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The best iPhone plans available in Australia for every model

You can pick up iPhone plans for the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max from Vodafone, Optus and Telstra. The foldable iPhone Duo will be available for pre-order from October 16.

By Alex Angove-Plumb

Sep 21, 2026

4 min read

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If you're after an iPhone plan, your options are limited to Optus, Vodafone and Telstra. All three telcos offer the newest iPhones on repayment terms, but you also might want to consider opting for an older iPhone 17 plan. These handsets are still great options and offer good value for money compared to their replacements. If you're waiting on Apple's first foldable, the iPhone Duo won't be available for pre-order until October 16.

We'll take you through our picks for the best iPhone plan for each of the new models and show you how it compares with your other options.

Best iPhone 18 Pro plan

Winner: Optus Choice Plus Plan

Our pick for the best iPhone 18 Pro plan right now is the Optus Choice Plus plan. That goes for each storage variant. It's pretty neck and neck with Vodafone's Small Plan, and both offer significant introductory discounts but Optus offers the cheaper option over 36 or 24 months on the marginally better Optus 5G network.

Optus Choice Plus gives you unlimited calls and text, unlimited international calls and text to select destinations, and 100GB of data per month for the first 12 months, which then reverts to 60GB per month.

With that said, Vodafone does offer a bonus $200 of trade-in credit if you're planning on handing over your old iPhone, so that's something to consider too.

Best iPhone 18 Pro Max Plan

Winner: Optus Choice Plus Plan

It will come as no surprise to some but our top pick for the larger iPhone 18 Pro Max is also the Optus Choice Plus Plan for all the same reasons listed above. The only price difference involved is between the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, as all providers simply split the full hardware cost over 36 months ($63.86 per month in the case of the 256GB iPhone 18 Pro Max).

Here's how much more you will pay for the same plans listed above if you opt for the bigger and more expensive iPhone 18 Pro Max.

Best iPhone Air plan

Winner: Vodafone Small Plan

Vodafone's Small Plan has our pick for the best iPhone Air plan, but only because Optus isn't currently stocking the iPhone Air. As we discussed above, Vodafone's Small Plan offers comparable value for money, with 60GB per month (and a bonus 40GB per month for the first 12 months), unlimited calls and text and $5 per day international roaming.

12 vs 24 vs 36-month repayments

Although SIM plans from Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone are contract-free, leaving early means paying out the remaining balance on your iPhone. Spread across 12, 24, or 36 months, the device cost stays the same; you just pay higher monthly instalments on shorter terms.

However, longer payment terms can cost you more overall. Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone charge a premium for their mobile plans compared to budget SIM-only providers. The faster you pay off your phone, the sooner you can switch to a cheaper provider and save money in the long run.

Still, even though you’re looking at a cheaper monthly bill, if you do commit to a 24-month or 36-month device-repayment term, you’re potentially paying more if you stick around for the full duration. This is because the mobile plans from these three telcos are more expensive than the SIM-only plans from smaller ones. The sooner you pay off your iPhone, the sooner you can switch to a cheaper mobile plan and save money in the long run.

Most popular iPhone 17 and 17 Pro plans

More often than not, older iPhones get cheaper (or stay the same price) when a new model is announced, but not this year. As our mates at WhistleOut reported, many older iPhones are getting more expensive this year. With that said, if you're desperate for a new iPhone, you'll still save some money if you opt for last year's premium options.

Here's a quick look at the most popular iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17e plans available.

Most popular iPhone 16 and 16 Pro plans

Not recommended

If you're looking at going even older than the iPhone 17 range, you can still find an iPhone 16e, iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Plus on a plan in Australia. However, since the iPhone 16 price rise, you would be paying the same amount for the iPhone 16e as you would for the iPhone 17e on a plan, so you wouldn't be saving any money by opting for the older model.

When is a good time to get a new iPhone?

Generally speaking, the release date for new iPhones is in September each year, though Apple only announces the date a few weeks in advance. The pattern is usually:

Announcement date is given a week or two in advance
Pre-order and full release dates are given during the announcement – the announcement is very long, so just wait for tech journos to write up news articles about it
Pre-orders go live a week after the announcement
New iPhones are released a week later

As such, late August and early September are pretty much the worst times to buy a new iPhone. There are usually very few sales during this period, as it's the last chance for vendors to sell off their soon-to-be-outdated stock for full price. You'll also be unlikely to see big deals on older models immediately after a new set of iPhones are announced. Though you might see some iPhone plan deals for the new cohort from telcos.

Can you get refurbished iPhone plans?

Some telcos sell refurbished iPhones, but you can generally only get them as an outright purchase, rather than as part of a traditional phone plan that includes a 12, 24 or 36-month repayment time frame. You can also buy them from retailers and specialty vendors.

If you do buy one through a telco, be careful. Sometimes prepaid telcos will discount a phone if sold alongside a plan, but these phones can be locked to that provider. Unlocking them will incur a fee, depending on how long your prepaid service has been active after purchasing the handset.

There are a number of sites selling refurbished iPhones in Australia, so your choices are quite wide. Amazon, for example, offers up refurbished technology (including iPhones) under its Amazon Renewed Program. Apple even has its own Certified Refurbished store.

Here's a few other places you can find refurbished iPhones in Australia:

Boost Mobile
JB Hi-Fi
Ebay
Kogan
Catch
OzMobiles
Reebelo
Frank Mobile
MobileGuru
Phonebot
greengadgets

How we choose the best iPhone plans

When looking at the best iPhone plans and deals, we considered cost, coverage, perks, data and speed. We've also used the iPhone 17 256GB paid over a 36-month period as our benchmark for comparison. Because 36 months is the typical time for upgrading to a new handset, we also tended to favour the value of a reasonable repayment commitment and monthly cost found in 36-month device-repayment terms.

Written by

Alex Angove-Plumb

Alex Angove-Plumb is a technology journalist and editor with more than a decade's experience in tech media publishing. He first cut his teeth in 2010 at WhistleOut.com.au, covering telco news and reviewing mobile phones. After that, he moved on to run NBN Co's blog for a couple of years before settling in for a long stint at consumer advocacy publication: CHOICE. These days, Alex splits his time between Reviews.org and our friends over at WhistleOut, still covering telco news and reviewing devices, but also working behind the scenes on the nerdier aspects of SEO and page optimisation.