Apple Cuts iPhone 18 Pro Component Orders by at Least 15%, Report Says
Key Facts
Apple cut October component orders for its iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max handsets by at least 15% from its original orders, according to a Nikkei Asia report cited by Reuters on October 9. The newspaper cited sources familiar with component orders for the new professional models, which the company began selling in September. The report linked weak demand to rising memory chip costs and price increases borne by consumers buying the phones. It also cited a change in Apple's handset launch schedule as a possible explanation for weak demand from late August through October. That followed a different assessment in late September, when Morgan Stanley said supply chain checks had not shown any order cuts, according to Investing.
The Nikkei report, according to Reuters, identified cost and pricing pressures, saying demand was affected by "rising memory chip costs and price increases." In an analysis published on the day of the news, Investing attributed part of the rise in memory prices to the expansion of artificial intelligence data center construction. The website said the starting price for each professional model had risen by $100 from the previous generation. According to Apple's launch announcement, the iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 in the United States. The company set the iPhone 18 Pro Max's starting price in the U.S. market at $1,299, with the professional models becoming available on Friday, September 18.
The order news followed quarterly results in which Apple reported revenue and profit growth from a year earlier. The company announced fiscal third-quarter revenue of $109.4 billion, up 16% year on year. That exceeded analysts' average forecast of $109 billion, according to a FactSet poll cited by the Associated Press. Diluted earnings per share were $2.02, up 29% year on year, compared with an average forecast of $1.89 per share. Quarterly earnings per share included a $0.11 benefit from a tariff refund, according to the company's earnings statement.
In the same earnings statement, Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh said Apple's installed base of active devices had reached "a new all-time high" across major product categories and geographic regions. Morgan Stanley's assessment of actual handset demand includes monitoring distribution channel inventories, according to Investing's report published in late September. The bank also tracks third-party data on sales to consumers among the indicators it identified for that assessment. Changes in production plans are also among the indicators the bank monitors alongside inventories and sales. Its position at the time was based on supply chain checks that had detected no order cuts, before the October report of reduced component orders emerged.
In the market, Apple shares fell in early U.S. trading on October 9 as news of the component order cuts circulated. Investing recorded a decline of 2.3% at 09:48 Eastern Time. In another snapshot during the same session, Wall Street showed the share price at $331.22. The website described the stock's move at that moment as a decline of 3%. The moves came during the session in which Nikkei's report on demand for the professional handsets was published, after Morgan Stanley's late-September checks had offered a different assessment of orders.
On its product launch calendar, Apple set a separate October date for the iPhone Duo, after sales of the professional models began in September. The new handset starts at $1,999 in the United States, according to the company's announcement. Apple set Friday, October 16 as the date for preorders to begin. Its launch is part of the release schedule whose change the Nikkei report cited as a possible factor behind weak demand from late August through October. The iPhone Duo is scheduled to become commercially available on Friday, October 23, according to the date announced by the company.