Apple iPhone 16e plans: Compare prices and deals

The new iPhone 16e is now available. If you're looking to pick it up on a plan, we'll look at your best options below. 

Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone are all offering the iPhone 16e on a plan. No matter which telco you go with, you can pick from a 24-month plan or a 36-month plan. A 36-month plan will always be cheaper, but it means you're paying your phone off over a longer period of time. A 24-month plan is more expensive, but you'll own your iPhone 16e quicker. 

Here's a look at 36-month plans for the 128GB iPhone 16e:

Here are 36-month plans for 256GB iPhone 16e: 

And here are 36-month plans for 512GB iPhone 16e: 

If you'd prefer a shorter repayment term, here are 24-month plans for the 128GB iPhone 16e:

Here are 24-month plans for the 256GB iPhone 16e:

And lastly, here are 24-month plans for the 512GB iPhone 16e:

The only three mobile providers that offer iPhone 16e plans are the big three: Optus, Vodafone, and Telstra.

Plans are all structured the same way, but the best provider for your is up to your needs. Each provider has its own perks and plan features, which we'll cover below. But you also need to consider network coverage in your area.

The Telstra network is well known for having the widest coverage in Australia, with Optus in second place and Vodafone in third. Vodafone isn't as far behind as you might expect, however, thanks to a new network sharing agreement with Optus. 

In regional and rural areas, Vodafone customers will now use the Optus network. This means Vodafone now has 98.4% population coverage - just 0.1% behind Optus. 

Optus' iPhone 16e plans all have hefty data inclusions, but the more expensive options also come with unlimited international calls to select destinations – great if you have friends or family overseas. If you're overseas sites are more about travel than conversation, Optus has good roaming add-ons, too. Get 5GB of data and unlimited local talk & text for $5 per day when roaming in select countries.

Optus mobile plans have no data overage fees. If you go over your monthly data cap, your speed is limited to 1.5Mbps, instead of being hit with an unexpectedly high bill that month.

There's also data sharing if you have multiple plans on the same account, which can be handy for families. That said, Optus' smallest plan has a big 50GB of data, which is well above the average national usage. And, while data sharing is nice, there's no data banking or rollover to hold onto your unused GB.

Being an Optus customer also gets you discounted access to Optus Sport, and access to SubHub – a platform that lets you combine multiple subscription services (such as Netflix, Microsoft 365, and others) into a single bill, along with a 5% or 10% discount, depending on whether you sync two or three-or-more services.

Vodafone's iPhone 16e plans are roughly on par with Optus, when it comes to pricing, but just a little bit cheaper. They have a large amount of data and come with a range of perks and extras. That said, the smallest plan is 50GB (excluding promotions), which is much higher than the average national usage, which is a shame because there's no data banking or rollover for unused data.

There are no excess data fees, with Vodafone instead slowing your connection to 2Mbps once you pass your monthly limit. This is slightly faster than the 1.5Mbps speed cap that Optus and Telstra employ.

If you bundle multiple Vodafone mobile plans together on the same account, you get two benefits: discounts and data sharing. Bundle up to five mobile plans together and save between 5% and 20% off your total monthly bill, depending on how many you bundle. This discount excludes hardware repayments, however. 

Having multiple plans on the same account like this also lets you share data between them. Each month, all your data is put into a pool, instead of measured per device. Each plan then pulls from the pool, letting you get a more efficient use out of your total data.

All its plans come with unlimited international texts to select countries, and the more-expensive plans have international call inclusions.

But Vodafone's true stand-out feature is its international roaming. For just $5 per day, you can use your phone as normal while overseas. This kicks in automatically wheny our phone connects to an overseas network and lasts for 24 hours. But if you don't want to roam, all you have to do is pop your phone in flight mode and stick to WiFi. It's one of the best roaming options on the market.

Perhaps Vodafone's biggest drawback is network coverage. Its 4G network is only slightly smaller than the other two: 96% population coverage for Vodafone, compared to the 99.7% of Telstra and 98.5% of Optus. But its 5G network is smaller – enough so that Vodafone is the only major network provider to not publish clear 5G coverage figures, so we can't even make a direct comparison. That said, if you spend most of your time in the country's more-populated areas, you should be fine.

A last, (optional) small perk is three months of free Binge access, though be sure to cancel ahead of the cutoff if you don't want to end up paying once the free period ends.

Telstra's iPhone 16e plans are the most expensive, but Australia's biggest telco is also well known for its wider network coverage, which is a must-have for some.

With a population coverage of 99.7% for 4G, Telstra is only a bit ahead of Optus' 98.5% and Vodafone's 96%. This shouldn't make a big difference in most populated areas, but can be everything in some locations.

When it comes to 5G, Telstra is much further ahead. With 91% of the population covered with 5G, it's well ahead of Optus' 80.5% – Vodafone doesn't even publish clear 5G coverage stats, so there's no comparison to be made here.

