Apple launched the iPhone 17e earlier this month with a handful of upgrades over the iPhone 16e, MagSafe being one of them. Turns out, iPhone 16e owners might not need to buy the newer model to get it.
iFixit tore down the iPhone 17e and discovered that fitting its rear panel onto an iPhone 16e brings MagSafe magnet functionality to the older phone. It’s a straightforward swap as far as hardware goes.
There are catches, though. The iPhone 16e doesn’t support Qi2, so you won’t reliably hit the full 15W wireless charging speed. And MagSafe software features — the alignment animation, for example — won’t show up either.
Beyond the back panel, iFixit found the two phones share a surprising amount of internal hardware. Most components are interchangeable between the two, including the logic board. They even run the same 15.56 Wh battery.
One notable issue: Face ID stopped working after the panel swap, even though the front camera still functioned fine. That’s a dealbreaker for most people as a daily setup, but the broader parts compatibility between the 16e and 17e should make third-party and self-repairs considerably easier going forward.
iFixit gave the iPhone 17e a provisional repairability score of 7 out of 10, with the final number depending on how Apple handles spare parts availability and pricing.
