iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max Component Orders Cut by at Least 15%, Report Says
Key Facts
Apple asked some suppliers to cut production of components for its iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, according to a Nikkei Asia report carried by Reuters on Friday, October 9, 2026, amid weak consumer demand. October component orders were cut by at least 15% from the original orders, according to the report, which linked the adjustment to cost and pricing pressures on handset buyers. The cuts cover components ordered for the 2 models from some suppliers, compared with the quantities the company had requested in its original plan for the month. Apple had become more cautious about shipments since early September, according to Nikkei Asia, before the phones went on sale that same month. The report attributed weak demand to rising memory chip costs and higher device prices, linking component costs, handset prices and consumer demand.
Apple set the U.S. starting price of the iPhone 18 Pro at $1,199 in its launch statement for the phones, as part of the prices announced for the new generation in September. The iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at $1,299 in the United States, according to the company statement, which also set the date the devices would go on sale. Starting prices for each model are $100 higher than those of their iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max counterparts, according to the comparison reported by Reuters. The phones went on sale on Friday, September 18, according to Apple, with news of the adjustment to October orders coming after their market debut. The new generation thus launched at higher prices in September, before the month covered by the component order cuts in the Nikkei Asia report.
Apple faces rising memory costs as its devices require more of the component, according to background on supply pressures reported by Reuters. The agency said the addition of artificial intelligence features increases the company's need for high-performance memory at a time of global shortages. Apple's management had already addressed memory costs during its fiscal third-quarter earnings call, in its discussion of the following quarter ending in September. Management said at the time: "For September, we expect to pay higher costs for memory," according to the earnings call transcript published on Investing.com. That warning preceded the report of order cuts, as the company had expected a rising memory bill in the quarter when the new phones launched, while the subsequent Nikkei report linked higher costs to price increases and weak demand.
The developments surrounding the new generation follow growth in Apple's business in its fiscal third quarter of 2026, the quarter before the September launch of the Pro and Pro Max phones. The company reported quarterly revenue of $109.4 billion in its earnings statement, up 16% from the same period a year earlier. iPhone sales rose 21.7% year on year to $54.25 billion in that quarter, according to Reuters' coverage of the company's results. But Apple shares fell 5.5% in after-hours trading on the day of the earnings announcement, July 30, in response to the company's outlook and supply problems, according to the agency. The July announcement thus combined growth in revenue and handset sales with a share-price decline following the outlook and supply pressures accompanying the results.
In a later trading update on Friday, October 9, Finbold reported that Apple shares fell nearly 2% before the market opened, following news of the component order cuts. The move tracked by the website occurred in premarket trading, while the Nikkei Asia report concerned adjustments to October orders at some suppliers. In production, the effects of the order adjustments vary among suppliers because of differences in manufacturing lead times, according to 9to5Mac's coverage published on the day of the news, citing Nikkei Asia. The timing of the cuts' impact on each supplier's production depends on how long its operations take, according to that coverage of the supply-chain adjustment. Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment, which the agency submitted outside the company's regular business hours.
Attention now turns to Apple's fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 results on Monday, November 2, according to the date reported by 9to5Mac. During its previous earnings call, the company had forecast September-quarter revenue growth of between 9% and 11% year on year, according to the transcript published on Investing.com. That forecast covers the quarter in which the new phones went on sale, after Apple set their availability for September. It also covers the period in which management said it expected to pay higher memory costs, before Reuters carried the report on adjustments to October orders. The upcoming results announcement follows the report of cuts, with the company's previous growth forecast providing a benchmark for September-quarter revenue when it is released on November 2.