iPhone 17e is coming next year, research firm says

Apple recently overhauled its more affordable iPhone line, getting rid of the SE designation entirely and launching the iPhone 16e. According to a new report from research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, Apple is also changing the release schedule for its new "e" line of cheaper iPhones.

Unlike the SEs, which launched every two years before being ignored for three most recently, the "e" models will come every year. So, the iPhone 17e will land in 2026, a year after the iPhone 16e.

This is just a "prediction" by a research firm, but if it pans out it means Apple has big plans for the "e" line, basically making the "e" iPhone part of its main line of devices more or less.

And it makes sense when you consider the naming - the iPhone SE models were all called iPhone SE, but with the "e" naming, the suffix is attached to a line of mainstream more expensive devices. So it wouldn't make a lot of sense for there to be an iPhone 16e, but not an iPhone 17e, then an iPhone 18e, but not an iPhone 19e - you get the idea.

Apple iPhone 16e

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Now whether the "e" line will be successful in its own right is an entirely different question, and most people seem to believe that it won't unless the price goes down (or the feature set goes up in the next one). But that's just the internet, and the internet also loves small phones and those don't really sell in any significant numbers, so nothing about this is a given.

Source | Via