Apple Debuts Lower-Cost Version of iPhone 17

Apple has introduced what it calls a more durable and affordable iPhone 17.

The iPhone 17e, which was announced Monday (March 2) and starts at $599, is a scaled-down cousin to the tech giant’s iPhone 17. It is part of a series of product rollouts the company has planned for this week.

The new phone, set to launch March 11, features the same processor as the original iPhone 17 — starting price $799 — though a slightly smaller screen and one camera rather than two.

“iPhone 17e combines powerful performance and features our users love at an exceptional value, making it a compelling option for customers looking to upgrade to the iPhone 17 family,” said Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of worldwide iPhone product marketing. “We know our customers want a product that will last, and iPhone 17e delivers just that.”

In terms of durability, the company touts the phone’s “strong yet lightweight aerospace-grade aluminum design,” splash, dust and water resistance, and a screen with better scratch resistance than the previous generation of phones.

iPhone sales have been a boon for Apple at a time when Wall Street has been expressing concerns about the company’s AI progress relative to its counterparts.

The company earlier this year reported what CEO Tim Cook called “a quarter for the record books,” driven in part by iPhone demand.

“The demand for iPhone was simply staggering,” Cook said, though reports midway through the quarter said Apple was seeing muted demand for its then-new iPhone Air.

This week, the company is expected to introduce a range of new AI-native products, including new versions of its iPad and MacBook. Also announced on Monday was a version of its iPad Air, said to be faster than the previous iteration.

Writing about Apple’s challenges last month, PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster noted that during 2025, the iPhone accounted for a little more than half of Apple’s $416 billion in revenues. The company’s Services division saw record revenues of $109 billion, with gross margins above 70%, making it Apple’s most profitable unit.

“Yet nearly every dollar of Services revenue remains tethered to the installed base of devices. Apple’s economic center of gravity still runs through the handset, and everything else exists to protect, enhance or extend that core,” she argued. “That thesis helps explain Apple’s uneven history with AI.”

Apple is debuting this lower-cost iPhone as consumers, even ones in higher income brackets, are seeking lower-cost goods, as recent PYMNTS Intelligence research has found.

“Even within households typically viewed as economically secure, inflationary pressures appear to be reshaping value perceptions and trade-off decisions,” PYMNTS wrote last week.