Whether or not you like it, mobile prices are going up and have been throughout the year.
It’s not just that flagships on the Android camp have gone up in price earlier in the year, but even across the divide watching Apple increase the prices of iPhones, as well as iPads and Macs earlier this year. Everything costs more, but in 2026, phones also clearly cost more.
About the only positive to come out of this fact is that while mobiles cost more, they also happen to last longer, thanks in part to hardware designed to cover longer life spans. Specifically, we’re talking about devices offering as much as seven years of operating system updates, something you can find over in the Android camp with Qualcomm Snapdragon-equipped Samsung Galaxy S26 models including the S26 Ultra, not to mention the Google Pixel 11 range including the Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro Fold.
Apple also tends to keep mobiles updated for longer, with iPhones usually lasting a good seven or eight years before the company stops supporting them.
So phones last longer, and the reasons to upgrade may also be lower. Once your phone is fast enough and uses an amazing camera, you may not need to upgrade for a few years, letting you keep a device for longer.
With that in mind, Vodafone is launching a bit of a first, offering a four-year handset repayment plan for phones, and giving you 48 months to pay off a mobile. It’s not the only option available, and Vodafone notes it will also over 12, 24, and 36 months, but the 48 month four-year plan will bring a handset monthly repayment cost down considerably.
Take an iPhone 18 Pro 256GB model, which will cost $88 per month on a 24 month plan, but literally halves that at $44 per month on a 48 month plan by comparison.
“Australians are holding onto their phones for four years or more, but until now they haven’t had the repayment options to match,” said James Gully, Acting Group Executive for Consumer at Vodafone in Australia.
“The telco industry hasn’t moved, so we’re moving first,” he said. “Our new 48-month repayment plan gives Australians another way to manage the cost of technology, with more flexibility and lower monthly repayments.”
It’s a cost change that could make some phones more achievable, particularly if they are very expensive phones. Consider the iPhone Duo, which for a 256GB variant of Apple’s first folding phone will cost $145.79 per month on a 24 month plan, but drops to $72.89 per month paid across four years, compared with the outright price of $3499. Both are pricey, sure, but one is definitely a little more achievable by comparison, and may convince people to move.
While a four year plan may divide — because four years is a really long time to pay off a mobile — we doubt this will be the first instance where a telco offers the length to customers. And with the price of everything going up, Vodafone has effectively just gotten in early, leaving Optus and Telstra likely to do the same shortly, as well.
