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The iPhone 17e may be a subtle upgrade, but it’s a slight change that makes all the difference. Now with MagSafe, the budget smartphone doesn’t suffer much in the way of compromises. Although the lack of a Dynamic Island makes it feel like an older phone than it really is, unless you really care about photography or giant screens, there’s not a lot that seems missing. It’s just as gorgeous as before and still highly practical.
Produced by Extra Ordinary for Cult of Mac
Music composed by Will Davenport, arranged by D. Griffin Jones
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:40 Design
1:58 MagSafe
3:39 Dynamic Island
4:38 Camera
8:32 Miscellaneous new features
9:50 Miscellaneous missing features
10:29 Conclusion
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
The iPhone 17e may be a subtle upgrade,
0:03
but it's a slight change that makes all
0:05
the difference. Now with MagSafe, this
0:07
budget smartphone doesn't offer much in
0:10
the way of compromises.
0:12
Starting storage capacity is doubled,
0:14
making even the base model an
0:16
exceptional choice. The blistering fast
0:18
A19 chip is even faster than its
0:21
predecessor. Although the lack of a
0:23
dynamic island makes the phone feel
0:25
older than it really is, unless you
0:28
really care about photography or having
0:30
the biggest screen, there's not a lot
0:32
missing here. It's just as gorgeous as
0:35
before, and still highly practical.
0:40
The physical design is largely unchanged
0:43
from the iPhone 16, which is great
0:45
because the iPhone 16E is one of the
0:47
most beautiful iPhones ever made. We're
0:50
so used to the iconic camera plateau
0:52
that we forget it's actually really
0:55
ugly. The 17e is so perfect and
0:57
unadorned. A call back to when the
0:59
iPhone was an object you could fall in
1:01
love with. The textured back is grippy.
1:03
I can confidently hold it in one hand.
1:06
It's not so topheavy that I feel like
1:07
it's going to tumble out of my hands if
1:09
I'm not careful. The corners are a
1:12
little sharp, though. I like the rounded
1:14
corners of the recent Pro phones more.
1:16
The iPhone 17e is virtually the same
1:18
weight as the 16e, and the dimensions
1:21
are exactly the same. Both are so much
1:25
lighter than the 17 Pro that the 17e
1:28
feels like a breath of fresh air.
1:30
Speaking of which, I had similar
1:32
feelings about the iPhone Air. The Air's
1:34
weight made it a joy to hold in the
1:36
hand. While the 17E is just as thick as
1:39
a regular phone, it's not as wide as the
1:42
Air. It now comes in a color. Soft pink
1:45
joins white and black. It's more soft
1:48
than it is pink. In just the right
1:51
lighting conditions, it looks pink. In
1:53
most others, it looks like a single red
1:55
sock got mixed in with the white shirts.
1:58
There was one big problem with the
1:59
iPhone 16e, the lack of Mag Safe. Now,
2:03
there's no caveat, no hesitation. Go and
2:06
buy or recommend somebody a 17e and you
2:09
don't need to worry. It's fully
2:11
compatible with the MagSafe charging
2:13
stands on my nightstand and my desk, the
2:15
Mags Safe Grip from O Snap, the Apple
2:17
MagSafe wallet, and the wide variety of
2:20
MagSafe accessories. I realized as I was
2:23
setting up my iPhone 17e that I
2:25
instinctively put it on my desk's Mags
2:27
Safe charging stand without even
2:29
thinking about it. It doesn't support
2:30
the same charging speeds. The iPhone 17
2:33
Pro supports 25 watt charging. The 17E
2:37
only supports the older 15watt standard.
