iPhone 18 Pro demand continues to be surprisingly low

i think the supply situation is the more interesting part here. It’s easy to assume longer or shorter delivery times reflect demand, but apple’s production and inventory planning can make those estimates difficult to read. I’d wait for actual sales data before calling the Pro models a flop

IceUniverse says:

@UniverseIce

OMG, the iPhone 18 Pro series is selling like crazy in China again! Pre-orders opened at 8 PM on September 12, and the phones sold out on http://JD.com and other major platforms in less than a minute, with total reservations surpassing 7 MILLION. Even crazier: as of September 15, sales revenue for the iPhone 18 Pro series on Tmall had already reached 2× the previous generation during the same period, setting a new record. Absolutely insane. The iPhone 18 Pro series is off to a massive start in China.

https://x.com/UniverseIce/status/2100425827536208083

Interesting.

https://www.gsmarena.com/iphone_18_pro_and_iphone_18_pro_max_preorders_in_china_eclipse_the_2025_pros-news-74662.php

Pre-orders in the US may have been less than stellar, but the new iPhone 18 Pro models are a huge hit in China. Local publications report that a total of over 7 million units have been pre-ordered across all channels.

Pre-orders for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max started late in the evening of September 12 (Saturday) at 8pm. Retailer JD ran out of available units in under a minute. We don’t know how many units JD had on hand, but there are similar stories from other retailers.

Sales revenue from iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max pre-orders on Tmall was double what the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max pulled last year. Keep in mind that this doesn’t directly translate into units sold since the 2026 Pros are CNY 1,000 more expensive than the 2025 models (the 18 Pro starts at CNY 10,000 and the 18 Pro Max at CNY 11,000). It’s still an impressive stat, though.

Booming in china again.

Well, it’s not that different from the 17 Pro, it’s more expensive, and in the US at least the economy is hot garbage for normal people. I’m not surprised sales are down a bit.