Nikkei Asia reports Apple cut October iPhone 18 Pro component orders by at least 15 per cent, after a $100 price riseNikkei Asia reports Apple cut October iPhone 18 Pro component orders by at least 15 per cent, after a $100 price rise

Apple has cut its October component orders for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max by at least 15 per cent, Nikkei Asia reported on 9 October.

This is Reported grade in the terms we use for leaks and supply chain claims: a named outlet, with reporters Lauly Li and Cheng Ting-Fang, who have a long record on Apple's suppliers, citing people in the supply chain it does not name. No documents are shown. Nikkei's article is paywalled and we could read only its headline and summary; the detail below is Nikkei as relayed by MacRumors and 9to5Mac, which carry the same report and so count as one source. None of the accounts includes a comment from Apple.

What Nikkei reports

According to those accounts, Apple has asked some suppliers to make fewer iPhone 18 Pro components, and orders for October are at least 15 per cent below what Apple first requested. 9to5Mac quotes one executive putting the October reduction at 15 to 20 per cent. Apple is said to have been more conservative about shipments since early September.

Suppliers blame price. Nikkei's summary says soaring memory chip costs forced price increases that have dampened demand, and 9to5Mac quotes a supply chain manager saying demand is weaker than in previous years. One source told Nikkei it expects similar cuts to the iPhone Duo after it goes on sale.

Nikkei also points to the calendar. MacRumors says the report links softer demand from late August to Apple's split launch, with the standard iPhone 18 now expected in spring 2027 alongside the iPhone 18e and iPhone Air 2, rather than with the Pro models.

How much more do the iPhone 18 Pro models cost?

In the US the iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 and the Pro Max at $1,299, $100 more than the iPhone 17 Pro models they replaced. MacRumors notes that Apple has publicly blamed memory costs driven by AI demand for price rises across its range this year. The memory inside did not grow: both phones have 12GB, the same as last year's, and a leaker's claim that Apple once planned 16GB remains unconfirmed.

When will Apple's own numbers show it?

Apple's investor relations calendar lists its fiscal fourth quarter results for Monday 2 November. 9to5Mac gives the date as 6 November; Apple's own calendar says 2 November, and we go with Apple. That quarter ended in the last week of September, and the iPhone 18 Pro went on sale on 18 September, so the results will hold barely a week of its sales. The guidance Apple gives for the December quarter is the number that would reflect any cut.

Our take

Component orders are not sales, and this report measures the first, not the second. A supplier sees Apple ordering fewer parts; it cannot see whether that is weak demand, an early build-up being worked down, or Apple steering capacity toward the iPhone Duo, which ships on 23 October. Nikkei's sources lean towards demand, and the price rise makes that plausible, but the report itself cannot settle it.

It also sits awkwardly against the one hard sales figure we have. Counterpoint found iPhone 18 Pro sales up 12 per cent in their first days in China, though over three days and with a definition loose enough that we said so at the time. A strong launch week and a cut a month later can both be true: early buyers come first, and the question for any phone is the months after.

The pattern behind it is clearer than the iPhone detail. Memory is now setting prices across Apple's range, and the same squeeze showed up this week when IDC reported Mac shipments down 11 per cent in a PC market that fell 20. APPDOOK's reading is that a $100 rise was always going to cost Apple some units, and that it raised the price expecting exactly that. The question for 2 November is whether John Ternus's first results call treats it as a dip to wait out or as a reason to rethink pricing for the iPhone 18 in the spring.