[HN Gopher] iPhone 17e
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       iPhone 17e
        
       https://www.apple.com/iphone-17e/
        
       Author : meetpateltech
       Score  : 154 points
       Date   : 2026-03-02 14:03 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.apple.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.apple.com)
        
       | satvikpendem wrote:
       | Sad it doesn't have the dynamic island, was going to pick up one
       | of these for testing for iOS app development. Everything else
       | looks fine however, as expected.
        
         | NetMageSCW wrote:
         | I would recommend the base 17 for that.
        
           | loeg wrote:
           | Or one of the older models? 15/16 have it too.
        
           | satvikpendem wrote:
           | For just testing I'd rather just get a used 14, 15, or 16.
        
       | 1970-01-01 wrote:
       | $599 still feels like they're setting whatever price they can get
       | away with. It's been 20 years, why don't we have sub $500 new
       | iPhones yet?
        
         | joezydeco wrote:
         | It's a luxury brand. You don't sell cheap and risk losing the
         | people that are happy to pay $1400 for a new iPhone.
        
           | NetMageSCW wrote:
           | It's not a luxury brand, it is a quality brand. There is a
           | difference.
        
             | joezydeco wrote:
             | So is Mercedes-Benz. But they don't sell a $20,000 commuter
             | car.
        
               | NetMageSCW wrote:
               | No, Mercedes Benz is definitely a luxury brand. They
               | don't want to sell to everyone. Apple (Steve Jobs) has
               | explicitly stated that as one of their goals.
        
               | lotsofpulp wrote:
               | Toyota is a quality brand, Mercedes is a luxury brand.
        
               | tencentshill wrote:
               | It's not a quality brand, it is a luxury brand. There is
               | a difference.
        
               | slaw wrote:
               | Mercedes-Benz sells commuter cars in Europe.
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_A-Class
        
               | orangepanda wrote:
               | And this is the Mercedes-Benz commuter car I want to see
               | more of.
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_Citaro
        
               | kube-system wrote:
               | > The Mercedes-Benz A-Class is a car manufactured by
               | _German luxury automaker_ Mercedes-Benz
               | 
               | "luxury" is more of a marketing and product positioning
               | term, it doesn't really have anything to do with
               | engineering or quality practicalities
        
               | cromka wrote:
               | Oh but they do:
               | https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Automobile
        
               | charcircuit wrote:
               | >aimed at producing Smart-badged cars
               | 
               | The brand is "Smart".
        
             | AmbroseBierce wrote:
             | The keyboard-doesn't-trigger-the-tapped-key-sometimes
             | brand, just awestruck at their quality https://ios-
             | countdown.win/
        
             | alwillis wrote:
             | > It's not a luxury brand, it is a quality brand. There is
             | a difference.
             | 
             | It's an attainable luxury brand. There aren't many products
             | that a high school kid has in common with billionaires,
             | superstar athletes and movie stars--the iPhone is such a
             | product.
        
         | stephenboyd wrote:
         | The iPhone SE was only $400.
        
         | dmix wrote:
         | I'd argue that is worth the money if you're going to be using a
         | phone every single day of their life. People will drop a few
         | hundred on fancy shoes and wear them once a month, but they
         | treat phones as cheap commodities.
        
         | mrweasel wrote:
         | Last time I complained about the pricing of the iPhone, people
         | pointed out that inflation included the prices wasn't to far of
         | from the original iPhone.
         | 
         | Still, I don't care that the phones are faster, have larger
         | screens, better camera, FaceID, AI, are thinner light and what
         | have you. The iPhone design peaked in 2015, from there they
         | could just have release the same phone year after year, making
         | it cheaper and cheaper and I'd still be happy with it.
         | 
         | The prices are, in my mind insane, and I'll be buying used, but
         | those are also overpriced.
        
           | unsupp0rted wrote:
           | No, they couldn't, because then the company would stop
           | existing due to lack of sales.
        
             | nancyminusone wrote:
             | Bell System released about 10 models over 110 years, worked
             | out just fine for them.
        
