{"id":662769,"date":"2026-03-17T20:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T20:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/662769\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T20:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T20:17:11","slug":"ifixit-tears-down-the-iphone-17e-discovers-magsafe-upgrade-path-for-iphone-16e-owners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/662769\/","title":{"rendered":"iFixit Tears Down the iPhone 17e, Discovers MagSafe Upgrade Path for iPhone 16e Owners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Repair site iFixit today took apart<\/a> the iPhone 17e<\/a>, which is the new low-cost iPhone that Apple launched last Wednesday. The \u200ciPhone 17e\u200c is almost identical to the iPhone 16e in design, but it does include a MagSafe<\/a> back panel that supports \u200cMagSafe\u200c and faster Qi charging than the iPhone 16e.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

When disassembling the \u200ciPhone 17e\u200c, iFixit found that the \u200cMagSafe\u200c panel for the device is the same size as the panel for the 16e, and the two are interchangeable. You can take a back panel from an \u200ciPhone 17e\u200c and put it on an iPhone 16e, adding \u200cMagSafe\u200c to an iPhone 16e.<\/p>\n

That could be good news for iPhone users who bought an iPhone 16e and don’t want to upgrade just to get \u200cMagSafe\u200c. iPhone 16e customers may be able to get their hands on an \u200ciPhone 17e\u200c back panel to make a \u200cMagSafe\u200c swap, which iFixit says is a big win for repairability. There was a downside with the \u200cMagSafe\u200c swap because the iPhone 16e doesn’t have the built-in software that recognizes \u200cMagSafe\u200c accessories to provide animations, and it’s not yet clear if it charges at the full 15W.<\/p>\n

“Cross-compatibility matters,” said iFixit. “It makes repairs easier, parts easier to source, and upgrades cheaper.”<\/p>\n

Apple made day one manuals available for the \u200ciPhone 17e\u200c, so iFixit knew the front and back panels both come off. The battery can be swapped without having to go through the display, though there’s still adhesive to deal with. The \u200ciPhone 17e\u200c continues to use adhesive for the battery that can be removed with an electrical pulse, which makes battery replacements simpler.<\/p>\n

\"ifixit
Aside from the \u200cMagSafe\u200c update, the other notable change in the \u200ciPhone 17e\u200c is the A19 System on Chip that replaces the A18. Apple also swapped out the C1 modem for the new, faster C1X modem, and there’s more starting internal storage at 256 GB.<\/p>\n

iFixit found that like the \u200cMagSafe\u200c module, almost all components inside the \u200ciPhone 17e\u200c and iPhone 16e were interchangeable. It’s possible to take an iPhone 16e logic board and put it into an \u200ciPhone 17e\u200c chassis, with almost no issues registering parts. The TrueDepth camera for Face ID<\/a> didn’t work when swapped from iPhone to iPhone.<\/p>\n

While iFixit was happy with the dual entry design and the battery adhesive that releases electrically, the site found the USB-C port was too buried behind components, which will make DIY repairs daunting for people. Apple fixed the USB-C accessibility issue in its main flagship models, but has not made the port easier to get to in the “e” models.<\/p>\n

Despite these issues, iFixit awarded points for the parts interchangeability because there’s more salvage value and more refurbishment potential. iFixit gave the \u200ciPhone 17e\u200c a provisional repairability score of 7 out of 10. That’s the same score the iPhone 16e got last year, and the same score the iPhone 17<\/a> earned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Repair site iFixit today took apart the iPhone 17e, which is the new low-cost iPhone that Apple launched…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":662770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[17],"tags":[1322,31433,207320,235838,27810,611,158,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-662769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-featured","tag-ifixit","tag-iphone-16e","tag-iphone-17e","tag-magsafe","tag-mobile","tag-technology","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116246363962114191","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}