Getting an Apple iPhone 16 on a plan? These are the cheapest and best options from Telstra, Optus and Vodafone

Vodafone $49 Small Plan with 50GB + iPhone 16 128GB Plan (36 month contract) = $87.86p/m
The cheapest iPhone 16 plan is with Vodafone’s Small Plan on a 36-month contract. This plan costs $49 per month and comes with 50GB. The device payment will cost you $38.86 per month for 36 months. This equals $87.86 per month and $3,162.96 in total over the 36 months – amounting to $1,398.96 for the handset and $1,764 for the mobile service.

Vodafone $49 Small Plan with 50GB + iPhone 16 128GB Plan (24 month contract) = $107.29p/m
For the best overall iPhone 16 plan, we’ve selected Vodafone’s Small Plan again, because it is the cheapest plan available from any of the telcos and comes with a reasonable 50GB of data.

However, this time we have also chosen a 24-month contract, which has monthly device repayments of $58.29. While this is almost $20 more expensive than the repayments on a 36-month plan, we believe 3 years is quite a long time to commit to a phone plan, especially since you’ll end up paying exactly the same amount for the device in the long run.

A shorter contract means that you can upgrade your phone after 24 months instead of waiting another year, or you can switch to a cheaper SIM-only plan after paying off your device. The total monthly cost with this plan is $107.29 and the total cost over the 24 months is $2,574.96.

Vodafone $59 $55 Medium Plan with 180GB (currently 300GB) + iPhone 16 128GB Plan (24 month contract) = $113.29p/m
If you need more than 50GB of data a month, our recommendation is Vodafone’s Medium Plan. It costs an additional $10 per month ($59p/m) but gives you an impressive 180GB of data.

What’s even better is that if you sign up for this plan before October 10, you will only pay $55 per month — which is a saving of $4 per month (and $96 over 24 months) — and you will get a whopping 300GB of data per month. If you think about it, you may even be able to hotspot from your phone at home and use the 300GB per month of data instead of paying for home internet! Another bonus is that this plan gives you a free 3 month Binge subscription (worth $18 per month).

The total monthly repayment including the device is $113.29 per month and the total cost over 24 months is $2,718.96 (or $2,814.96 without the $4 per month discount).

Telstra $99 Premium Plan + iPhone 16 128GB Plan (24 month contract) = $157.29p/m
Telstra’s $99 Premium Plan is funnily enough our pick for the best premium iPhone 16 plan. We chose this plan for a few reasons; it runs on the Telstra Mobile Network (which is the largest in Australia), the data speeds are uncapped, and the various bonuses and special offers you get with this plan.

The bonuses include access to Telstra Plus Gold for a year, which includes multiple perks including discounted movie and sporting event tickets, exclusive concert, theatre and performance art pre-sales and more. This plan also comes with multiple special offers, including 3 months of Telstra Device Security, 4 months of Spotify Premium (for new Spotify Premium subscribers) and 2 months of Binge (for new Binge customers).

This plan also includes an impressive 300GB of data per month, which can be shared with up to five other Telstra mobile plans and could be very handy if you have kids or family members who need extra data. Because this plan is ‘premium’, it’s on the more expensive side, costing $99 per month and on top of that, you have to pay the device repayments for the iPhone 16.

For the device repayments, you can choose to pay it off over a 12, 24 or 36-month period. If you choose 12 months, the monthly device repayments are $116.58, with a 24-month plan, the repayments are $58.29 and with a 36-month plan, the repayments are $38.86. If you choose a 24-month plan, the total monthly repayment is $157.29.