               | BoorishBears wrote:
               | And now you see why they want to grow their services
               | business so badly
        
           | thebigman433 wrote:
           | > Still, I don't care that the phones are faster, have larger
           | screens, better camera, FaceID, AI, are thinner light and
           | what have you. The iPhone design peaked in 2015, from there
           | they could just have release the same phone year after year,
           | making it cheaper and cheaper and I'd still be happy with it.
           | 
           | This obviously isnt relevant generally though, this is not
           | how the general public feels at all.
        
         | lenerdenator wrote:
         | Because they know people will pay it.
        
         | ortusdux wrote:
         | Can mess up the price ladder!
        
         | JohnTHaller wrote:
         | Global crazy tariffs, supply chain issues, and RAM and storage
         | shortages due to AI hype betting. Also greed.
        
         | gbear605 wrote:
         | Taking inflation into account, a $599 iPhone in 2026 would have
         | been $380 in 2007. Given that the actual launch price in 2007
         | was $499, that's a pretty hefty drop.
        
           | thatfrenchguy wrote:
           | $499 with carrier subsidy too
        
         | tech234a wrote:
         | At least they increased the base storage to 256GB
        
       | thoughtpalette wrote:
       | Still holding onto my 13 mini. Dreaming of another small form
       | factor release one of these announcements.. :'}
        
         | Alifatisk wrote:
         | My next upgrade if my 12 mini gives up will be an 13 mini. And
         | from there I will probably just stick to refurbed 13 minis
         | until a good alternative comes out.
        
           | mikestew wrote:
           | Where are you finding refurb'ed 13 Minis? Apple only goes
           | back to 14s now on store.apple.com in the U. S.
        
             | dmitrygr wrote:
             | FB marketplace and/or eBay.
        
             | Alifatisk wrote:
             | refurbed.com and swappie.com, I don't know if they do it on
             | all phones but some of them get their battery changed to a
             | fresh one aswell!
        
               | moralestapia wrote:
               | Hey man, this is great!
               | 
               | Thanks.
               | 
               | (I'm also looking to "refresh" my iPhone 13 mini)
        
           | mini13mini13 wrote:
           | I highly recommend hunting down a 13 mini now (with a lot of
           | battery left) so you can switch when you have to. I did last
           | summer and was glad I didn't have to organize one on short
           | notice. And if you avoid ios26 - make sure the ios18 on the
           | device is updated because now you no longer get updated
           | within ios18
        
             | Kreutzer wrote:
             | I'm currently on iOS 16 with iPhone 12 mini. I don't even
             | see an option to update to anything but iOS26, so I'm
             | staying put.
             | 
             | My worst is buying a 13mini that is already updated to
             | IOS26, then I think I would be screwed.
        
         | mikestew wrote:
         | Maybe the iPhone Fold won't be two 8" slabs of glass glued
         | together, I think that's the only hope for those holding out
         | for another Mini.
        
           | alpaca128 wrote:
           | That's true, some foldables like that exist. The problem for
           | me is that I don't want to pay for the folding part, not
           | interested in that.
        
         | freetonik wrote:
         | Have you replaced the battery? My 13 mini shows 90% battery
         | health but I can't use it for the full day (and I don't game or
         | anything, just light use). I wonder if the battery is really ok
         | and it's the software that is to blame.
        
           | abhikul0 wrote:
           | I got the base 13 at launch day whose battery health now
           | states 86%. While I have noticed degraded battery
           | performance, the stated health has been stuck at 86% for
           | quite a while now.
           | 
           | I guess it's bugged out and would opt for a battery change if
           | you're feeling the battery pains, I'm thinking of upgrading
           | to the new base model this year for the usb c and 120hz
           | display.
        
           | embedding-shape wrote:
           | I still have my 12 Mini, changed the battery in a Apple store
           | a year ago (and they broke the screen in the process so got a
           | new screen too) for I think 99 EUR, now the battery still
           | last ~2 days, easily worth it. Maximum capacity says "87%"
           | right now although I don't know what exactly that's based on.
           | 
           | I'm keeping this phone until either Apple releses a new mini
           | or until Motorola released a GrapheneOS phone, whichever
           | comes first.
        
