Apple has told suppliers to cut iPhone 18 Pro component orders for October by at least 15 percent, according to Nikkei Asia.
Apple pulled back shipment plans starting in early September, after rising memory chip costs pushed prices higher across its lineup. The October cut compares orders against what Apple originally requested from suppliers. Apple has pointed to AI-driven memory chip costs to explain recent price increases on MacBooks, iPads, and iPhone 16 and 17 models too. Nikkei also linked the softer demand to Apple's shift away from a single fall launch, with the standard iPhone 18, the cheaper iPhone 18e, and the ultra-thin iPhone Air 2 now expected in spring 2027.
This is the clearest sign yet that Apple's split-launch strategy carries real demand risk, not just supply chain complexity. Reports suggest Apple also dropped plans to put 16GB of RAM in the Pro lineup over cost concerns, meaning buyers may be paying more for a phone that got less, not more.
Apple spent over a decade training customers to expect one iPhone event a year. Asking them to also swallow a price hike for a spec cut might be the harder sell.