2:41
But then again, the vast majority of
2:43
MagSafe accessories, and especially
2:45
MagSafe compatible accessories, are only
2:49
15 watts anyway, so you're not missing
2:51
out on much. And MagSafe is all about
2:54
powering your phone passively while it's
2:56
on your desk at work or charging
2:59
overnight while you sleep. So, the
3:01
fastest charging speed isn't even that
3:03
important. The simple addition of
3:04
MagSafe to the 17E makes its emission
3:08
from the 16E all the more confusing. Why
3:10
wasn't it there to begin with? I was
3:13
always skeptical of the arguments that
3:15
the components would cost too much when
3:17
third party MagSafe stickers are so
3:19
cheap or that it couldn't fit in the
3:22
design when the iPhone air is 27%
3:25
thinner and has it as well. annoying us
3:28
all in the tech blogging world is that
3:30
now and forever more, anytime we talk
3:32
about Mag Safe, we'll have to say
3:34
available on the iPhone 12 and later,
3:37
except the iPhone 16. Another sadness
3:39
from the iPhone 16 was the lack of a
3:42
dynamic island. Keeping an eye on
3:44
background tasks on your phone is one of
3:46
those things that makes it feel like a
3:48
real computer, and the new iPhone 17e
3:51
doesn't have it. It has the same notch
3:54
as before, like some kind of static
3:57
peninsula. It's crazy how much of a
3:59
difference this makes. The notch and the
4:01
slightly bigger bezels around the edge
4:04
make it feel several years old compared
4:07
to my 16 Pro. The display is probably
4:09
one of the iPhone's most expensive
4:11
components, so it's understandable. You
4:14
don't cut $200 off the sticker price
4:16
from the ultrawide camera and vibes
4:20
alone. Maybe next year. The display
4:22
doesn't get quite as bright outdoors as
4:24
the other 17 models, which you might
4:26
notice on peak summer days with clear
4:29
skies wearing your sunglasses, but
4:32
indoors in Ohio in March, the 1200 nit
4:36
screen is plenty bright. The single rear
4:38
camera is still a surprisingly effective
4:41
shooter. It carries over the same
4:43
hardware from last year, but with some
4:45
of the image processing improvements
4:47
found on the other 17 models. I mean,
4:51
it's an iPhone camera. You've seen the
4:53
pictures it takes before. It's
4:54
simultaneously
4:56
nothing remarkable or novel, but also
4:59
absolutely freaking incredible that we
5:01
all just carry this photographic power
5:04
with us everywhere we go in our pockets
5:07
on the cheapest iPhone Apple makes. I
5:09
stared at all the pictures I took,
5:11
trying to conjure up any sort of
5:13
feeling, thought, or insight, but all I
5:16
got was, "Yep, that's a bunch of iPhone
5:18
pictures." You could be cynical about it
5:21
and complain that nothing is new
5:22
anymore, but we've hit the limits of
5:25
smartphone camera physics a few years
5:27
ago. Now, even a budget smartphone can
5:30
take a lot of the same shots as the
5:32
other latest models, just with one lens
5:35
instead of three. The 48 megapixel
5:37
sensor gives you up to 2x zoom at a full
5:40
12 megapixels of resolution, but the
5:42
resulting images are much smudgier when
5:45
you zoom in. You also don't get the
5:47
incredible 5x optical lens from the 16
5:51
Pro. Over the last 2 and a half years
5:53
I've spent with it, I've taken a
5:54
substantial number of those telephoto
5:56
shots. You also don't have the.5x
5:59
camera. The closest I come to using the
6:02
macro lens in typical usage is when I'm
6:04
trying to take a regular 1x photo, but I
6:07
get a little too close and it switches
6:09
to the macro lens automatically. So then
6:11
I have to tap the little flower button
6:13
to turn it off and I hold my phone a
6:16
little farther away. The 17e saves me
6:19
from that whole ritual. It lets you get
6:21
a little closer with its lens before it
6:23
can't focus anymore because it doesn't
6:25
have another lens to switch to. It now
6:27
features next generation portraits. You
6:31
can take a regular photo and convert it
6:32
to portrait mode after the fact and even
6:35
change which part of the image is in
6:38
focus. It's really fun to mess with on
6:40
some of your favorite shots. Oddly
6:42
though, the 17E doesn't have next
6:45