             | roughly wrote:
             | > changed the battery in a Apple store a year ago (and they
             | broke the screen in the process so got a new screen too)
             | 
             | Huh, I had a 12 mini and had the same thing happen at an
             | independent repair shop I used to frequent. I've been
             | pretty salty with the shop, but I guess it's an easier
             | fuckup than I've been giving them credit for.
        
           | francisofascii wrote:
           | 13 mini user here. I have 86% battery health, and it is
           | "okay". I need to charge it about once a day. Also holding
           | out due to the smaller size.
        
           | trenning wrote:
           | I'm down to 75% on my 13mini. I recently picked up a magsafe
           | battery pack that gets me through the day when I'm traveling
           | and can't charge.
           | 
           | I was considering swapping out the phone battery but this is
           | a better alternative for now.
        
           | marc_g wrote:
           | Just replaced my 13 mini battery this past week which was at
           | 80%. Noticeable improvement. I'm not a very heavy user but
           | did find that I was getting to the 20/10% range at the end of
           | most days. Now its 30/40 and I'm happy! Many more years in
           | the old steed yet.
        
           | frereubu wrote:
           | My 13 mini on iOS 26 shows 83% maximum capacity but makes it
           | through the day with light-ish use (Spotify (although
           | generally offline playlists because of lossless audio) NYT
           | games, email, messaging, browsing, Instapaper). I do have
           | lots of accessibility settings enabled to stop things like
           | transparency and animations though. See my comment here for
           | more details: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45544554
        
         | tambourine_man wrote:
         | SE 3rd gen here as my daily driver. Small form factor and Touch
         | ID. The perfect iPhone IMO.
         | 
         | Not looking forward to having to settle for those comically
         | large phones with Face ID for my next one.
        
           | loeg wrote:
           | I'm also a touchID / iphone 8 size fan, but the nice
           | cameras/zoom in flagship models are hard to give up. At least
           | Face ID has improved significantly from the early days of
           | iphone 10 -- it's faster and more reliable than it was on the
           | older models if you tried it back then.
        
           | rubee64 wrote:
           | Same. Home button is sooo much better than swiping gestures
        
             | bubblewand wrote:
             | The physical home button is, no bullshit, one of the
             | greatest pieces of UI ever. No, I am not kidding, I really
             | think that. It's crazy to me that they abandoned it, the
             | gestures that replace its functionality are overall-worse
             | and cluttering the gesture system with even more of them is
             | bad for the overall UX.
        
               | dilyevsky wrote:
               | Maybe you know this but it wasn't a physical button since
               | i think iphone 7 - it was a haptic sensor.
        
           | frereubu wrote:
           | The thing I've come to like about FaceID on my 13 mini is
           | that I can require it for certain apps to open that don't
           | require it - e.g. messaging as opposed to banking which
           | generally require some kind of auth by default - which is
           | much better security in case someone snatches it out of my
           | hand while it's unlocked. It's pretty seamless because I'm
           | generally looking at the device anyway, and it's much less
           | faff than it would be with TouchID.
        
             | jeffbee wrote:
             | I think the way the Pixel does it is strictly better across
             | the board. The fingerprint sensor doesn't sacrifice screen
             | space, and the platform offers face unlock as well.
        
           | m463 wrote:
           | I "adapted" to losing the fingerprint reader.
           | 
           | Wow, it has a lot of unexpected downsides.
           | 
           | I've a lot of unexpected behavior from the faceid thing. Lots
           | of unexpected swipe-ups that drop me out of an app and put me
           | on the home screen. Can't unlock in the dark, too close to
           | your face, off to the side, in your pocket. Lots of "I saw
           | your face an unlocked" that I didn't know had happened.
           | 
           | fingerprint sensor unlocked when you wanted it to, with
           | haptics. switching apps was a button operation, not happening
           | when you didn't expect it.
        
             | lynndotpy wrote:
             | Plus, fingerprint scanners can be activated without
             | breaking eye contact with the person you're talking to.
             | It's very anti-social technology.
             | 
             | It makes one look completely like a tool to pull out their
             | iPhone and stare at it for ten seconds while checking out
             | with a cashier. Deeply embarrassing and very annoying.
        
