Australian iPhone 8 Plus plans compared: what price should you expect to pay?

A lot of the hype that normally comes with the Plus-sized releases has been stifled when it comes to the poor iPhone 8 Plus. Being announced in the shadow of the larger and, frankly, more impressive iPhone X may well hurt its reputation.

That said, there's a valuable role that the iPhone 8 Plus will play, particularly considering that the price sits at the midpoint between its smaller iPhone 8 brethren and the oversized 10th anniversary edition handset. For more detailed info, check out our iPhone 8 Plus hands-on review.

So if it's more expensive than the iPhone 8, but less pricey than the iPhone X, how much exactly will the Plus-sized flagship set you back? Read on to see what prices you'll be paying for the outright handset, and check out our best prediction of the cheapest contract you can nab this bad boy on.

iPhone 8 Plus price: how much does it cost?

$1,229 will get you the 64GB model of the iPhone 8 Plus. This is more or less what we were expecting, and isn't too unreasonable given that the iPhone 7 Plus starting price was $1,269 at launch.

If you're after the bigger 256GB model, you'll need to spend $1,479, although an in-between model would have been nice, this is still coming in cheaper than the base model iPhone X which will start at a whopping $1,579.

If you're keen on an outright handset, it's probably worth your while hanging out for the Australian Black Friday sales in case anyone offers the plus-sized Apple flagships for less.

When can I buy the iPhone 8 Plus?

As to be expected, you won't have to wait long after the announcement before you can pre-order the next Plus model in Apple's flagship lineup, and you won't have to wait long after that before you can actually get your mitts on it.

The pre-order deals will become available Friday, September 15 and you'll be able to get the handsets the week after on Friday, September 22.

TechRadar predicts the best iPhone 8 Plus deal

Considering the dizzying heights the Apple flagship prices have risen to, there's no wonder that people will be looking to soften the blow with a contract plan. We've tracked through deals of the past and are now bringing to you the most likely pricing for the cheapest deal to land you an iPhone 8 Plus on a contract in Australia.

iPhone 8 Plus | 2GB data | Unlimited calls and texts | $89 per month
Yeah. It's going to hard no matter which way you flip it, but if you're going to want the latest phablet from Apple, there's a good chance you're going to be paying almost $90 a month for the pleasure. No doubt, you'll be wanting more data than that too, so this is just the tip of the iceberg. Total cost over 24 months is $2,136

Obviously we're hoping that iPhone 8 Plus will somehow have the cheapest phone plans ever, and that would be real swell and all, but we've got to be a little realistic here. The plans are going to hurt and, unless you wait (a long time) for price drops, the outright handset cost will hurt as well.

If you're dead keen on this year's Plus-sized offering from Apple, and have the money on hand, then we'd recommend buying it outright and tracking down a decent SIM-only plan that can save you dollars in the long run.

Hey, it could be worse: here's how much the iPhone X is going for.