Featured Image Credit: Ming Yeung / Staff / Getty
The price of everything feels like it's going up, and while everything from President Trump's trade tariffs to AI is being blamed for adding a few extra dollars to our budgets, people are especially noticing it with electronics.
It's no secret that iPhones aren't exactly cheap, but when Apple rolls out new models every year, it's getting harder than ever to keep up with the latest tech.
Just months after the fruit-based megacorp released its iPhone 17 line, there are reports that a budget-friendly alternative is about to launch...imminently.
While those fears that iPhones could cost $3,500 thanks to Donald Trump's tariffs thankfully haven't come to pass, it's true that the iPhone 17 Pro snuck in a $100 price increase to $1,100.
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For those balking at the price of the iPhone 17 Pro, the standard, or even the divisive iPhone Air, Bloomberg's Marc Gurman claims the 17e is just around the corner.
Set to replace last year's budget 16e, the iPhone 17e is kicking off 2026 as part of a proposed product blitz to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary.
Gurman says the big change is that the 17e is getting an upgrade to the same A19 chip from the iPhone 17, as well as MagSafe charging.
Even as the 17e gets boosted to Apple's new in-house cellular and wireless chips in the form of the C1X modem and N1 wireless chip, it's set to hold steady at the same $599 you were paying to get the 16e. As Gurman writes, it's "setting up a simple advertising pitch: You’ll get more features for the same cost."
Different sources are arguing about whether the 17e will include the same Dynamic Island as the 17 or will stick with a notch, and even though it's not a big deal for most, others will die on the hill of which they prefer.
Gurman also suggests that the 17e will be heavily marketed to those in "emerging economies and enterprises," which are two areas the tech giant is said to be targeting aggressively.
What would you like to see on iPhone 17e?
— intro Tech (@theintrotech) February 12, 2026
Notch or Dynamic Island? pic.twitter.com/hr8ZAh6ADp
In particular, he thinks Apple can make the most of a weak position in terms of the competition. While it's true that Google is releasing a new low-end model of the Pixel 10a, it's not giving the same bang for your buck as the 17e. Elsewhere, Samsung is supposedly focused on high-end products.
Gurman's latest report comes off the back of Macworld pencilling in February 19 as the big day. It all lines up with the 16e releasing in February 2025, although skeptics have pointed out that Apple has never released a new iPhone on a Thursday.
Either way, there are high hopes that Apple can learn from the mistakes of the 16e, which was impressively able to include the controversial Apple Intelligence update due to its impressive specs.
It's already tipped to solve one problem, and after there were grumbles that the 16e was missing MagSafe, the 17e is due to add the same 25W charging that first arrived alongside the mainline iPhone 16.
With Valentine's Day just around the corner, the iPhone 17e could be an unexpected gift for that special someone.
