iPhone 17e
Ranked 15 of 60 smartphones by recommenders
People recommend it as a cheaper, compact iPhone with a long support lifecycle, a capable in-house modem, and a starting price near $600. The most common caveat is that the base storage is small and the price is still high for what it offers.
People recommend it as a cheaper, compact iPhone with a long support lifecycle, a capable in-house modem, and a starting price near $600. The most common caveat is that the base storage is small and the price is still high for what it offers.
46 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 19
- criticize it
- 27
- approval share
- 41%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 19 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good value for the price
“Seems like a decent deal for what it has and getting the full support lifecycle out of it”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e” “at least they added iPhone 17e starting at $599”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “New iMac with M6” “They finally got a phone back under $1000 AUD!”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e” - Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e”
In-house modem improves battery life
“the most valuable part of this “e” lineup is the in-house developed modem”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e” “Compared to previous non-apple modem it's night and day battery-wise.”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e” Smaller, lighter, pocket friendly
“would certainly be worth the smaller size for me”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e” “Smaller, lighter, pocket friendly.”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Price still high for what it offers
“$599 still feels like they're setting whatever price they can get away with.”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e” “This is the discount model and it's still way over the $500 bar.”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e” “No selling points beyond it being slightly cheaper.”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “iPhone 17e” Notch and no Dynamic Island
“Keeping the "notch" so long after an alternative was released is a gesture of contempt towards their consumers.”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e” “Sad it doesn't have the dynamic island, was going to pick up one of these for testing”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e” Israel-developed chip and malware concerns
“Israel is the last place I want to have anything to do with my phone.”
Comment from 20 May 2026 in “New accessibility features powered by Apple Intelligence” “built-in entry for Pegasus and other Israeli military malware”
Comment from 18 May 2026 in “Apple announced the iPhone 17e with a chip developed in Israel”
Other smartphones people recommend
The four most recommended other smartphones, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple iPhone | 706 | 882 | 44% | 13 | 7 yrs107 owners | — |
| Fairphone | 168 | 107 | 61% | 13 | 3 yrs19 owners | — |
| Apple iPhone Pro | 144 | 155 | 48% | 12 | 4 yrs26 owners | — |
| iPhone 13 mini | 141 | 51 | 73% | 12 | 1.5 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| iPhone 17eThis page | 19 | 27 | 41% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 48 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“at least they added iPhone 17e starting at $599”
“it is as wide as a regular iPhone”
“Israel is the last place I want to have anything to do with my phone.”
“built-in entry for Pegasus and other Israeli military malware”
“Apple has at least been using repair-friendly glue like the electrically debonding adhesive”
“This is the discount model and it's still way over the $500 bar.”
“Of course it's a considerable upgrade”
“The bogus part with the storage here is instead on needing to pay $200 more just to get to 512 GB.”
“Why would anyone buy this over a good as new refurb 16 pro”
“This has everything a normal phone needs.”
“Are they using binnned A19 chips”
“it's 6.1". Damn, so close, what a missed opportunity.”
“They finally got a phone back under $1000 AUD!”
“No compact smartphone. Apples MBAs produce just more slight variants of the same phone.”
“pretty good macro capabilities. It is better than your eyes.”
“Compared to previous non-apple modem it's night and day battery-wise.”
“Keeping the "notch" so long after an alternative was released is a gesture of contempt towards their consumers.”
“Smaller, lighter, pocket friendly.”
“$600 seems like a steal to me too”
“It's also 10000% more capable too.”
“would certainly be worth the smaller size for me”
“still blows my mind they couldn't or refused to figure out screen-based touch id as an option”
“essentially a brick when new iOS will require handing over your ID”
“Lots of unexpected swipe-ups that drop me out of an app and put me on the home screen.”
“They seem good enough (far from "bad") by any definition I can think of.”
“The example photos are so bad it is laughable.”
“709 euro in Austria (828.89 us dollars), a 38% increase in price”
“wouldn't it have Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6? It has neither of those.”
“the lack of ultrawide band support is a deal breaker”
“At least they increased the base storage to 256GB”
“Still no support for "actually owning your device."”
“worth the money if you're going to be using a phone every single day of their life”
“Bland design, same old shit repackaged again.”
“the most valuable part of this “e” lineup is the in-house developed modem”
“I'm glad they added MagSafe with this version”
“Seems like a decent deal for what it has and getting the full support lifecycle out of it”
“$599 still feels like they're setting whatever price they can get away with.”
“all Apple has "innovated" the last 10 years”
“Sad it doesn't have the dynamic island, was going to pick up one of these for testing”
“No selling points beyond it being slightly cheaper.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.