Best iPhone 16e plans in Australia (October 2025)

The iPhone 17 is here – along with the super-thin iPhone Air and its Pro siblings – but with no new 'e' model announced, the iPhone 16e remains your best bet for a budget-friendly iPhone.

Sitting at AU$999, buying outright from retailers like The Good Guys or Amazon is a lot easier on your wallet than you'll find with other iPhone models. You get a whole heap for your money too, as the 16e boasts better battery life than the iPhone 16, similar power, and an almost identical display and design. But, while we recommend pairing it with one of our best SIM-only plans if you do buy outright, a more affordable iPhone is still an expensive prospect.

That makes the best iPhone 16e plans a great option for those who can't quite shell out the total cost upfront, but still want a great handset. At AU$400 cheaper than the iPhone 16, the only concessions are a single rear camera , limited colour options and no MagSafe charging.

As is the case with any modern iPhone, plenty of plans are available for the iPhone 16e. To simplify your choice, we've compared the options from major telcos like Vodafone and Optus to find the two best plans for very different users.

More of the best iPhone 16 plans

• Best iPhone 15 plans
• Best iPhone 15 Plus plans
• Best iPhone 15 Pro plans
• Best iPhone 16 plans
• Best iPhone 16 Plus plans
• Best iPhone 16 Pro plans
• Best iPhone 16 Pro Max plans

Best iPhone 16e plan

Apple iPhone 16e | Vodafone Small Plan | 60GB data | 24 months | AU$86.62 p/m

The iPhone 16e is a brilliant phone that gives you a true flagship iPhone experience for a reasonable price and Vodafone continues to be the best telco to buy it through. Right now it's discounting all its SIM plans – including AU$8 p/m off the entire contract of its small plan – giving customers 5G connectivity, 60GB of data, unlimited national calls/ texts and a new iPhone 16e for this affordable price.

Total cost over 24 months is AU$2,078.88

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Best premium iPhone 16e plan

Apple iPhone 16e | Optus Choice Plus Plan | 200GB data | 24 months | AU$91.62 p/m

The Vodafone Medium Plan is only a few dollars more than the plan above and it's a great option for those who need international calls and texts, or more data with their iPhone 16e. Cutting AU$13 p/m off the price of its medium plan each month, it's by far the cheapest big-data plan you can pair with your new phone.

Total cost over 24 months is AU$2,198.88

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Compare iPhone 16e telco plans

Want to know what our best plans above were competing against? If you’re curious about what’s available from all the major carriers, here’s a look at what you’ll be paying each month for the iPhone 16e with 128GB of storage on a 24-month contract.

Outright iPhone 16e deals

Keen to buy outright? Here’s where you can find the iPhone 16e:

iPhone 16e: Key Information

• AU$999 starting price
• Apple's C1 chip, its first homegrown cellular modem
• Action Button programmable to run Visual Intelligence
• 2-in-1 fusion 48MP camera

While we're still musing about what the 'e' in iPhone 16e actually means, we know practically everything there is to know about the iPhone 16e. In fact, we've even spent significant amount of time with it. You can check out our iPhone 16e review to see our full thoughts, or read on to learn more.

Interested in upgrading to what we were sure was going to be the iPhone SE 4? Here's everything you need to know about the iPhone 16e, how it differs to its iPhone 16 family, and whether it's the right iPhone for you.

The iPhone 16e is basically this generation's iPhone SE, but its AU$999 price point is much more expensive than the AU$719 launch price of the iPhone SE 2022. In fact, it's a lot closer in price to what you'll find an iPhone 14 for in 2025 – so it comes as no surprise that the iPhone 14 has been discontinued by Apple at the same time.

Now, if the 6.1-inch display of the iPhone 16e and iPhone 16 is smaller than you're willing to go for, the cheapest iPhone you can buy with a large display, from Apple at least, is the AU$1,399 iPhone 15 Plus.

Crucially, and what makes it capable of powering Apple Intelligence when even the iPhone 15 cannot, is that the iPhone 16e sports the same 3-nanometer A18 processor boasted by the iPhone 16. It also steals the iPhone 16's Action Button, along with being able to run Visual Intelligence – letting you point the camera at animals, plants, restaurants and even event flyers to get information.

That's about where the similarities between the mainline family and its affordable sibling end. And the price difference is most obvious in the 16e's camera offerings, with just a singular 48MP camera that shoots at 24MP by default (and up to 4K 60fps video), compared to the iPhone 16 dual array of the iPhone 16.

One positive is the 16e's Super Retina XDR display, which is nice to have at an affordable price point. However, for many users, this screen is quickly tarnished by the notch featuring a 12MP TrueDepth camera, as opposed to the Dynamic Island feature introduced by the iPhone 14 Pro. It does, however, enable Face ID.

On top of that, the iPhone 16e boasts a notable technological update – Apple's C1 chip, its first homegrown cellular modem. We don't know much about it, but Apple claims its added power efficiency provides up to 26 hours of video playback on a single charge – four hours more than the iPhone 16.

As for its build, Apple has armoured the display with a ceramic shield and the device itself is made with pace-grade aluminium, and it also offers an IP68 rating that matches the durability of the entire iPhone 16 family.

While it might not be the iPhone SE 4 we thought it was going to be (well, not explicitly), there are a few key things to know about the all-new iPhone 16e.

iPhone 16e: specs comparison