iPhone 17e Gains the A19 Chip and MagSafe, a Significant Upgrade but Half-Hearted
iPhone 17e was officially announced globally on Monday, 2 March 2026. The successor to the iPhone 16e arrives with a number of significant improvements on paper. Two upgrades highlighted are support for MagSafe and the use of Apple’s latest A19 chip. However, behind these updates there are some compromises that make the cheapest iPhone 17 feel incomplete and half-hearted. For example in the chipset sector, the iPhone 17e is now powered by the A19 chip, the latest generation of Apple’s processors also used in the regular iPhone 17. This chip brings a six-core CPU and a 16-core Neural Engine. However, there is a difference in the graphics sector. If the iPhone 17 has a five-core GPU, the iPhone 17e is equipped with a four-core GPU. This means the unit used is a ‘binned’ version, i.e., a chip with some of its cores disabled. In overall performance, the difference probably won’t be felt much in daily use, but it still places the 17e slightly below the standard iPhone 17. Thus, users can enjoy fast wireless charging and access to a wide ecosystem of accessories, such as chargers and cases. However, its charging is not as fast as the regular iPhone 17 series. With MagSafe Qi2 technology, the phone will automatically lock precisely at the charging point thanks to a magnetic ring on the back of the device. As a result, the charging position is more accurate, more stable, and more efficient than ordinary wireless charging. Additionally, with MagSafe, the phone can magnetically attach to compatible accessories, from card holders, pop-sockets, etc. The iPhone 17e supports wireless charging up to 15 watts via MagSafe and Qi2. This speed is not yet on par with other iPhone 17 models that can reach 25 watts. However, it is still much better than the iPhone 16e which only supports 7.5 watts without a magnetic system. For comparison, other iPhone 17 models support MagSafe up to 25 watts. Meanwhile the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro support up to 22 watts. Meanwhile older iPhone models, such as the iPhone 12 to iPhone 15, only manage 15W MagSafe charging based on Qi2, i.e., exactly the same as the iPhone 17e.