           | dilyevsky wrote:
           | I get that getting rid of touchid haptic eliminates dead
           | space but still blows my mind they couldn't or refused to
           | figure out screen-based touch id as an option at least.
           | Samsung has it...
        
             | daemonologist wrote:
             | Under-screen fingerprint readers are definitely inferior -
             | slower and less reliable. I (Android user) wish they'd
             | revert to back-of-device readers, which were amazing.
             | 
             | (I also wish for smaller screens and no-adhesive battery
             | swaps though, neither of which seems likely to happen.)
        
         | MysticFear wrote:
         | Wow, I thought I was the only one.. or very few. Bring back
         | small phones please
        
         | danielvaughn wrote:
         | People make fun of me but I'll never skip a chance to complain
         | about how large these phones are. I hate it so much. I have a
         | standard iPhone, not a max, and it causes real pain in my wrist
         | if I use it too much. Was honestly thinking about downgrading
         | to the last SE model even though it's several years out of
         | date.
        
           | devmor wrote:
           | I don't think anyone should make fun of you for it but I'm in
           | the opposite boat. I'm so glad that they make the pro max
           | variants because most smartphones are so small that it hurts
           | my fingers to bend them in the unnaturally inward way it
           | requires to hold and interact with them.
        
             | foobarian wrote:
             | For me it's not the fingers, it's the eyesight.
        
           | zem wrote:
           | I switched from a pixel 3 to a pixel 9 pro over a year ago,
           | and I still miss the smaller form factor. the pixel 3 really
           | was the perfect size for me and I am sad I can no longer get
           | a smallish phone with a high end processor.
        
           | nomilk wrote:
           | Funnily, the large display is the most important thing for
           | me. I find my efficiency directly proportional to display
           | size (which holds for laptops too).
           | 
           | If a 30 second task can be done in just 20 on a device with a
           | larger display, that's absolutely worth it for me.
           | 
           | Also larger device tends to imply longer battery life too.
        
             | mattnewton wrote:
             | If the task can't be done in a few taps I feel I'm better
             | off opening a laptop anyways.
             | 
             | But the market agrees with you so I must be missing
             | something. I used to think it was driven by media
             | consumption on phones, and that I try to avoid, but this
             | isn't the first time I have heard people tout phone
             | productivity gains from a slightly larger screen.
        
           | EduardoBautista wrote:
           | I have found the iPhone Air much easier to hold than the
           | iPhone 13 Pro it replaced because of how light it is, even
           | though the iPhone Air has a bigger screen.
        
         | lurking_swe wrote:
         | my wife upgraded from a 13 mini to an Air and she loves it. She
         | thought she hated the larger size of new phones, but after
         | holding the Air in her hand she realized the weight and
         | thickness was the issue for her!
         | 
         | It's a tough call though because the Air has a lot of pros and
         | cons! My wife never takes nature photography or macro
         | photography, so she was OK with the 1 camera compromise.
         | 
         | If you truly want a shorter phone, my condolences lol. Apple
         | seems to be ignoring this user segment.
        
           | apparent wrote:
           | I tried the Air and went back to the mini because of the
           | camera compromises. One big issue for me was losing Cinematic
           | video, which I use all the time.
        
           | laweijfmvo wrote:
           | for me it's the comfort/ability to put the thing in my
           | pocket.
        
             | lurking_swe wrote:
             | I can relate. I actually used to be jealous of the ladies
             | because they always have a convenient purse to put things
             | in. These days I wear a light weight cross-body "sling"
             | bag, and i'm happy as a peach.
             | 
             | Easy way to bring my phone, sunglasses, wallet, keys, etc
             | with me. Pockets can be pretty annoying.
             | 
             | Maybe 2027 will be the year of the mini? :)
        
           | frereubu wrote:
           | Now imagine an iPhone Mini Air. I'd be all over that, camera
           | compromises or not.
        
         | conk wrote:
         | I moved off the mini to get satelite messaging which I use
         | while hiking. But now that T-Mobile/starlink support satelite
         | on the 13 mini, maybe I'll go back.
        
