As with any other new Apple product, the iFixit team has given the iPhone 17e a teardown treatment. The most interesting takeaway?
You can add MagSafe support to your iPhone 16e using the iPhone 17e’s back panel.
iPhone 17e keeps the same internal design as iPhone 16e
Besides the faster chip, the other key upgrade on the iPhone 17e is MagSafe support. Thanks to the built-in circular magnets, the phone can seamlessly attach to magnetic accessories without a case.
With minimal design differences between the iPhone 17e and iPhone 16e, iFixit’s teardown found that Apple has largely stuck to the same internal design. That means the phone is still relatively repairable, featuring a dual-entry design. So, you can access the phone’s innards from the front or back, depending on the repair you need to carry out.
Like other iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 models, the iPhone 17e uses Apple’s new electrically conductive adhesive to secure the battery in place. To remove it, apply a small amount of current using a 9V battery, which loosens the adhesive. After a minute or two, the battery can be safely removed.
iPhone 17e and iPhone 16e parts are swappable
In its teardown, the iFixit team discovered that most of the components between the iPhone 17e and iPhone 16e are swappable.
“The weird part came when we started swapping parts. Nearly everything inside the 17e appears to be cross-compatible with the 16e. In our testing, you could transplant a 16e logic board into a 17e and let Repair Assistant sort out the new hardware,” says the iFixit teardown team.
This even includes the MagSafe back panel from the iPhone 17e, which can be installed on the iPhone 16e. While it works, the experience isn’t identical as the MagSafe animation and sound don’t trigger. The phone also won’t enter StandBy mode when placed horizontally on a MagSafe stand.
In iFixit’s testing, the iPhone 16e with the iPhone 17e’s MagSafe back panel pulled 10W of power wirelessly.
So, if you have an iPhone 16e, you can essentially swap the back with one from the iPhone 17e to get MagSafe support on your phone.
Rajesh has been writing about consumer technology for over a decade, with a strong focus on iPhones, Macs and Apple’s ecosystem. He enjoys digging into Apple software updates, hardware changes, and discovering new Mac apps that make work faster and more enjoyable.
