Apple cuts iPhone 18 Pro orders due to soft demand, Nikkei Asia reports

According to Business Recorder, citing a Nikkei Asia report, Apple has asked some suppliers to scale back production of parts for its newly launched iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. The cuts come after memory chip costs rose sharply and prices went up, weakening consumer demand. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report, and Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

Nikkei reported that Apple has grown more cautious about shipments since early September, with October component orders reduced by at least 15% from the original requests. Tech firms are buying up advanced chipmaking capacity and memory for AI data centers, and the resulting shortages and higher prices are projected to weigh on PC and smartphone sales this year. Earlier, in June, Apple lifted prices on iPads and MacBooks, arguing that rising memory and storage expenses left little room to absorb them.

Sales of the handsets slowed between late August and October, a stretch Nikkei said could be tied to Apple's changed iPhone launch timetable. The iPhone 18 Pro begins at $1,199 and the Pro Max at $1,299, which is $100 more than the entry prices of the earlier iPhone 17 Pro range. The company launched the models last month, together with a foldable model called Duo.