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Join me on a flight of fancy for a moment: say Tim Cook finally does what the rumors keep saying he'll do and steps down, and due to some convoluted web of hijinks and misunderstandings, I end up as CEO of Apple. The first thing I'm doing is driving a go-kart around the whole Apple office like a corporatized blend of Mario Kart and NASCAR, to assert my authority, of course. The second thing I'm doing is killing the iPhone 17e, and all future iPhone e-series models and bringing back the iPhone SE.
Hyperbole aside, I genuinely think Apple's made a big mistake with the iPhone 16e, and the iPhone 17e that is heavily rumored to be launching as its replacement this month. It took an aging but still serviceable budget model, and was replaced with an all-new device with significant upgrades but a 50% larger price tag. The result is a good phone - it works just as Apple promised it does on the store page - but one that fails to understand the reasons the iPhone SE was popular to begin with.
A budget iPhone that genuinely was cheap
Price is the obvious point. At Tom's Guide, we normally consider a phone to be a "budget" option if it's $500 and under. The only exception to this is the iPhone 16e, which makes it onto our best cheap phones guide purely by being the cheapest new iPhone. We would not tolerate such behavior from Google, or Samsung, or OnePlus or any other brand. Yet the iPhone 16e gives us no choice, and gives buyers a raw deal.
The third-generation iPhone SE, launched in 2022, cost $430, which we amusingly made a stink about at the time for being thirty bucks more than the previous 2020 iPhone SE model. But this is what a budget phone should cost, and even if Apple doesn’t want to sell a true budget phone anymore, there are millions of users out there who would jump at the chance to buy one.
But I also know a number of people who have stuck with iPhone SE models for as long as possible for one specific reason. Not because they couldn’t afford an upgrade, not because they didn’t care about slow running or incompatible apps, but because how much they like the design outweighs all other factors.
Old outsides, new insides
The 4.3-inch display with the home button is positively ancient by modern smartphone standards. I am sure I complained at the time about how poorly the iPhone SE 2 and 3 compared to the Pixel a-series models or OnePlus Nords of the day.
But iPhone users can be a funny bunch. They tend to keep their phones for longer, in my experience, and prioritize familiarity most of all when buying a new phone. This is why Apple was able to get away with shipping a design from 2018 all the way up to 2025, and ultimately, it could still do so if it wished. The upgrades that matter would be on the inside.
I don’t know if the A19 chips found in the iPhone 17 series could be squeezed inside the body of an iPhone SE. Or if such a device would have decent battery life. But if anyone could make it work, it’s Apple with its near-limitless resources.
The less tech-savvy iPhone users would rejoice at the return of the small phone with a physical home button to press and enjoy all the benefits that the more powerful silicon and the latest iOS 26 update offer. And with a bit of clever marketing, you could get Apple fans on board too. Call it the iPhone Classic, perhaps.
Good designs can last a long time
I picked that Classic name quite deliberately. Consider the iPod for a moment. While Apple kept inventing new form factors for its famous music player, some models stood the test of time. The two that stick in my mind are the iPod Classic, and the iPod Touch.
The iPod Classic, or iPod as it was in its youth, lasted for 12 years, gaining small cosmetic changes and new innards with each generation. Granted, this is a device that predates the smartphone as we know it, but that's not the case with the iPod Touch.
The final generation of iPod Touch alone survived 7 years before getting sent to the Great Junk Drawer in the Sky. It lasted 10 years if you count all the chipset variants of the same basic body, and if you count back to the first-ever iPod Touch from 2007, then it's an incredible 15-year lifespan.
The iPod Touch is effectively the iPhone's little cousin, running iOS and offering almost all the same features. It shows that with minimal changes, a popular form factor can last as long as a good-quality jacket, or double even the most generous software update schedule available on modern phones.
If the iPhone 17e does address pain points from the 16e, like the addition of full MagSafe charging, then maybe it’ll finally feel worth $600. And like the iPhone 16e before it, I'm sure it'll be a perfectly serviceable phone that will satisfy many users' phone needs. But I don't think it will make any of them particularly happy, not like if Apple made the bold decision to make a U-turn and bring back the kind of iPhone that feels like smartphones always have to them.
But you get my point. I should probably stop writing. I’m still waiting for a telephone call that could make me the head of the world’s most valuable tech company.
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