Pre-sale of the iPhone 17e started on March 4, 2026, and now, a week later, the device goes on official store sale. The debut date coincides with the release of its predecessor – the 16e model, which finished last year in the 10th position of the best-selling smartphones in the world. As before, the base model was priced at PLN 2,999 – the price has not changed for a year and this despite the fact that the internal memory has doubled, from 128 GB to 256 GB. For the model with 512 GB of data space, you have to pay PLN 3,999, i.e PLN 500 less than last year's edition.
In theory, taking into account the drastically increasing prices of RAM and disks, we should observe a completely different relationship. Apple could have done what most of its competitors do and simply raised prices. Instead, we see… a reduction or at least maintenance of the amounts despite the increase in smartphone capabilities. Although this may seem counterintuitive at first glance, Apple has a very good reason for adopting this strategy.
The Cupertino giant ended 2025 by selling the most smartphones in the world for the first time in a long time, thus overtaking its main competitor – Samsung. This year, the stakes are similar, and Apple, seeing what is happening on the market, has apparently decided that it is able (temporarily) accept a smaller profit on a single device in order to simply sell a larger volume. The war for even greater market share is in full swingand this is not the end of the Apple offensive in the near future.
For people looking for a new smartphone with a medium budget, the iPhone 17e will be a tempting option… but at the same time – with the natural decline in prices of other, older Apple models, it turns out that for a small additional fee you can also buy a device from outside the budget line, with slightly better components.
In practice, relatively speaking The low price for the new iPhone works in two ways — will not only drive sales of the new model, but by drawing attention to the brand, it will also support sales of other, older, although similarly priced, devices with the bitten apple logo. Apple, consciously accepting lower profits from a single unit, increases revenues in the entire smartphone segment anyway.
In the face of ubiquitous price increases – also in the mobile device market – related to component shortages and high demand for RAM, this strategy additionally distinguishes the manufacturer. The main competitor, the already mentioned Samsung, has just presented its flagship Galaxy S26 series… and the cheapest model is PLN 500 more expensive than a year earlier.
What is important in the case of the iPhone 17e – this pricing, which goes against current trends, is intended to convince not only an individual user but also… a company to buy it. Although in Poland the lower and middle levels of corporations can count on budget options from other manufacturers, On the American market, the iPhone is a very common “business” choice. The iPhone 17e should do very well in this role. In a situation where the new model in various wholesale plans will be so attractively priced – from a B2B perspective it will probably be a very frequently chosen option. If not this year, then probably next year.
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The budget proposition is also obvious an attempt to attract more users to the Apple ecosystemwhich offers plenty of subscriptions – Apple Music, Apple TV+, iCloud+ and Apple Arcade. Each of them regularly contributes a significant amount to Tim Cook's budget. It should also be remembered that in the case of any purchases or subscriptions to external services, Apple deducts a high percentage from their creators, additionally earning money from it. Therefore, it has an obvious interest in ensuring that the base of participants in its ecosystem is as large as possible – not only due to revenues from a one-time purchase of devices, but also revenues extended over time. In the context of changing user habits in the smartphone market – and less frequent replacement of devices with new ones – this is a key relationship that allows maintaining financial continuity and predictability of profits.
The device itself is attractively priced for this segment, but how does it fare in terms of parameters? Here, Apple surprised positively in several places and took a step forward, but in a few areas – it is clear that some compromises were made.
The specifications of the iPhone 17 are as follows:
- Screen: 6.1 inches, OLED
- Resolution: 2532 x 1170 px (460 ppi)
- Refreshing: 60 Hz
- Security: Ceramic Shield 2 glass
- Processor: Apple A19 (6 CPU cores and 4 GPU cores)
- RAM: 8GB
- Internal memory: 256 GB or 512 GB
Cameras:
- Main camera: 48 Mpix, f/1.6 aperture, optical image stabilization (OIS)
- Front camera: 12 Mpix, f/1.9 aperture
Battery and charging:
- Capacity: 4005 mAh
- Wired charging: 20 W
- Wireless charging: MagSafe and Qi2
Connectivity and multimedia:
- 5G modem: C1X
- Standards: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, eSIM, UWB
- Sound: Stereo speakers
- Security: FaceID (notch instead of Dynamic Island)
Construction and resistance:
- Dimensions: 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8 mm
- Libra: 170 g
- Resistance: IP68 certified
The specification is not bad, but it is obviously far from the top models in Apple's offer. Compared to last year's iPhone 16e, the main changes include: a more efficient A19 chip, twice as much base memory (256 GB), the addition of MagSafe support with faster charging and the use of a newer 5G modem and more resistant Ceramic Shield 2 glass.
Piotr Kwiatkowski, an expert at Komputer Świat and one of the most experienced smartphone testers in Poland, points out in his analysis: – We are not getting a major breakthrough here, only a slight facelift. On the other hand, no one expected the iPhone 17e to have a screen with a 120 Hz refresh rate, a main camera with two photo modules or a USB port with a video output.