generation photographic styles, which
6:48
let you recolor and transform a photo
6:50
after the fact. It's like you can go
6:53
back and take the same shot again using
6:55
a different film stock with different
6:57
properties. New photographic styles are
7:00
available on the iPhone Air, which has
7:02
very similar single camera hardware. I
7:05
find its loss to be a major
7:06
disappointment. I don't use the feature
7:08
all the time, but I really like using it
7:11
when I have the opportunity. The 17E
7:13
uses the old system. You choose in
7:16
settings whether you want to process
7:17
your photos with a little more
7:19
saturation, warmth, or cool. It's much
7:24
less versatile and the choice is
7:26
permanently baked into all of the photos
7:28
you take. The 17E also lacks a camera
7:31
control button on the right side. I use
7:34
it to quickly summon the camera all the
7:36
time. I really miss having it there. On
7:39
my 16 Pro, I've already assigned the
7:41
action button to run a custom shortcut,
7:44
replaced the camera icon on the lock
7:46
screen with an Apple TV remote button,
7:49
and turned off the swipe gesture to open
7:51
the camera because I know that at any
7:54
time I can just click the camera control
7:56
to bring it up. On the 17E, I intended
7:59
to reenable the lock screen swipe
8:01
gesture, accepting the risk that it
8:03
might accidentally be activated in my
8:05
pocket again. But I was a bit lazy about
8:08
it. Instead, I just unlocked the phone
8:10
and went to the app library and opened
8:12
the camera that way. Apple is slowly
8:14
walking back the complicated swipe and
8:17
pressure sensitivity gestures. I
8:20
wouldn't be surprised if the future
8:21
iPhone 18 or 19 just has a plain old
8:25
clicking button. And whenever that
8:26
change happens, I bet the corresponding
8:29
18e or 19e will get it, too. The
8:32
entry-le model now comes with 256 GB of
8:35
storage, up from 128, and the upgrade to
8:39
512 now costs $100 less. It's a very
8:43
pleasant surprise. Again, there's
8:45
nothing you need to avoid when buying
8:47
this phone. The 17e has the latest A19
8:50
chip. It's slightly binned with one
8:53
fewer GPU core, which will probably lead
8:55
to slightly worse gaming performance,
8:58
but I doubt it's anything you'd notice.
9:00
The 17E has the same C1X modem as the
9:04
iPhone Air. It supposedly doubles
9:07
regular 5G cellular speeds. It still
9:10
doesn't support 5G millimeter wave, the
9:13
elusive high-performance turbo 5G mode
9:17
that I still don't think I've ever
9:19
experienced. The N1 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
9:22
chip continues to spread across all of
9:24
Apple's models. Now, I have one single
9:28
cheap Wi-Fi router provided by my ISP
9:31
that sits in my office at the edge of my
9:33
house. My iPhone 16 Pro usually
9:36
struggles to get a good connection in my
9:38
bedroom, but the iPhone 17e handles it
9:42
without a hitch. Ceramic Shield 2 claims
9:44
to be three times as shatter resistant.
9:48
I wasn't too keen on testing this
9:49
myself. The 17E also comes with a number
9:52
of odd missing features compared to the
9:54
other models. It doesn't have an 18
9:57
megapixel center stage front camera.
10:01
Understandable as that's a brand new
10:02
hardware feature. It doesn't support
10:04
dual capture which can simultaneously
10:06
record video on the front and rear
10:08
cameras. It can't record videos in
10:11
cinematic mode nor action mode. Other
10:14
models have a second generation ultra
10:16
wideband chip for precision finding air
10:19
tags and other devices. Nor does it have
10:22
a thread radio for communicating with
10:24
smart home accessories. Again, none of
10:27
these features are essentials. The 17E
10:30
trims a lot of fat from the feature set.
10:32
It has the most important 90% of
10:35
features. It's a good phone to buy for a
10:38
kid as their first iPhone or to force on
10:41
somebody else who left to their own
10:44
devices would make do with a Blackberry
10:47
from 2009 with a cracked screen they
10:49
picked out of the trash. It's not an
10:52
exciting phone, but it's a good phone.
10:55
I'm Driven Jones with Cult of Mac.
#Consumer Electronics
#Gadgets & Portable Electronics