iPhone 17 deals compared: How much can you REALLY save on the iPhone 17?

Fact Checked

It’s no secret that iPhones are expensive, often setting the bar high for premium price tags. But despite the hefty price, Apple still has its loyalists. Canstar Blue research shows that brand is the most important factor for 27% of Aussies buying a smartphone, beating out price and ease of use.

Unfortunately, Apple is not known for offering discounts on devices, especially new releases. So anything that can make the latest iPhones cheaper to buy is always a good thing, right? We’ll break down the deals and offers from the telcos on the new iPhone 17 series to see if these discounts will really help to cut costs.

Vodafone iPhone 17 deals

Vodafone has a few different offers that can help cut the costs, but there are catches to be wary of.

Get $1,200 credit with the $79 Extra Large plan

Vodafone is offering $1,200 in credit off phone plan costs when bundling the iPhone 17 with the $79 Extra Large plan (with 500GB data) over a 36-month device payment period. This is applied to your bill as a $33.34 per month credit over the 36-month payment period. The minimum total cost (for a 256GB iPhone 17) with the discount will be $3,043 over 36 months.

However, if you leave your plan before 36 months, remaining credit is forfeited and the undiscounted device price will need to be paid in full. This offer can be bundled with the trade-in bonus offer.

$200 bonus trade-in credit

When you trade-in an eligible device when ordering an iPhone 17, you can receive a bonus $200 of trade-in credit (in addition to the trade-in value of the device). The trade-in will need to be completed online or in-store by November 11, 2025, and is available to new customers and existing customers upgrading their handset or adding an additional service to their account.

Customers will also need to stay connected to their plan for the full 12, 24 or 36-month payment period, or savings will be forfeited and you’ll need to pay the undiscounted device price (less trade-in value) in full.

The trade-in bonus credit and $79 Extra Large plan offers are available until October 14, terms apply.

Additionally, if you pick up the 256GB iPhone 17 Pro or 17 Pro Max over 36 months and trade-in a particular iPhone in good working order (iPhone 14 and above for the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 16 Plus and above for the iPhone 17 Pro Max), and bundle with the $79 plan, you’ll receive your device for $0 as the $1,200 credit ($33.34 per month) will cover your monthly device payments.

Plan fee discounts

If you don’t want to sign up to the big $79 plan, Vodafone is offering discounts on its Small, Medium and Large plans that can be bundled with the phone. These discounts are available for new customers and existing customers upgrading their handset or adding an additional service to their account.

The discount is applied as monthly credit over the 12, 24 or 36-month payment period you’ve chosen, after which the plan will revert to the standard monthly price. This offer is available until October 30, 2025 and can be combined with the trade-in credit offer, but not the $79 plan offer.

• Small plan: $45 per month then $53 per month ongoing (save $8 per month)
• Medium plan: $50 per month then $63 per month ongoing (save $13 per month)
• Large plan: $55 per month then $73 per month ongoing (save $18 per month)

Optus iPhone 17 deals

Optus is pushing its $79 Promo plan as its discounted offer to bundle with your new iPhone 17, 17 Air, 17 Pro or 17 Pro Max. It’s typically $79 per month with 360GB of data, with a standing discount of $10 per month over 12 months. However Optus is dropping the price further to $59 per month for the first 12 months, then $79 per month ongoing, offer expires November 9, 2025 unless withdrawn, terms apply. This plan also includes up to $120 in credit over 12 months towards a subscription of your choice via Optus SubHub.

Additionally, Optus is offering up to $540 of value with the Upgrade and Protect add-on when you buy your device over 12, 24 or 36 months. Upgrade and Protect includes the option to upgrade your phone for $0 in the final 12 months of your plan payment period (with a device in good working order) and device protection at all times (including discounted front screen repair and damaged device upgrade).

In total, Optus touts these bonuses as adding up to $780 in value — however, these offers are only available with the Promo plan. If you sign up to any of the other Optus phone plans to bundle with your new iPhone, you won’t receive any special offers.

The good news is that if you trade in an eligible device, Optus is offering up to $1,500 in gift card credit, with that maximum credit based on trading in an iPhone 16 Pro Max 1TB in good working order.

Telstra iPhone 17 deals

Telstra is offering a couple of deals when you buy your iPhone 17, 17 Air, 17 Pro or 17 Pro Max on a Telstra plan.

When you trade in an eligible device, you can score $300 of bonus trade-in credit. The maximum trade-in credit on offer is up to $1,500 based on trading in an iPhone 16 Pro Max 1TB in good working order, and Telstra service is required. Telstra will also value match any competing trade-in claim for iPhone 17 buyers within 21 days of receiving your new phone. This offer expires October 10, 2025, terms apply.

If you choose to bundle your iPhone with the Premium Upfront plan, you’ll get $20 off your plan fees each month over 12 months, saving $240 in total. This brings the $99 plan with 300GB of data down to $79. This is Telstra’s most expensive plan on offer and the discount will be applied as credit on your bill (accounts starting with 2,000 will have credit applied by the second month). This offer ends October 6, 2026, terms apply.

Telstra’s phone plans are more expensive than what Optus and Vodafone offers, and you need to sign up to Telstra’s most expensive plan in order to get a discount. The discounted price is also still more expensive than Telstra’s cheapest plan at $70 per month with 50GB of data. If 50GB of data is enough for your needs, signing up to the Basic $70 plan may be a better option (and still cheaper in the long run).

