Fifteen Percent Less Silicon, Ten Percent Higher Price

By: James Vance – SeaPRwire – Apple has already cut component orders for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. The reduction for October sits between fifteen and twenty percent. Memory costs forced the price up by one hundred dollars. Demand responded by slowing. Wait times are shortening. The same cost pressure now sits under the foldable Duo that goes on sale later this month.

According to a Nikkei Asia report on 9 October, people familiar with the matter said Apple has asked some suppliers to reduce production of components for the newly released iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Memory-chip prices had surged, prompting Apple to raise selling prices and thereby suppressing consumer demand. Multiple sources told Nikkei that the Silicon Valley company has taken a more conservative stance on shipments since early September. Two of them said October component orders were cut by at least fifteen percent relative to the original plan because demand fell short of expectations. One executive-level source stated that in October alone orders for the two high-end models dropped fifteen to twenty percent and that the outlook beyond that remains unclear. Because suppliers run different production cycles, the cuts affect some but not all of them in October. It is not yet known whether Apple will make further adjustments from November. Another source directly familiar with the situation said demand from the end of August through October was weaker than in previous years, possibly linked to Apple’s change in release cadence. This year the company prioritised three high-end models and held the standard iPhone 18 and the new iPhone Air for a spring launch. A supply-chain manager noted that second-half demand from August onward has been less robust than in years when all new models appeared together. Parts for the standard iPhone 18 are not required until the end of the year for an early-2027 launch. The report observed that a decline in unit shipments will not immediately translate into lower revenue because every model is priced at least ten percent higher than last year. The supply chain is described as experienced and prepared to adjust production flexibly. UBS analysts wrote this week that the average customer wait time for the iPhone 18 Pro across more than thirty markets is shortening. In their view, shorter waits against a backdrop of stable supply are increasingly concerning, especially after recent price increases raise the risk of demand elasticity relative to prior generations. Apple announced the latest flagship models on 9 September. The iPhone 18 Pro starts at 1,199 dollars and the Pro Max at 1,299 dollars, each one hundred dollars above the previous generation. They first went on sale on 18 September. The company’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo, starts at 1,999 dollars for the 256 GB base model and will go on sale from 23 October in seventy countries and regions. A third source told Nikkei that for a smartphone the price is simply too high and, given the demand picture for the Pro and Pro Max, expected the Duo to face a similar fate soon after launch. The global smartphone market is under pressure from an unprecedented memory-chip shortage and rising component and material costs. IDC forecasts that 2026 industry shipments will post the largest year-on-year decline on record, falling 16.7 percent, with weakness expected to continue into 2027. The same firm notes that average selling prices are rising 27.6 percent year on year as makers lift prices to reflect the higher bill of materials. Apple was less affected in the first half of 2026 while many Android makers, including Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, sharply lowered shipment forecasts because of cost increases and limited component supply. Counterpoint Research notes that Apple and Samsung, both focused on relatively high-end models, may gain share as smaller rivals that rely on lower-priced devices are hit harder. Analyst Yang Wang estimates that each company’s share will rise from under 20 percent in 2025 to more than 22 percent in 2026. The soft demand for the Pro and Pro Max shows that even the market leader is not immune to sharp component-price increases. Nikkei reported last month that the more complex foldable display of the Duo and Apple’s strict quality standards mean the company is still working with suppliers to raise production yields. Apple did not respond to requests for comment.

The practical signals are sequential. Watch whether November component orders stabilise or fall further. Watch the first two weeks of Duo sell-through against the 1,999-dollar entry price. Those two data points will show whether the elasticity is confined to the Pro line or has already reached the next high-ticket device.

Author bio: James Vance, senior commentator for an international technology weekly covering smartphone supply chains and component-cost pass-through.