Apple is reportedly lining up a big production run for the standard iPhone 18, months before anyone outside Cupertino has seen the phone.
According to the leaker Fixed Focus Digital, posting on Weibo, iPhone 18 production is scheduled to start in late November, with inventory described as "quite large." The Information separately reports Apple plans to lift daily output by at least 30%. The phone is expected to carry Dynamic Island, an A20 chip, and Apple's own C2 modem when it's unveiled alongside the iPhone 18e and iPhone Air 2 in spring 2027. The timing also follows new data from Counterpoint Research showing the standard iPhone 17 led global smartphone sales in both the first and second quarters of 2026, taking 6% of worldwide unit sales each time - ahead of the pricier iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max.
That sales data is the real story. For years, the narrative was that Pro models carried Apple's iPhone business while the base model played budget afterthought. A standard phone outselling the Pro Max flips that assumption, and ramping iPhone 18 output five months before launch suggests Apple thinks last year's pattern wasn't a fluke.
Leaker claims about factory schedules are routinely half-right at best, but Apple's own sales numbers don't need a Weibo post to back them up.