Are these iPhone 17 deals worth it?

If you have an old device that you want to get rid of, it might be worth taking advantage of the trade-in offers for some extra savings. But keep in mind that you’ll typically need to meet certain criteria, depending on the telco, in order to get these trade-in offers or bonus credit.

There’s virtually no difference in overall price between buying the iPhone 17 from a telco compared to buying outright from a retailer. However, there may be a big difference in the price of your monthly phone plan.

Looking at Vodafone’s offer, the $79 plan carries the biggest discount off your plan price compared to Vodafone’s offers on the Small, Medium and Large plans. With the discount applied, the $79 plan drops down to just under $45.66 per month: only slightly more expensive than the discounted price for the Small plan, and still cheaper than the Medium and Large plans.

However, the discount with the Extra Large plan is only available on the 36-month device payment period, so you’re locked in for three years. The discounts on the standard plans are available over the payment period you choose, so either 12, 24 or 36 months. If you don’t want to be locked into a contract for three years, you can still save over one or two years.

Optus is also offering most of its value wrapped up in a Promo plan, which is still more expensive (with the discount) than its cheapest plan. If you don’t need that big data allowance, you may be better off in the long run just signing up to the cheapest Optus plan.

Telstra is banking on discounting its most expensive plan for perceived savings, but for many users, that 300GB of data is much more than you’ll need — signing up to Telstra’s cheapest plan will have a cheaper monthly cost than the discounted promo plan.

Ultimately, the biggest difference between buying your iPhone on a plan compared to buying your device outright and bundling with a SIM-only plan, is the phone plan you choose — assuming you have the ability to buy your iPhone outright if needed.

While Vodafone’s $79 plan comes with a decent discount, for many of us 500GB of data is much more than we’ll actually use (and likewise with the plans Optus and Telstra are promoting). Comparatively, there aren’t too many SIM-only prepaid or postpaid plans offering as much data at this price point (especially taking the discount into consideration).

The most comparable plan would be from Felix, which offers an unlimited data plan (with data speeds capped at 40Mbps) for $40 per month. If you want to drop the data amount down to 100GB (which is still a lot of data for the average phone user), there are plans from other providers available for around that $40 mark. For average data users only needing anywhere around 40GB to 80GB of data each month, plan costs can be cut down even further to just $30 monthly.

Keep in mind that the total price for the iPhone 17 from the telcos will be slightly less than the total RRP of buying the device outright, usually by a few cents.

Total costs compared with the 256GB iPhone 17 ($1,399 AUD RRP) over 36 months:

• iPhone 17 + Telstra $99 plan with 300GB data (minus $20 per month discount over 12 months): $4,722.96 over 36 months
• iPhone 17 + Optus $79 plan with 360GB data (minus $20 per month discount over 12 months): $4,002.96 over 36 months
• iPhone 17 + Vodafone $79 plan with 500GB data (minus $33.34 monthly discount): $3,043 over 36 months
• iPhone 17 + Vodafone $53 plan with 60GB data (minus $8 monthly discount): $3,019 over 36 months
• iPhone 17 + Felix $40 plan with unlimited data (40Mbps speed cap): $2,839 over 36 months
• iPhone 17 + Swoop $39 plan with 100GB data: $2,803 over 36 months
• iPhone 17 + Southern Phone $34 plan with 80GB data: $2,623 over 36 months

While Vodafone is offering some savings on device costs when you buy your device with these pre order offers, you’re still locked into a plan and — depending on which offer you pick up — you could be paying for a lot of data that you don’t realistically need. However, Optus and Telstra are only offering discounts on plan fees and only on a 12-month period, so if you sign up to your plan over 24 or 36 months, you’ll need to pay the full plan price from month 13 onwards.

If you have the ability to buy your iPhone outright and you don’t need the bigger data inclusions offered by Vodafone, you can save money by choosing to pick up a SIM-only phone plan that better suits your needs.

Do iPhone 17 deals and discounts make a difference in the device price?

Apple never launches its new iPhones with any actual device discounts, unlike many Android phones that routinely go on sale or even launch with special discounts and bonus offers (hello, Samsung!). It can be tempting to snatch up any offer you can get your hands on just to soften the blow of these pricey phones.

But really, you need to do some serious thinking — and maths — to work out if these offers will actually save you any money in the long run.

Picking up your iPhone on a plan from either Telstra, Optus or Vodafone can be useful if you don’t have the spare $1,399 and up to fork out upfront. Splitting your device costs over 12, 24 or 36 months can certainly make these phones more affordable.

However, you’re locked into your bundle plan over that time. Although you’re free to switch between your telco’s other postpaid phone plans, these are typically more expensive when comparing the value for money offered by smaller telcos.

While it may be tempting to sign up to any offer that knocks something off the device price, be wary of getting stuck on a payment plan that might not suit your needs — or one that keeps you locked in for longer.

If you can afford the device cost upfront, you have plenty of options to choose from so you can really hunt around for the right plan for your needs.

However, if you can’t afford to buy an iPhone 17 device upfront but don’t want to be locked into a telco plan, Apple’s slightly cheaper iPhone 16e could be a good alternative. If you can hold out for a new iPhone a bit longer, saving up just $50 per week can get you the 256GB iPhone 17 in around six months.