The latest teardown from iFixit has revealed that the iPhone 17e is far more than just a standard annual refresh. While the headline features include a faster A19 chip and a doubled base storage of 256 GB, the real story for many will be the return of the MagSafe magnetic ring.
Last year’s iPhone 16e was criticized for omitting these magnets, which made wireless charging difficult and prevented the use of popular magnetic accessories like wallets and car mounts.
Now, iFixit has discovered that the internal layout of the 17e is almost identical to the 16e, leading to an unusual level of parts compatibility. During their testing, iFixit also successfully installed a 17e back panel onto an older 16e chassis (time to get tinkering, right?).
This discovery means that owners of last year’s model can effectively “fix” their device by swapping the rear glass once replacement parts become available, giving them full MagSafe functionality without the cost of a brand-new phone. Now that’s pretty cool, if you’re ready to tinker with your iPhone 16e.
The iPhone 17e also maintains a solid repairability score of 7 out of 10. The device continues to use a dual-entry design that allows it to be opened from both the front and the back, and it features the same electrically debonding adhesive that makes battery swaps fairly straightforward.
But the teardown did highlight one ongoing frustration: the USB-C charging port remains buried deep beneath the logic board. Replacing this common failure point requires almost completely gutting the phone, a design choice that prevented the iPhone 17e from earning an even higher score.
Check out their video teardown below:
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