Apple Cuts iPhone 18 Pro Orders 15%; Memory Is Now a Third of Its Cost

Apple launched the iPhone 18 Pro at $1,199 and the Pro Max at $1,299 in September. Both cost $100 more than the models they replaced.

On Friday morning, Nikkei Asia reported that Apple had asked some suppliers to cut October orders by 15-20% from original plans. The paper cited multiple people familiar with the matter and pointed to weaker-than-expected demand.

Reuters carried the report but said it could not independently verify it. Apple did not comment.

Apple Fell Nearly 3% Intraday and Closed Down 1.1%

Apple dropped as much as 2.7% before the open and traded below $331 during the session. It closed down 1.1% at $336.64.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% the same day, and the Nasdaq 100 also closed higher, so the selling did not spread across tech. The chart below is live and counts back from today.

Among suppliers, Skyworks fell as much as 5.4%, according to reports. Qualcomm was flat.

There is a reason the reaction stayed limited. Bespoke Investment Group notes that order-cut reports now surface almost every year shortly after launch, and the share-price dips usually fade.

Don't pin Apple's chart on this one report. The stock had already gained nearly 8% since the September launch event.

This Is a Memory Price Story

The market read the report as an iPhone demand story. The chain actually starts with a data center order.

AI servers are absorbing memory makers' capacity, and those makers are prioritizing more profitable server memory. TrendForce says memory prices have risen five- to sevenfold since early 2025.

The phone sits at the very end of that chain. TrendForce estimates the 256GB iPhone 18 Pro's component cost rose about 38% from its predecessor. Memory's share of that cost climbed from 10% to 34%.

The math shows why Apple is squeezed. A bigger hike would cut demand further, while a smaller one would cost margin on every phone.

Tim Cook described the bind to the WSJ in June: "We're doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us."

The Phone Market Is Shrinking, but iPhones Less So

Price hikes cut demand, but not evenly. IDC forecasts global smartphone shipments will fall 16.7% in 2026, according to reports.

Memory costs can wipe out the entire profit on a cheaper phone. Samsung's handset unit has reportedly slipped into losses for this reason, even as the same company's memory business posts record profit.

Data That Doesn't Show Weak Demand

The order-cut report rests on one outlet's sources, and some data points the other way. Counterpoint says iPhone 18 Pro sales in China rose 12% year on year in their first three days. First-week sales were about 1.3 million units, according to reports.

Counterpoint also says China's overall phone sales have fallen at a double-digit rate since July. Apple may simply be gaining share in a shrinking market.

UBS noted that delivery wait times shortened in more than 30 markets: "Declining wait times against a stable supply backdrop is an increasing concern in our view."

One more complication: Apple pushed the standard iPhone 18 and a new iPhone Air to early 2027. Only the Pro models and the foldable Duo launched in September. That makes year-on-year comparisons difficult.

What It Means for Investors

• The market priced the order cut but not yet the margin squeeze; gross margin in the October 29 report will matter more (How to Read Earnings Day).
• Per-phone parts suppliers like Skyworks and Qualcomm feel unit cuts directly; memory makers like Micron feel them less because they are shifting capacity to servers.
• The threshold to watch is TrendForce's forecast: if memory tops 40% of cost in the first half of 2027, the standard iPhone 18 faces price pressure too.
• The risk to this view is memory prices easing sooner than expected, which would reverse both the cost squeeze and the order cuts.

Sources: The order cut comes from Nikkei Asia's October 9 report based on unnamed sources, carried by Reuters and Investing.com; Apple did not comment. Component cost and memory share are TrendForce estimates (via Notebookcheck). IDC, Counterpoint and UBS figures come via Benzinga and Financial News. The closing price is from Benzinga's end-of-session data; one report put the day's decline at 2.2%. The 40% cost-to-price ratio in the mechanism section is an assumption; Apple does not disclose it.