Apple is kicking off its week of announcements with the iPhone 17e, the company’s latest budget iPhone, and an M4 version of the iPad Air.Both devices will be available for pre-order later this week.First up is the iPhone 17e, a sequel to last year’s iPhone 16e budget model, which replaced Apple’s long-running iPhone SE series.
It still has a screen notch instead of the Dynamic Island cutout found on other modern iPhone models, and only one camera, but there are some impressive upgrades.The iPhone 17e is equipped with the same Apple A19 chip found in the iPhone 17, so there’s a boost to performance and power efficiency.It also now has 256 GB as the base storage capacity, an upgraded Apple C1X cellular modem that’s “up to 2x faster than C1 in the iPhone 16e,” and finally, full support for MagSafe chargers and accessories.
The lack of MagSafe support was perhaps the strangest omission on the iPhone 16e, so I’m happy to see Apple address that.The rest of the hardware includes a 6.1-inch OLED screen with up to 1200 nits of peak HDR brightness, IP68 water and dust resistance, Face ID, a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer, and an Action Button.There’s also satellite connectivity with Emergency SOS, Roadside Assistance, Messages, and Find My features.
Apple is still going with a single camera on the iPhone 17e, a 48MP ‘Fusion’ camera with “optical-quality 2x telephoto.” That means you’ll miss out on ultra-wide photos and videos, and the overall quality for standard photos is a bit lower than other iPhone models.Still, our iPhone 16e review found photo and video quality to be decent, so the iPhone 17e should be a capable camera.The other hardware announcement is an updated iPad Air, which now has the same Apple M4 chip found in the current base models of the iMac, Mac mini, 14-inch MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air.
That’s a substantial jump in performance and efficiency from the M3 chip, but iPadOS still isn’t built to take full advantage of that hardware.Apple still forbids emulators, real IDEs, and virtualization software from the iPad’s App Store, so the closest you’ll get to pushing that hardware is a complex Final Cut or Logic Pro project.The iPad Air is still available in the same 11-inch and 13-inch sizes, and nothing is changing with the design or accessories.
However, it has switched to Apple’s own N1 and C1X chips for Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity, respectively.That finally brings Wi-Fi 7 support to the iPad Air.Subscribe for concise Apple device updates and analysis Get the newsletter for focused breakdowns of Apple hardware news — from chip boosts and camera trade-offs to real-world buying implications.
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The iPhone 17e will be available in black, white, and soft pink colors, starting at $599 for 256GB.That’s the same price as last year’s iPhone 16e, but with double the storage.The 11-inch iPad Air starts at $599 for the Wi-FI model and $749 for the cellular version, while the 13-inch Air starts at $799 for the Wi-Fi model and $949 for the Wi-Fi and cellular model.
They will be available to pre-order from Apple starting Wednesday, March 4, with a full release coming on March 11.Source: Apple Newsroom (1, 2)
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