Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone 17e Nears Trial Production, Launch Tipped for Late May 2026
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
They'll stick with the notch for immediately visible product differentation. I'm afraid still no MagSafe as well, for similar reasons. There need to be reasons to upsell to the regular iPhone other than "one generation behind" or "slightly better camera".
This just means they are locked in with that design. The only obvious change will be a newer chip, maybe some minor upgrades to camera or screen, and one additional year of support. The only other potential change would be a slightly lower price, but with the state of the world, I highly doubt that part. Otherwise, the 17e will be just like the 16e.
They may retain the iPhone 16e and have both the 17e 16e. The 16e would be priced at $499. This would then give them a low price point, but still very capable phone in the lineup. I think this was the idea from the beginning instead of coming in at $499 and keeping it in the lineup for two or three years. Of course, tariffs may have some impact on this plan.
iPhone 16e Helps Apple Take Q1 Top Spot in Global Smartphone Market
Apple took the number one position in global smartphone sales during the first quarter of 2025, according to new data from Counterpoint Research....
www.macrumors.com
Gotta love when an MR poster starts talking out of their you know what about how “Apple bad, no idea what they’re doing, flop flop flop”…
and then the numbers come out proving that, oh yeah, they know exactly what they are doing.
Right?the iphone 12/13mini flopped into oblivion
Online you often see demand for “what the customers want” and when they’re released, they bomb hard.
The iPhone Mini has 2 iterations so Apple clearly wanted to keep it going. The poor sales made them stop.
The other popular online request I’ve seen is “just make a thick phone with a 4 day battery”. Thin phones sell, and there’s a reason why phones keep getting thinner year after year.
I agree with you. What you say is probably right for 2026, but things are getting competive for apple out there.
It’s a really close call between the 16e and the pixel 9a for example.
So much so that if someone has gmail and uses more than a few google services I’d have to question why they would want to get an iPhone 16e (note I’m in the uk where everyone uses WhatsApp and iMessage is a bit ‘whatever’).
So I think that apple is going to have to start working a lot harder at the mid end models now.
I’d say that the days are fast ending where apple can get away with not including things on the mid range like Dynamic Island and including screens at just 60hz (when 90hz is normal in android land for phones that are $400).
But… I get you.
In fact an interesting story is how the regular iPhone model is going to hold its place in the lineup.
For 2025 adding pro motion to the regular 17 (they’ll need to change that name) should provide enough difference between that and the 16e.
But in 2026 it feels like the regular iPhone is going to have to work a lot harder, if it keeps its current form factor.
I suspect though that the iPhone air will become the regular iPhone, which leaves the e series to look more like the 16 by then.
But the competition is getting better and better - & for less.
Let me guess: It’ll have USB 2.0?
For anyone not sure of what I’m taking about, it’s explained in this thread:
forums.macrumors.com
For anyone not sure of what I’m taking about, it’s explained in this thread:
Will iPhone 14 be USB 2.0? Probably, since Cook is mediocre.
Apple computers have had USB 3.0 since mid-2012. That is 10 years ago. Despite that, Tim Cook, being the mediocre beancounter MBA suit that he is, has still not done anything to upgrade the connectivity on the latest iPhones. The latest iPhones use the same USB 2.0 connectivity that shipped with...
forums.macrumors.com
You sound like the sort who buys the "Pro Max" just to carry the biggest screen in a backpack just to watch TikTok on the loo.
If you had over 25 million customers waiting to upgrade from a 12 or 13 mini to a Pro-packed phone in the same size and without a camera bump, and you were a reasonable businessman running a 3 trillion dollar company, you would make sure you meet demand. I think you can't even grasp how many people 25 million are. To anyone with common sense your "bomb hard" high level logic just doesn't logic. I bought a brick (14 Pro) because I had no other choice, but if I had a choice to buy a Pro phone the same size of my 12 Mini, I would buy it without hesitation. But I can't, because I don't want to carry around a huge heavy brick.
And since Apple is trying to make sure their line up includes an iPhone for everyone, they should make sure they include the ever growing userbase of people who enjoy smaller phones. Now that the SE is out, a Pro Mini would do really well. The sole reasons why the 12 and 13 Mini didn't shine as much were availability of cheaper SE, Mini being too expensive for what it was and didn't have Pro features. If you give it Pro features and make it smaller, without any cheaper and even smaller option, it will sell a lot better than 12/13 mini did.
