The iPhone 17e is reportedly set for a spring 2026 launch

Macworld

A new leak suggests that Apple is gearing up for “trial production” of the iPhone 17e, which is due for release in the spring of 2026.

The Chinese leaker, “Fixed Focus Digital,” operates primarily on WeChat and Weibo, and has his ear to the ground of the Chinese supply chain. He says the iPhone 17e is about to enter “trial production” which is common at this point—it’s basically a small-scale test production setup meant to find problems or inefficiencies while producing a small number of test devices. This is to give both Apple time to find and fix problems as well as time to adjust the production line.

When Apple dropped the iPhone SE from its lineup and replaced it with the more expensive (but more capable) iPhone 16e as its most affordable iPhone, we speculated that the name change held a lot of significance: Apple would change its most affordable iPhone from a sort of random, ad-hoc, multi-year update cadence to regular yearly updates as part of the standard numbered iPhone lineup.

It would appear that’s the case, at least according to this latest rumor. Trial production of “test” units a year before launch is not uncommon; volume production would start a few months before, to give time for millions of iPhones to be manufactured and travel via cargo ship for its global launch. That launch is said to happen next spring, roughly a year after the iPhone 16e went on sale.

We don’t know whether Apple will simply replace the 16e with the new model or cut the price of the existing phone to $499. Nor do we know what iPhone 17 features will make their way to the 17e, but with test units beginning to crop up, rumors should start popping up soon.