There’s a reason we’ve made some contacts in China, and refuting supply chain sources that say demand for the iPhone 18 Pro is so low that Apple has cut production is one of them.
In October 2025, iPhone Air orders could have changed. In 2024, the iPhone 16 was finally doomed. Or in 2022, Apple could have reduced orders for the iPhone 14.
Now Nikkei Asia reports that suppliers have been told to reduce component production due to low demand for the iPhone 18 Pro. Specifically, one of its sources said that Apple has been more conservative with component orders since early September.
It seems questionable. Although the iPhone 18 Pro was announced on September 9, 2026, pre-orders only began on September 12. But then another source says no, it was in August that Apple cut orders or placed fewer orders than usual.
AppleInsider noted that preorder shipping dates were taking longer to roll back than 2025, but also that there are reasons for that. Apple never says how many components it has ordered or how many iPhones it has made for launch.
It also has three “Pro” level iPhone launches in 2026, including the iPhone Duo, and has split iPhone launches with the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e possibly arriving in the spring.
“We find that demand in terms of volume from August for the second half of this year is not as strong as in previous years, when all new models were introduced all at once,” a supply chain source cited in the report obviously said. “This year, the standard iPhone 18, which could provide a volume boost, will not require components until the end of the year, to be launched early next year 2027.”
“Could” means do a lot of heavy lifting in that quote. A line of iPhones, launched six months after the last, Want give a boost to volumes.
The small order requests do not take into account the iPhone Duo shipping much later than the iPhone 18 Pro
There’s also the fact that among the premium models launched, the iPhone Duo is the most high-profile, especially for the September and October buying public. And Apple won’t ship it until more than six weeks after the announcement, meaning production started later, too.
What’s really happening
Therefore Apple has launched fewer iPhone models and has not yet placed component orders for upcoming releases. This doesn’t take into account the fact that Apple subsequently reduced component production, but it entirely explains the fact that orders are lower overall.
What explains these reports of order scaling is that Apple calibrates how many parts it needs to have on hand in this way every year, sometimes even multiple times a year. Then it is dutifully, perhaps even cheerfully, reported that the iPhone is in trouble.
When the same claim comes around every year, you have to ask yourself if these sources have the full picture. More often than not, there is some sort of bonus paid to writers who move the stock market, for example Forbes ago.
As is typical for Nikkei Asiait really has no idea what to do with the information it gets from the supply chain. The report gives only lip service to the iPhone Duo and split launch as factors why, perhaps, Apple may have a different amount of Pro orders than it did a year ago.
And we know from our sources that full-unit assembly orders for the iPhone 18 Pro have not been cut today. This says more than anything about the claims.