I want an iPhone, not an iPhablet, and I'm willing to die on that hill.
Purchased one for my son as his first cell phone. Expect to get 3 years out of it.
Two iterations that were interfered with by the SE. A lot of people who wanted a smaller phone purchased the new SE a month before the mini was announced. And two iterations is hardly enough to judge demand when people are on three-, four-, and five-year upgrade cycles.
It’s mostly a margin play, not a volume play. Thats why it has one lens, binned processor, no MagSafe, etc.
Apples margins on the 16e should be higher than the iPhone 14 that it replaced.
A 17e should have lower margins then the 15/16 it would likely replace (instead of having those see a price drop).
A delayed (winter to spring) launch allows Apple to use the current gen TSMC node as capacity is freed up after launch day iPhone 17 production tails off. It also allows them to move off older nodes earlier by no longer producing phones with 3-4 year old chips.
I wouldn't be surprised that the iPhone 17e might get an LTPO display with VRR from 120 to 1 Hz, unless Apple wants to keep it off for monetary savings reasons given the higher cost of an LTPO display.
Leaker Hints at iPhone 17e Next Year as Report Predicts Annual Cycle
Apple will very likely launch an iPhone 17e next year around the same February window, claims a new consumer report, coinciding with a claim by a...
www.macrumors.com
I hope so. Google are updating the pixel a series on a yearly basis and it just keeps on getting better yoy. Plus a very healthy mid range market for android with lots of great options.Leaker Hints at iPhone 17e Next Year as Report Predicts Annual Cycle
Apple will very likely launch an iPhone 17e next year around the same February window, claims a new consumer report, coinciding with a claim by a...
And all of them have Gemini which actually works…
I think they'll give it a new CPU (considering it's nearing a trial production at this time, which is much sooner than expected), as well as the main back camera, and an Apple-branded WiFi modem.
As for other things, I have my serious doubts. I still think it'd be a 6.1" Notch display and the lack of MagSafe is here only to boost the margin by selling branded accessories. Beancounters wouldn't do anything unless dictated by EU.
These numbers are based on what companies / retailers buy, not what customers buy. When I used to work for a few years in the industry, we used to buy stuff 10:1, just to be sure there's something available just in case someone pops up. Also, here in Slovakia, APR's are already offering discounts on the device, and that's only been the case for iPhone 14 and iPhone mini so far.You were saying?iPhone 16e Helps Apple Take Q1 Top Spot in Global Smartphone Market
Apple took the number one position in global smartphone sales during the first quarter of 2025, according to new data from Counterpoint Research....
Gotta love when an MR poster starts talking out of their you know what about how “Apple bad, no idea what they’re doing, flop flop flop”…
and then the numbers come out proving that, oh yeah, they know exactly what they are doing.
I do think you’re right but it’s a risky strategy when you can get so much more in android land with the build quality now being ‘acceptable’ in the mid range, vanilla android now being on par with iOS ux wise - and they all have Gemini which actually works and can do sophisticated things. With Siri struggling to set timers properly.
But is this really about laws of physics? Don't we have like a lot smaller and more powerful chips by now? Don't we have under-the-screen sensors already? Do we really need 3 humongous lenses on the back? I think I could get over a small camera lense bump if the phone itself wasn't an absolute unit of a brick like my 14 Pro. The performance of 12/13 Mini was enough for most people I'd say, and that was 5 years ago. Apple with their new chips should be capable of making a 13 Mini sized Pro phone with Pro motion and no island/notch.
People used to think the way you do before iPod Nano came out. Apple doesn't need to bend laws of physics, but they used to and are expected to be pushing the boundaries of what we think is possible to do, like they used to under Jobs.
It is. Smaller technologies allow us to create more powerful chips while retaining the physical space they occupy. These chips will be outdated in a few years. My first generation iPad mini was a beast when it launched in 2012, but nowadays, Safari can't load Google Search properly without crashing.
You can have under-the-screen sensors, but their quality is disputable at least. The same applies to those 3 humongous lenses. People want all-in-one devices and take photos better than ever, but the smaller the lens is physically, the lower is the overall quality of the picture. Not to mention the battery. I know many owners of the iPhone 12 / 13 mini phones, and every single one complains of battery life.
Also, the iPod nano was a thing back when the technology made significant leaps. If it were possible nowadays, we would already have the AirPower up and running. You can't bend physics. OceanGate tried at much bigger scale and look what happened.