Best iPhone 17 plans in Australia (October 2025)

Online for preorder from September 12, the iPhone 17 is officially here – available to purchase as of September 19. With bonus offers aplenty, often times, preordering a new phone is the most affordable way to buy. But, if you missed out, we've found the best iPhone 17 plans for you.

While it was announced alongside its two Pro sibling and the all-new iPhone Air, we think the iPhone 17 is the best option for most people – though we'd point you to the best iPhone 17 Pro plans if you're looking for stellar cameras. Its cheapest AU$1,399 price tag is a certainly a major factor – far easier to buy outright and pair with our best SIM-only plans – but that’s not the only thing going for it.

In our iPhone 17 review, our writer was convinced it's the best-value iPhone ever . This is thanks to several key upgrades, including an Always-On display with ProMotion, ditching the 128GB model, a new Center Stage front camera, an improved rear ultra-wide lens and the upgraded A19 chip.

Of course, AU$1,399 is hardly going to score it any favours among the best cheap phones, which means many will prefer to snag it from a major telco like Vodafone or Optus and pay it off over the long term. If that's you, or if you're just weighing up options, we've found the best iPhone 17 plans for two very different mobile users.

• Best iPhone 15 plans
• Best iPhone 15 Pro plans
• best iPhone 16e plans
• Best iPhone 16 plans
• Best iPhone 16 Pro plans
• Best iPhone 16 Pro Max plans

Best iPhone 17 plans: our picks

Best overall iPhone 17 plan

iPhone 17 (256GB) | Vodafone Small Plan | 60GB data | 24 months | AU$103.29 p/m

While there's plenty of competition, the choice is clear. Vodafone is cutting AU$8 p/m off the length of your chosen contract – making it AU$10 p/m more affordable than Optus' cheapest option. Plus, you get 10GB more monthly data. The offer uses the Vodafone 5G network and includes unlimited national calls and texts. You can also roam in eligible countries for just AU$5 per day. Incredibly, it's the same price as the best iPhone 16 plan.

Minimum total cost: AU$1,443.96 | Cost over 24 months is: AU$2,478.96

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Best premium iPhone 17 plan

iPhone 17 (256GB) | Vodafone Medium Plan | 200GB | 24 months | AU$108.29p/m

If you need more monthly data than the 60GB on offer above, Vodafone is the choice once again. For just AU$5 p/m more than the budget plan above, customers get a massive 200GB of data each month, plus unlimited international calls and texts to select nations. This deal beats Optus' competing plan by AU$9 p/m (adding up to AU$216) thanks to a AU$13 p/m discount on the length of your contract. For those with even greater data needs, the large plan offers 400GB for only AU$113.29 p/m.

Minimum total cost: AU$1,448.96 | Total cost over 24 months is: AU$2,598.96

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Compare iPhone 17 telco plans

Still want to know what other carriers are offering? Here's a quick look at what you'll pay each month for the 256GB iPhone 17, spread over a 24-month contract.

Outright iPhone 17 deals

Fresh off the assembly line, the telco deals above aren't the only way to buy the new iPhone 17. In fact, if you can front the initial cost, you'll pay significantly less in the long run by purchasing the phone outright and pairing it with one of our best SIM-only plans.

Luckily, with all of Australia's major retailers wanting a piece of the pie, there are plenty of options to choose from. You can find all the best offers available in the widget below.

iPhone 17 Specs comparison

What's new with the iPhone 17?

• 120Hz ProMotion display
• A19 Chip
• New 48MP 'Fusion' camera system
• New 18MP selfie camera with Center Stage
• Better battery life and improved charging

The iPhone 17 has got the same upgrades that its predecessors usually do. A new, more powerful processor, new colours and a boost to its CPU and GPU power.

However, there's a few other upgrades to this baseline model that we think make it better value than other regular iPhones that have come before it. That is, non-pro models.

The first and most obvious upgrade comes to the iPhone 17's display, which is now 6.3-inches, compared to the 6.1-inch iPhone 16. It also supports live activity and widgets on the lockscreen, and matches the peak brightness of the iPhone 17 Pro at 3,000 nits.

Moreover, the base model finally sports the 120Hz ProMotion display of its Pro siblings, which not only means it can reach those heights for gaming and entertainment, but can also crank down to 1Hz when it's not needed, saving battery in the process.

This improves the iPhone 17 to the point that its display can truly compete with those on the best Android phones. Apple's Ceramic Shield 2 glass also promises 3x better resistance over the iPhone 16, plus handling of reflections in bright environments thanks to its seven layers of anti-reflective coating.

The iPhone 17 now also boasts an improved dual camera system with its new 48-megapixel 'Fusion' lens. Sitting in a vertical pill-like configuration, the bottom main lens has a 26mm focal length and a F.1.6 aperture, and sensor-shift optical image stabilisation. However, it also serves as a telephoto camera with a 2x optical zoom and a 52mm focal length.

The upper 48MP ultra-wide camera now offers four times the resolution to the iPhone 16's ultra-wide. It has a 13mm focal length, F.2.2 aperture and a 12MP 1x macro photography function with a 26mm focal length.

On top of that, Apple has boosted the front-facing camera to 18 megapixels, with a wider field of view thrown in to. And this lets users take both landscape and portrait photos without needing to turn the phone horizontally. The real upgrade here, though, is the AI-powered Center Stage feature, which automatically expands the field of view to better capture groups of people posing for a selfie snap.

Last, but certainly not least, Apple has made some serious improvements to both the battery and charging capabilities of its baseline handset.

Apple states that the improved efficiency of the A19 chip over its predecessor sees the iPhone 17 deliver "all-day" battery life – promising 30 hours of video playback. That's six more than the iPhone 16.

In our iPhone 17 review, we stated that video playback numbers don't easily translate to daily use, but we found that the iPhone 17 easily lasted all day on a consistent basis, even with the Always-On display turned on.

However, our favourite upgrade when it comes to battery is the improved charging ability of the 17. You'll need to use an optional high-wattage USB-C power adapter like Apple’s new 40W Dynamic Power Adapter to make the most of it, but the iPhone 17 boasts up to 40W fast charging when wired – reaching 80% in under an hour.

The iPhone 17 comes in only two models – 256GB and 512GB, and if unless you really need the cameras or power of the iPhone 17 Pro, it's easily one of the best upgrades from Apple in recent memory.

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