         | mikepurvis wrote:
         | I stuck with my 13 mini for a long time, and had recently put a
         | new iFixit battery in it too. I did finally make the jump to a
         | Pixel 10 but sign me up with everyone else who misses
         | reasonably-sized phones.
        
         | laweijfmvo wrote:
         | Same. This would be an obvious upgrade for me, if the overall
         | size was anywhere close to the Mini. Oddly enough, the
         | announcement doesn't even list the screen size, but I'm sure
         | it's 6" +
        
           | smugma wrote:
           | 6.1" vs. 6.3" on the regular 17
        
         | Jonovono wrote:
         | If we could get a 13 mini sized phone with some better battery
         | that would be great
        
         | llsf wrote:
         | Same holding on the 13 mini, love the form factor.
        
         | scott01 wrote:
         | Same here, just replaced the battery.
        
         | wlesieutre wrote:
         | Finally moved on from my 12 mini, but I still have it sitting
         | in my office and when I pick it up I think "wow this feels like
         | a phone from the future."
         | 
         | Wish they made a new mini instead of the Air. A friend bought
         | one of those, and frankly I just don't get it.
         | 
         | The screen is too big to use it one-handed, and thickness is
         | really the only one of the three dimension of the phone that I
         | don't care about how small it is (within reason). They probably
         | spent billions of dollars shaving off half a millimeter and
         | what do we get with that technology? Phone that's too big.
         | 
         | If this keeps up in another 5 years I'll be looking at flip
         | phones and a separate camera.
        
         | joaomoreno wrote:
         | Just upgraded from a 12 mini to a 13 mini with more storage. I
         | intend for it to last another 5 years.
        
           | mrexroad wrote:
           | Been thinking of doing the same. My 12 is showing its cycles,
           | but it's either I have a phone that lives in my front pocket,
           | or I can go phone-less.
           | 
           | I refuse to have a phone I have to constantly carry, hold, or
           | move from back pocket when I sit. This damn thing is in my
           | hands enough, I don't need to increase the surface area for
           | potential distractions.
        
           | subculture wrote:
           | One can only hope... My 13 mini's performance, especially for
           | the Camera and Safari seem to have hit new lows with iOS 26.
           | I'm sticking with the mini for its size, but also its weight.
           | So far the Air is the only alternative I think I could switch
           | to, but apparently that's also on Apple's chopping block due
           | to poor sales.
        
         | CephalopodMD wrote:
         | They'll pry mine from my cold dead hands!
         | 
         | (Until they release a new human hand sized phone at least)
        
         | alpaca128 wrote:
         | I have large hands but the 13 Mini is roughly the maximum I can
         | use one-handed without doing the weird finger balancing act to
         | shift the phone around. I get why most people like large phones
         | - media consumption - but not everyone is into that.
         | 
         | I don't even mind large phones if they're done right. My
         | favorite phone of all time is the BB Passport which you _have
         | to_ use two-handed, but it was actually designed around that
         | and amazing to use.
        
         | r0fl wrote:
         | It always surprises me that the mini was ~1% of sales and yet
         | the pro mini comments get so many upvotes
        
           | lotsofpulp wrote:
           | The release schedule was crap, as well as the 12 mini being
           | an objectively bad phone.
           | 
           | Spring 2020, they released the iPhone SE 2020, 4 years after
           | the previous iPhone SE. This satiated a lot of the demand for
           | people holding out for a smaller phone. Then came the
           | surprise with 12 mini in September of 2020, except the
           | battery life and performance sucked, garnering bad reviews.
           | 
           | Then, finally in September 2021, they released the 13 mini,
           | an objectively good, smaller phone. But over the previous 18
           | months, a lot of the buyers for the 13 mini had already
           | bought the 2020 SE or were burned by the 12 mini.
        
         | philip1209 wrote:
         | Same. Many developers are "desktop"-native for their work and
         | reading-focused for their media, so they don't value the gauche
         | pocket TV-era of phones.
        
         | mrexroad wrote:
         | I showed my Costco membership QR code to the cashier the other
         | day, and they suddenly exclaimed, "oh my! What a cute little
         | phone!!"
         | 
         | It took me a second to even process why someone might say such
         | a thing about my case-less generic 12 mini. Most of my close
         | friends have 13 mini's so I often feel my wife's "regular" size
         | iPhone is the odd one out.
        
