel camera, which is large if this telephone were $429 similar the iPhone SE of yesteryear. No, astatine $599, you should perfectly expect astatine slightest 2 cameras connected the backmost of your iPhone. (This was besides a large occupation with the $999 iPhone Air.)

A azygous camera is conscionable excessively limiting, adjacent if it's adept astatine snapping pics. I had a h2o leak connected Friday and had to instrumentality a representation of my inferior closet, but with nary ultrawide camera (unlike the Pixel 10a), I had to awkwardly basal acold backmost and space the telephone up precocious to get everything successful the shot. Maybe you privation to instrumentality a wider radical changeable oregon a gorgeous ultrawide close-up of a cathedral's entrance. Well, you can't with the iPhone 17e. You tin pat the 2X zoom enactment to get a decent digitally zoomed close-up, but erstwhile Samsung offers a coagulated 3X optical zoom connected the Galaxy S25 FE (frequently sold for nether $500), it's hard to recognize wherefore Apple can't match.

One caller perk implicit the iPhone 16e, driven by the A19 chip, is the quality to crook connected oregon disconnected Portrait blur for photos aft you've captured them. So, if you privation you snapped a photograph successful Portrait mode, you tin alteration it aft the fact. Speaking of, Apple's Portrait photos look much realistic and earthy than the results from the Google Pixel 10a, though the Pixel triumphs successful low-light scenes.

Low airy mostly is 1 country wherever this iPhone struggles compared to its peers. Not needfully successful sharpness, but erstwhile there's immoderate motion. I tried to drawback a representation of my brother's feline indoors, and Night mode kept kicking in, and I ended up with a long-exposure photograph of a blurry cat. The Pixel 10a amended understands erstwhile there's question and doesn't footwear successful its nighttime mode arsenic often, truthful my feline photos were impeccably sharp.

Overall, whether it's time oregon night, the iPhone 17e sometimes delivers sharper photos than the Pixel 10a, but the colour somesthesia tends to beryllium warmer. The Pixel 10a tin sometimes lucifer it successful representation quality, though opposition is lacking, oregon the colour somesthesia is simply a small excessively cool. Still, I find the Pixel is mostly much reliable successful debased light, and selfies were sharper and amended exposed. Video show fared amended for the iPhone—I changeable a full video connected the 17e, and portion the prime wasn't arsenic crisp oregon creaseless arsenic what I could get from the iPhone 17 Pro, it was much than adequate.

Don't get maine wrong, you tin drawback immoderate bully photos with the iPhone 17e. You'll conscionable tally into its limits acold much often than you would connected an iPhone 17, which has a larger sensor for its superior camera.

The iPhone 17e is inactive a small overpriced compared to the competition, but I deliberation it's a perfectly good prime for anyone who wants to bargain a basal iPhone without going done the utilized market.