Apple has launched the iPhone 17e in India. The iPhone 17e is the most affordable member of the iPhone 17 series with a starting price of Rs 64,900 for a version with 8GBRAM and 256GB storage. A version with 512GB storage will set you back by Rs 84,900. The iPhone 17e will go on sale starting March 11 with pre-orders going live from March 4 (starting 7:45 PM).
The big takeaways from the iPhone 17e are five. It has a faster chip, the A19, the latest C1X 5G modem, and support for “MagSafe” charging. The iPhone 17e also uses more durable glass and comes in three colours.
iPhone 17e full specs and features
The iPhone 17e looks almost identical to its predecessor, the iPhone 16e from last year, though Apple is now using Ceramic Shield 2 protection on the front which it says is up to 3x more scratch resistant than the first-generation Ceramic Shield. The chassis, which is made of glass and metal, is IP68 certified and comes in a choice of black, white, and soft pink.
Much like the iPhone 16e, the iPhone 17e also has a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED screen with a 1.5K resolution and up to 800 nits of peak brightness (1200 nits for HDR). The refresh rate is still capped at 60Hz. The iPhone 17e gets a faster A19 chip and C1X cellular modem, which is said to be up to 2x faster than the C1 in iPhone 16e. The A19 chip in the iPhone 17e is from the iPhone 17, except that it uses a 4-core GPU (while the iPhone 17 has A19 with a 5-core GPU). You get 8GB of RAM as standard and up to 512GB storage. Base storage starts at 256GB (up from 128GB in the iPhone 16e).
The iPhone 17e has a single camera on the back with a 48-megapixel sensor behind an f/1.6 lens with optical image stabilisation. Apple is marketing it as a 2-in-1 camera since it has put a 2x telephoto mode and promising optical quality with it. This camera supports Night Mode and can record 4K with Dolby Vision up to 60 fps and videos with Spatial Audio. On the front, it has a 12-megapixel camera which is also part of Apple’s TrueDepth system enabling Face ID biometric authentication.
The iPhone 17e launch is part of what is set to be an action-packed week for Apple with more devices in the offing. Joining the iPhone 17e today is Apple’s new iPad Air with M4 chip, which also starts at Rs 64,900 in India for the 11-inch model with Wi-Fi. You can read more about the M4 iPad here.