Once again, the smallest plan has 50GB, which is far higher than the average Australian uses each month. And while there are no overage charges for going past your data limit (instead you're slowed to 1.5Mbps) there's no data banking or rollover to hang onto your unused data.

You can share data between up to 10 mobile services on the same eligible account, which can help you make more efficient usage of your data – particularly useful for families.

All Telstra's iPhone 16e plans come with 30 minutes of international calls to all destinations – not a lot of minutes, but without the usual limit on number of countries that are included. International calling packs are available for additional minutes.

Roaming is relatively easy to do, but not as affordable as Optus or Telstra in most circumstances. Travelling in Nnew Zealand will cost you $5 per day, but most other countries are $10 per day. You'll get 2GB to use per day. 

A final perk is the Telstra Plus system. You earn points based on eligible plan payments, which you can put towards purchases from the Telstra Plus Rewards store, such as disocounted movie tickets and sport events, pre-sales for concerts, and a motley assortment of products.

The iPhone 16e is the first "affordable" iPhone to launch since the iPhone SE in 2022. When compared to the 2022 model, it's quite an upgrade. 

The iPhone 16e looks pretty similar to the iPhone 14; it has an "all-screen" design featuring a notch that houses the Face ID system, rather than the newer Dynamic Island.

It's built from aluminium rather than titanium, and has first-generation Ceramic Shield protection on the display. There's an IP68 water resistance rating. 

The iPhone 16e supports both eSIM and a physical SIM in Australia. 

The iPhone 16e has just one camera on the back: a 48MP lens. This is a similar 48MP camera to the one we've seen on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, so it should take great photos. It can also do 2x "optical zoom" thanks to its high resolution.

On the front, there's a 12MP selfie camera. This is the same selfie camera used in the rest of the iPhone 16 family.

The iPhone 16e has a 6.1-inch OLED display. This is a pretty big upgrade from the 4.7-inch LCD display in 2022 iPhone SE. 

You'll find Apple's A18 chipset inside the iPhone 16e. This is almost the same chip used in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, but with one less graphic core. This is unlikely to impact anything but the most demanding of games. 

The iPhone 16e is the first iPhone to feature an Apple-made modem, which the manufacturer says improves battery life.

Apple says the iPhone 16e will offer up to 26 hours of video playback per charge. For comparison, the standard iPhone 16 (which is the same size) gets up to 22 hours of video playback per charge. 

In our testing, the iPhone 16 was able to get around seven hours of screen time per charge. That's a full day of moderate usage with a comfortable buffer. As such, we'd expect even better from the iPhone 16e.

When buying a new phone, the two most common options are:

1. Buy it outright
2. Get in on a phone repayment plan from a mobile provider

The most important thing to remember when comparing these options is this: no matter if you buy the phone outright or on a payment plan, you pay the same amount for the phone itself, barring special discounts.

The real difference in cost is how much you pay for your mobile plan – i.e. your SIM's data inclusions and extra perks. There's also upfront cost to consider – can you afford a big, one-off purchase or do you need to spread it out?

Let's take a closer look at what each option brings to the table.

Buying your iPhone 16e outright means you can sign up to a SIM-only plan from any provider, rather than being stuck with one of the Big Three. This gives you a lot more options to choose from, including plans that are significantly cheaper than you can get from Optus, Vodafone or Telstra.

The cheapest mobile plans are sold by Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), which are providers that buy access on one of the big three networks then resell it on the cheap. They can do this because they're smaller operations that have fewer overheads such as retail stores, and large staff counts. They also don't offer many additional perks such as streaming service discounts or special rewards points, which can be good because you only end up paying for what you need.

Over the same time you'd spend on a 12, 24, or 36-month phone repayment plan with one of the major telcos, you can save hundreds of dollars by grabbing a SIM-only plan from an MVNO. They even usually have the same coverage, except for Telstra MVNOs, which have a slightly smaller footprint than Telstra itself.

Here's a look at SIM-only plans from MVNOs with at least 20GB of data you can get right now:

The appeal of grabbing a new device like the iPhone 16e on a mobile plan is obvious: it's a lot of money to pay upfront. But ultimately, you pay the same retail price for the phone itself – you just spread the payments out over 12, 24, or 36 months.

Don't think of these 12, 24, or 36-month repayment terms in the same way you might a "contract" old. There are no break fees for leaving early – all you have to do is pay out what remains on your handset, plus potentially forfeit any discounts that were available when you signed up.

The price difference doesn't come from the phone itself – it's that Optus, Vodafone and Telstra have more expensive mobile plans than you can get from smaller providers. The plans from the Big Three also start at 50GB, which is more than double the national average usage of 18.1GB on postpaid plans, according to the latest report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Plans from Optus, Vodafone and Telstra do come with some perks, which we've covered in detail in our Providers section above. But it's up to you whether these perks are worth the extra plan fees you'll pay in the long term.