Which Malaysian telco has the cheapest iPhone 15 plan? We check

If you’ve been looking to pick up a new iPhone 15 with a telco, you would have seen huge announcements like GET THE iPHONE 15 PRO MAX FOR ONLY RM145/mth. Padahal, if you actually tried to sign up for it, you’re gonna discover it’s actually RM273 a month.

While the phone might only cost you RM152/mth, it includes a mobile plan contract that’s RM120/mth. And, by the time the contract ends, you’ll be paying almost RM3,300 more than if you’d walked into the shop to buy it.

This is something called a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – the total cost you’ll pay for the device over a period of time, including the mobile plan.

When they launched their iPhone lineup, Yes 5G said with full confidence that they had the lowest iPhone pricing plans among the telcos. In fact, they were SO confident, they asked us to make a price comparison. We said Yes… 5G.

We looked at all the telcos offering the iPhone 15 range and calculated the TCO to see which was the cheapest. Just to keep things simple, we only used the base configuration for each iPhone model, and the cheapest plan you can sign up for. We excluded promotions and supplementary lines too.

So here’s the full list of telco iPhone 15 plans, by model.

iPhone 15 (128GB)

Note: While we were writing this, CelcomDigi announced their new unifed 5G postpaid plans which replaces the separate ones from Celcom and Digi respectively.

24-Month Postpaid Contract 

Because Yes 5G has the lowest base postpaid price for the iPhone 15 – RM58 compared to RM90+ for the other telcos – they’ll automatically have a price advantage. In this case, it’s RM223 a month.

In terms of TCO, you’re looking at paying RM1,248 less than the most expensive option (Maxis) and RM744 less than the next-cheapest option, UMobile. On that note, UMobile’s installment plans require you to pay 3 months of the installment and monthly plan payments in advance.

At the time of writing, CelcomDigi has an RM10/mth launch promo discount. Even with this discount though, their prices are still the second most expensive after Maxis.

On a data note, Yes 5G is also the only telco that gives you uncapped 4G and 5G data and speed with the plan. Comparatively, both Maxis and CelcomDigi gived you 150GB data allocation, while UMobile gives 1,000GB.

36-month Postpaid Contract

Yes 5G is also the cheapest on a 3-year contract at RM167/mth, with the next-cheapest option being CelcomDigi (RM211/mth). In terms of TCO, this is a difference of RM1,584!

iPhone 15 Plus (128 GB)

Just like the iPhone 15, the same results apply to the iPhone 15 Plus.

iPhone 15 Pro

So, things change somewhat starting from the iPhone 15 Pro.

CelcomDigi requires you to sign up for a higher commitment tier on contract, in exchange for the lowest device-only prices. In short, they kinda add up to similar price points as Maxis, with only a RM1 difference each month.

If you take a 36-month contract, you’ll be saving up to RM1,872 with Yes 5G 🤯

iPhone 15 Pro Max (256GB)

Similar to the iPhone 15 Pro, you’ll have to take up a higher commitment plan with CelcomDigi. Also, the iPhone 15 Pro Max comes with base 256GB storage instead of 128GB.

Yes 5G wins 4 out of 4 with the lowest TCO.

You’ll also need to consider other factors like coverage and data speed

We only focused on the lowest-priced plans but the general pattern is that you’ll get lower iPhone prices when you commit to more expensive plans. One interesting thing is that, when you compare 24-month plans with 36-month plans, there’s actually very little price difference for the device itself. Using Maxis as an example, you’re paying RM166 for the iPhone 15 over 24 months or RM111 over 36 months. But when you do the math, the difference is RM12.

This means that the bulk of the TCO difference is actually what you’re paying for the plan itself.

The question is whether or not you’ll need free roaming, or whichever additional perks that these pricier plans get you.

With their lowest (for iPhone) RM58 Infinite Basic plan, Yes 5G gives you uncapped 4G AND 5G data, speed, and calls (click here to read more about FUP). The only difference between their plans is mobile hotspot allocation.

Of course, the other consideration is the signal coverage and data speeds. Because this really depends on where you live, you’ll likely only find out after signing up for a plan or buying a prepaid card………. but not with Yes 5G. They’ll let you test out their network for free! 

Click here to test Yes 5G for 30 days, FREE. No cap 🧢

If your phone accepts eSIM, just head over to their Network Test Drive page and sign up to try their uncapped data and speed for 30 days free of charge and without commitment. To check if your phone has eSIM, you can either search for ‘eSIM’ in the settings, or look under Connections/Network (different phones use different names) to see if there’s an option to add an eSIM.

So, perhaps it might be time to say Yes(5G) to that new iPhone 😀