         | javier2 wrote:
         | Best phone I ever had, the 12 mini
        
         | dont__panic wrote:
         | Still loving mine as well. I held out with the 2016 SE for 8
         | years. Sadly it's looking like I might have to do that again
         | with the 13 mini! It boggles my mind that Apple thinks it's
         | worthwhile to sell the 16, 17, 17 Pro, and 17e all in basically
         | the exact same form factor. And then the Air and Max in very
         | similar form factors. Vary it up! I don't need a new mini every
         | year, but something in the 5.4" form factor every 3-4 years
         | would obviously have an audience. I don't care if it's a Pro or
         | an SE/e model, I just need something that'll keep me on the
         | latest iOS for security updates.
         | 
         | Sigh. Maybe the Clicks Communicator (at 13cm tall) will get my
         | money.
        
           | dgellow wrote:
           | Get an SE 3rd gen!
        
         | apparent wrote:
         | Yeah, I wish they would commit to doing a mini every x years.
         | Last year I bought a 16 and this year I bought an Air. I
         | returned both after just a few days. I can't reach across the
         | phone with my thumb, meaning I can't use it one-handed.
         | 
         | The new phones have some neat tricks (satellite connectivity
         | comes to mind), but the on-device AI seems pretty mediocre and
         | I value pocketability and one-handed usability more than the
         | new gizmos.
         | 
         | When I asked myself if I would rather keep the new Air or go
         | back to my 13 mini with an extra thousand dollars in my pocket,
         | it was no contest.
        
         | AndrewKemendo wrote:
         | I'm exactly there with you with my 13 mini and I did realize
         | that it's not gonna last as we really get into the era of local
         | LLMs
         | 
         | Running deepseek 6B on the Private LLM app on the iPhone 13
         | basically set my phone on fire
        
       | zamadatix wrote:
       | Seems like a decent deal for what it has and getting the full
       | support lifecycle out of it instead of used. Does anyone know if
       | this gets $50 off with the education discount?
        
         | busymom0 wrote:
         | Here in Canada, both the education pricing and regular pricing
         | are at "From $899". So no edu discount.
        
       | joshstrange wrote:
       | I'm glad they added MagSafe with this version, that was my
       | biggest "issue" with the 16e. Thankfully you can add a ring to
       | the back of the device to "give" it MagSafe (the magnets part at
       | least, if not the faster charging).
        
       | lysace wrote:
       | No mention of the amount of onboard RAM. (In this press release
       | or in https://www.apple.com/iphone-17e/specs/.)
        
         | anshumankmr wrote:
         | Assuming it has Apple INtelligence, 8 gigs seems plausible?
        
           | alwillis wrote:
           | Every phone since the iPhone 15 Pro has the minimum 8GB to
           | accommodate Apple Intelligence.
        
         | alwillis wrote:
         | Going back to the 2007, Apple doesn't reveal the amount of RAM
         | for the iPhone in their marketing.
         | 
         | Occasionally there's a feature that requires a minimum amount
         | of RAM like Apple Intelligence but that's the exception.
        
       | wps wrote:
       | I think the most valuable part of this "e" lineup is the in-house
       | developed modem. The power and security benefits are probably
       | enormous.
        
         | jeffbee wrote:
         | If the 17e had that chip, wouldn't it have Wi-Fi 7 and
         | Bluetooth 6? It has neither of those.
        
           | varenc wrote:
           | From the press release:
           | 
           | > _iPhone 17e also features C1X, the latest-generation
           | cellular modem designed by Apple_
           | 
           | But the 17e iPhone seems to lack the Apple developed N1 chip
           | that provides Wifi 7 + Bluetooth 6. So presumably they're
           | using off the shelf components for Wifi and Bluetooth in the
           | 17e.
        
           | alwillis wrote:
           | The modem chip (the C series) and the N series are two
           | different chipsets.
           | 
           | For example, the 16e has the C1 modem but the standard
           | Broadcom (or whoever) Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chipset.
        
