Oliver Haslam on March 7, 2026, 6:20 pm

Early iPhone 17e Benchmarks Show What Performance Buyers Can Expect

Apple’s new iPhone 17e was announced earlier this week and officially goes on sale on March 11. But reviewers are already testing the device, and that means that some Geekbench scores have appeared online.

While it’s important to remember that there is no guarantee that these results are legitimate, there is a very good chance that they are. We’ll know for sure come March 11, of course.

Until then, the 9to5Mac notes that there are 11 results listed as being the iPhone 17e’s A19 chip, with the device averaging about 3,320 in single-core and 8,373 in multi-core CPU performance. That means that buyers can expect the chip to be marginally faster than the A18 found in the iPhone 16e.

However, it’s better news for gamers, with Metal results showing a larger speed boost.

As for the Metal score, there are currently 4 Geekbench test results, ranging from 30,831 to 31,597, averaging 31,163. That puts the iPhone 17e well ahead of the iPhone 16e (23,895), the iPhone 16 (27,666), and the iPhone 16 Plus (27,722).

Again, we’ll have to wait until March 11 to know for sure. That’s when Apple will release the iPhone 17e alongside the new M5 MacBook Pro models, the all-new MacBook Neo, the new Studio Display, and the brand-new Studio Display XDR.

Apple isn’t expected to be done with its new announcements for 2026. The first foldable iPhone is set to be announced alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max this fall.