iPhone 17e vs. iPhone 16e: Is Doubling the Storage Worth the Upgrade?

Key Points:

• The iPhone 17e features double the internal storage of the iPhone 16e for the same £599 price tag by default.
• On average, most smartphone users utilise more than 100GB in day-to-day use, meaning you could quickly fill up the iPhone 16e's 128GB base storage.
• Instead of buying a brand new phone, you could utilise Apple's iCloud+ which offers a cost-effective way to free up room for more apps, games, and multimedia.

For as much as we love flagship handsets, they're not always the right choice for a Talkmobile SIM Only plan. That's why it was a breath of fresh air for Apple to release tube iPhone 16e at the beginning of last year, billed as an entry-level replacement to the popular iPhone SE models. Well, the iPhone 17e arrived in March 2026, with double the storage as standard from 128GB to 256GB, while keeping the same competitive £599 RRP. Which begs the question, is it worth upgrading from last year's phone to this year's for that extra headroom?

Outside of the base storage increase, there's a lot more to be said about the iPhone 17e vs iPhone 16e, chiefly that neither phone can compete with the full-fat models of their namesake. There are distinct differences when weighing both up against the iPhone 17 vs iPhone 16. It's easiest to directly compare on specs, because the hearts are different. The iPhone 17e has the A19 chip, with its 6-core CPU, 4-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine, which is around 30% faster. Aside from that, they're remarkably similar devices.

It's a fact that the amount of data we're storing on our smartphones is increasing rapidly. A decade ago, it was believed that most iPhone users on average used 16GB or less. However, more recent studies have analysed that the average smartphone user now utilises over 100GB, and the figures are continuing to climb. As iPhone apps are becoming more sophisticated, particularly with game file sizes, as well as the increased capabilities (and raw file sizes) of shooting 48MP 4K60 video, you may see your internal storage creep up very quickly with the iPhone 16e's default 128GB.

Because, you don't have the full 128GB of storage out of the box to play with, either. That doesn't account for the mandatory OS that comes on the software, with the genuine, usable storage, hovering around the 104GB mark, once a full configuration is done. Standard 4K video on an iPhone 16e or iPhone 17e can rack up as much as 10GB-24GB per hour (or 170MB to 400MB a minute), depending on how you've configured your encoding settings. You're unlikely to shoot hours of content at a time, but that can quickly add up. Do you take lots of videos when you're going on holiday? How about at a concert or festival? Meeting up with friends often? It will add up.

Similarly, we need to look at the file sizes of some of the best iPhone games that you can play on the iPhone 16e in 2026. Both phones are capable of ray tracing functionality with upscaling tech to offer a near-console quality experience, but the software ramps up quickly. Some titles s are well-optimised enough, such as PUBG Mobile at 4GB, but other popular mobile games, such as Wuthering Waves weigh in at 44.8GB, taking up a staggering 35% of total unified storage space (even more if you factor in the mandatory files on top). In other words, if you're someone who regularly takes lots of photos and videos while also casually gaming, you may run out of storage with the default 128GB iPhone 16e quicker than expected.

Based on the pure specs comparison, there is not a huge amount of difference between the iPhone 16e and the iPhone 17e that would justify a whole new handset. However, if you're weighing up both in 2026, for the same £599 price tag, then the latter is certainly preferable as the 256GB of available storage gives you significantly more headroom. You also have other options if your storage is running out.

Apple offers premium iCloud+ plans starting from £0.99 per month which adds a further 50GB on. Further more, 200GB could cost you £2.99 monthly, or you could scale up to as much as 12TB for £54.99 if needed. The lower amounts are almost certainly enough, but this would be a cost-effective way to use your phone fully unrestrained without having to put your hand in your pocket much.