       | lofaszvanitt wrote:
       | The new iPhone 17empty. Bland design, same old shit repackaged
       | again.
        
       | LoganDark wrote:
       | It looks like the only changes are 256GB, OLED, MagSafe, A19 and
       | C1X. Anything else of note?
        
         | klardotsh wrote:
         | 16e has OLED, the new thing with the 17e screen is the ceramic
         | coating on the glass.
        
         | hamdingers wrote:
         | Pink!
        
       | amelius wrote:
       | Still no support for "actually owning your device."
       | Disappointing.
        
         | flykespice wrote:
         | Thanks for saving me a click
        
         | brk wrote:
         | Considering that no major phone or carrier has embraced that
         | model why would you expect it to suddenly appear here?
        
           | amelius wrote:
           | Someone told me that this company "Thinks different".
        
       | mihaaly wrote:
       | No Touch ID? Too bad.
        
       | conk wrote:
       | I really want to like the lower cost e phones, but the lack of
       | ultrawide band support is a deal breaker. Does adding this
       | feature really increase the cost, or is this a calculated move by
       | Apple to ensure those who use this for air tags or keyless entry
       | continue to buy higher end phones.
        
         | mattmaroon wrote:
         | Probably both.
        
           | alwillis wrote:
           | The conventional wisdom is Apple believes anyone for whom
           | ultra wide-band is an important feature wouldn't be
           | interested in a bargain iPhone.
        
       | paxys wrote:
       | I'm happy for the existence of the e line mainly because it
       | forces them to bump up the specs on the base iPhone. 17 is so
       | good now that there's very little reason to get the 17 Pro.
        
         | alwillis wrote:
         | Yes, the baseline 17 has almost all of the features of previous
         | Pro models.
        
       | TrainedMonkey wrote:
       | Apple seems to be pushing for accessibility and volume. Cheaper
       | phones, mac minis, and entry point mac that will be introduced on
       | Wednesday.
        
         | mrexroad wrote:
         | Tbh, feels like the market is pushing for that and Apple is
         | responding.
        
       | kykat wrote:
       | 709 euro in Austria (828.89 us dollars), a 38% increase in
       | price...
        
         | rafaelmn wrote:
         | US prices don't include sales tax so 20% of that is VAT
        
       | beAbU wrote:
       | > and double the starting storage at 256GB
       | 
       | Is massive storage on a mobile device really still a thing that's
       | important?
       | 
       | I'm saying this as someone with 512GB, but I just checked and I'm
       | using 85GB at the moment, including the OS.
       | 
       | Photos and videos are the likely reason why the phones have so
       | much storage, but these days both apple and google offer decent
       | cloud backup solutions which negates the need for massive on-
       | device storage. I'd rather the storage be smaller, and the
       | savings going toward more battery or whatever.
       | 
       | Am I the only one?
        
         | valleyer wrote:
         | I don't think it's inherently impossible, but Apple at least
         | seems to do a really poor job at local cache management on iOS
         | for Photos and Messages attachments. I am constantly amazed to
         | find my non-tech-savvy relatives deleting stuff from their
         | phones to free up local storage.
        
         | brendoelfrendo wrote:
         | Cloud backups are great for keeping your photos long-term, but
         | if you want those photos on your phone so you can show them to
         | people or share them, you need to download them anyway.
         | 
         | I need storage because Honkai: Star Rail is 32gb and I like
         | being able to have more than one game on my phone.
        
           | beAbU wrote:
           | I know good network connectivity is not a privilege that
           | everyone has, but on google photos I can scroll back all the
           | way to 2007 when my digital photo collection started (I
           | uploaded everything I had manually), and it's as if all those
           | photos are local on my device.
        
         | ljoshua wrote:
         | I've had at least 256GB on my phones for the last couple of
         | generations after having had to deal with storage issues
         | beforehand, and it's been much nicer.
         | 
         | But I picked up a 16e for my son a few months ago, with 128GB,
         | and yes, we're running into issues with storage space when it
         | comes time to do an OS update. Between local music and photos
         | storage, base storage, and the image for the new update, two or
         | three times now we've had to delete stuff temporarily in order
         | to get the update going. So I'm happy the new base is 256GB, at
         | least that will probably last us a couple more generations
         | before ~~640KB~~ 256GB is enough for everyone.
        
