iPhone 17e could arrive as soon as next week – and might have one big advantage over Samsung Galaxy S26

Apple could announce the iPhone 17e on 19 February, hitting the smartphone market with an update to its most affordable model and providing a perfectly timed distraction to the mass of Android devices set to launch in the coming weeks.

The iPhone 16e was announced on 19 February 2025 so there's precedent for the timescale here, although it's a Thursday and Apple's announcements are normally on a Monday or Tuesday. Part of me thinks that Tuesday 17 February has a more poetic ring to it, but that's not what the source is saying.

There's unlikely to be grand launch event, it will instead be announced via a press release. So keep your eyes on T3 for more.

The source of this date is Macwelt.de, which cites "industry sources", but there's little corroborating evidence. It's worth taking the date with some caution, therefore. However, as I said, if Apple is serious about updating its affordable device, then now is the time to do it.

The iPhone 16e launched in 2025 to update the iPhone SE from 2022 – previously there was an iPhone SE in 2020 and before that one in 2016. So, this line of more affordable devices has been less regular in updates than other areas of the company's portfolio. But the switch to a numerical naming is perhaps more significant, because it suggests some relation to the main iPhone release cycle.

Moving on, that's not the only piece of information that Macwelt is sharing. It's claimed that it's going to come with a feature that's controversially missing from the Samsung Galaxy S26 – and that's MagSafe, with up to 25W wireless charging, while the previous model topped out at 7.5W.

iPhone 17e – other rumours and specs

We'd heard previous suggestions that the iPhone 17e would move to the Dynamic Island layout, albeit with a 60Hz display, but Macwelt says otherwise – that the 17e will stick to the older notch design, the same as it was before.

It's also expected that it will retain the single camera. Seeing as Apple equipped the iPhone Air with just one camera, it doesn't feel like there's any pressure on the Cupertino company to make any changes here: the iPhone 17 sticks to two cameras, and while cheap Android phones pack in more cameras on rival devices, the performance is often questionable.

It's better to have one good camera than three bad cameras, you might say.

But there's a bigger question for the iPhone 17e: what is going to power the phone? The iPhone 16e used the A18, similar to the iPhone 16 but with a slightly different GPU. Does that mean that the iPhone 17e will move to the A19?

The A19 currently powers the iPhone 17 which only launched in September 2025 and is currently priced at £799. The iPhone 17e will probably launch at £599, potentially diverting some buyers from the iPhone 17 for the cheaper device instead.

However, there are likely to be a number of things to differentiate between the two: iPhone 17 has a larger display with 120Hz and Dynamic Island, Centre Stage front camera and a dual camera on the rear, which makes the two devices stand apart from each other.

We might not have too long to find out for sure.