Apple could be preparing to announce a brand new iPhone in the coming weeks, and it’s one whose price tag might be more appealing to you than the iPhone 17 Pro or slim but expensive iPhone Air.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the iPhone 17e “is due imminently”, though the Apple reporter does not indicate an exact release date. This iPhone would replace the iPhone 16e, which was announced in February 2025, so Apple lining up a February 2026 announcement does make sense.

Meanwhile, Macworld has reported that Apple will launch the iPhone 17e on February 19, the exact same day Apple announced the iPhone 16e last year. This would land on a Thursday, which is not a common day for Apple to unveil products traditionally

The iPhone 16e itself replaced the long-running iPhone SE range. The 16e took on the screen of an iPhone 14 with the A18 processor from the iPhone 16, but only had one rear camera and lacked MagSafe, the magnetic charging and accessory feature built into most iPhones since 2020.

It retails for £599, which is currently £200 less than the next-cheaper iPhone, the iPhone 17.

Gurman said the iPhone 17e will get the A19 chipset, which is from the iPhone 17, as well as add MagSafe charging. Macworld said the addition of MadSafe would improve wireless charging speeds to 25W, besting the 16e’s slow 7.5W speeds.

Gurman also said the phone will get Apple’s “newest in-house cellular and wireless chips”. These won’t be consumer-facing marketed new upgrades, but it follows that Apple would put its own components inside its new iPhone, as the company moves away from using Qualcomm modems.

This is in line with Apple’s introduction of its own M-series chips in its iPads and Macs, moving away from buying processors and modems from other firms.

Gurman also reported the price of the iPhone 17e is set to stay at the same $599 as the iPhone 16e in the US, but with no word on UK pricing.

While this looks good year to year, Apple increased the price of its cheapest current iPhone when it priced the iPhone 16e at £599. Previously, the 2022 iPhone SE was available from £429.

“Apple will market the 17e heavily to users in emerging economies and enterprises — two areas the company plans to target aggressively this year with both devices and software,” Gurmam said.

“Apple also could benefit from weaker competition. Though Alphabet Inc.’s Google is set to release a new version of its low-end model, the Pixel 10a, that upgrade isn’t expected to add much. And Samsung Electronics Co. is focusing more on the high end.”