         | kccqzy wrote:
         | Both third party developers and Apple have increasingly become
         | terrible at respecting the user's disk space. Recently my
         | iPhone started crashing as it ran out of space. I found that
         | Apple Maps was using twenty gigs. Fortunately the fix is simple
         | as the issue is widespread and it has become the first search
         | result.
         | https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256084682?sortBy=rank
         | 
         | If you have 512GB I don't think you really experience the worst
         | of it. A lot of bugs are just Apple creating humongous
         | temporary files before they are deleted as they age. Unless you
         | check every day you don't really know how much is really being
         | used. You don't really experience these crashes.
        
         | prmoustache wrote:
         | Cloud storage do not help you sharing that old photo album with
         | friends spending the night in a cabin far from the closest cell
         | phone coverage.
         | 
         | Also, cloud service typically move your older stuff to
         | colder/slower storage which are painfully slow to retrieve
         | whenever you decides to do it. I realized this when browsing
         | some old pictures before closing a google account I had not
         | been using for years except emptying the gmail inbox every few
         | months.
         | 
         | I personally prefer having a local copy of my files and
         | syncthing them to my NAS at home (which is itself backuped in a
         | storage in the cloud).
        
         | BoorishBears wrote:
         | If you've never used an iPhone near it's storage limit, I
         | wouldn't wish it on you.
         | 
         | Performance nosedives, then it starts bootlooping randomly, and
         | eventually you can't even delete stuff because there's no space
         | to delete things.
         | 
         | You resort to randomly trying to remove apps, but sometimes
         | that fails because of the stability issues.
         | 
         | -
         | 
         | The only reason I replaced my 12 Pro was storage, and I made up
         | my mind never to skimp on storage again.
         | 
         | That phone lasted me 5 years and could easily have gone several
         | more, so I see it as an extremely cheap investment across the
         | lifetime of the phone.
        
         | ansgri wrote:
         | Unfortunately yes. Some mobile games are 30+ GB (and this is
         | probably the major reason for increasing minimum storage),
         | high-res videos take any amount of space and are slow to sync
         | with cloud, in-app downloaded data caches are routinely 2-5 GB
         | each in addition to apps themselves.
        
       | giwook wrote:
       | I'd love to have a smaller/cheaper phone but I continue to hold
       | onto my Pro from a couple years ago is for the high end camera,
       | particularly the telephoto lens.
       | 
       | No, I don't need it all the time.
       | 
       | But when you do need it, it's invaluable.
        
         | gs17 wrote:
         | I have the same issue with my Pixel. It's nice to be able to
         | use a real zoom when I need it, but that means I can't get the
         | one that's otherwise what I really need.
        
       | aetherspawn wrote:
       | Waiting for the first pro line phone with both the Apple modem
       | and Apple wifi/BT stack in it. Battery life is always a struggle
       | when the phone gets older.
        
         | znpy wrote:
         | Exactly. I guess it's time to replace my trusty iphone se 3rd
         | gen. It's been a great phone though, best one i ever had.
        
       | prmoustache wrote:
       | The example photos are so bad it is laughable.
        
         | shhsshs wrote:
         | I'm trying to understand what you mean by this. Are you saying
         | they're "bad" in terms of resolution, or artistic value, or
         | something else? They seem good enough (far from "bad") by any
         | definition I can think of.
        
       | varispeed wrote:
       | Why they don't mention that the phone is essentially a brick when
       | new iOS will require handing over your ID?
        
       | brikym wrote:
       | My mother still has an old iPhone because it fits her hand. They
       | don't seem to get this anymore.
        
         | cactusplant7374 wrote:
         | Smaller phones aren't great for older people because of the
         | increased font size that they use. They can barely fit a
         | sentence onto the screen.
        
       | kittikitti wrote:
       | Ironic that there are so many iPhones but such little diversity
       | in the design. It went from "Think Different" to "Conformity &
       | Comfort".
        
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