Apple reportedly preparing the iPhone 17e already

2025 has already been an exciting year for iPhone fans. While the hottest property is usually reserved for the end of Apple's year, the brand broke that trend this year, with an early launch.

That saw the iPhone 16e hit shelves. The device is the new face of the iPhone SE series, and offers a more familiar appearance for the range which is more in keeping with its core range of devices.

Much has been pondered about the release schedule for this new range. The iPhone SE it succeeded was only released every two years, prompting many to suggest that the new 'e' handsets might follow suit.

It looks likely that the devices are going to arrive every year, though, according to a new leak on Weibo. That suggests that production for the iPhone 17e is "on the agenda" and will be unveiled next year.

Peculiarly, the slated launch date is for May 2026. That's three months later than the iPhone 16e was unveiled this year, which would be an odd change to make.

The February release offered a good cadence with the remainder of the range, marking a major talking point for the range twice a year. A May launch would be much more lop-sided, sitting very close to the launch of new core range in September.

The report also suggests that the back panel of the device will be unchanged from the current 16e variant. That means we'll likely still see a single rear camera design, though that's no bad thing.

There are no other details to go on, though we'd anticipate a next-gen processor for the range at a minimum. I suspect there will be some other magic added to lift the handset a step above the current iteration. For now, though, we'll just have to wait – and seemingly wait much longer than we first thought.