iPhone 17e, iPad Air M4 and more

The Apple iPhone 17e was among the new products Apple announced this week. (Apple)

It’s been quite a week for Apple — and it’s only Tuesday. Ahead of Apple’s March event, aka the “special Apple Experience,” scheduled for Wednesday, the company announced a new iPad Air with the M4 chip, along with the entry-level iPhone 17e on Monday. Then, Tuesday brought news of the MacBook Air with the M5 chip as well as the high-end MacBook Pros equipped with brand new M5 Pro and M5 Max processors. We’re still waiting on an announcement of the rumored budget-friendly MacBook, which may come ahead of Wednesday’s event in NYC.

All the new devices are available for pre-order starting March 4 and will be widely available March 11. We’ll let you know what happens in New York, but for now, here’s everything Apple announced so far this week.

The entry-level iPhone 17e gets MagSafe

Apples newest “budget” iPhone still starts at $600 — but you get a lot more than you did with the iPhone 16e. This time, the smartphone has MagSafe — an important feature for easy wireless charging and attaching accessories — and the storage now starts at 256GB, which is twice that of last year’s model, without an up-charge. The display stays the same size at 6.1 inches, but its now covered in the next generation of Apple and Corning’s Ceramic Shield — Apple says it’s three times more scratch resistant than last time.

The iPhone 17e will now ship with the A19 chip. That’s nearly the same as the processor as the one in the standard iPhone (the A19 chip in that model has one more graphics core). There’s also a new color, Soft Pink, to join the existing Black and White hues. The phone is available for pre-order starting March 4, with wide availability March 11.

The iPad Air M4 comes with more RAM and a M4 chip

As expected, the newly announced iPad Air stepped up its processor from the M3 to the M4 chip. Apple says the new tablet is “up to 30 percent faster than the iPad…

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