As expected, Apple has announced today the new one iPhone 17e with some valuable improvements over its predecessor.
The new model gets full support for MagSafe wireless charging and storage has been doubled to 256GB for the same price. However, there is one very surprising thing about upgrading…
While it was widely rumored that Apple would ditch the move for a dynamic island, that’s actually not the case. The iPhone 17e, like the model it replaces, still has a notch.
The company certainly needs to hold back some features from the flagship models in order to prevent potential buyers of the standard iPhone 17 from opting for the budget model instead. But the presence of the notch makes what is a brand new phone look instantly dated.
Compare with Samsung phones. Yes, there are some very low level equivalent models. We can see this in the $299 Galaxy A26 5G, for example.
However, you don’t have to go much further up the range before we get into screens with a punch-hole camera. Just $399 gets you the A36 with 256GB of storage:
For the same $599 as the iPhone 17e, the 256GB version of the Google Pixel 9a also gives a punch hole:
OR Nothing phone (3) for maybe $40 more for the 256GB model:
I could go on, but you get the idea. Look at any Android smartphone at the same price and you’ll get a punch-hole camera, which gives the screen a much slimmer and more contemporary look than the iPhone 17e’s level.
Of course, I understand that Android phones don’t give you Face ID. This requires a larger cut, which makes a simple drill hole design impossible.
But we expected the iPhone 17e to come with a dynamic island and it doesn’t. Like it or not, this makes a brand new iPhone look dated the day it was announced.
How big do you think this is? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Image: 9to5Mac/Apple/Avinash Kumar
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