Contrary to complaints from stock analysts about poor iPhone 18 Pro sales, new supply chain research claims that the demand for the iPhone 18 Pro has been high in China, making up for some weakness elsewhere.
It was already clear that the iPhone 18 Pro had sold well as it appears to have been key to Apple reaching a $5 trillion market valuation. But in a note sent to AppleInsider, Counterpoint Research says that demand has been more patchy and region-specific than with the iPhone 17 Pro.
Sales of the iPhone 18 Pro models in China over the first three weeks after release were up 29% year over year. That was helped, though, by how Apple had more stocks of the new model than they had of the iPhone 17 Pro at launch.
Also, demand for Android smartphones from local Chinese firms fell because of price increases.
This clearly made the iPhone more appealing in China. But the demand in that country was such that the iPhone 18 Pro's overall global sales were up 3.1% compared to the iPhone 17 Pro.
These figures are all for the initial demand of the iPhone models and Counterpoint's associate director Sujeong Lim cautions that "Whether China's outperformance reflects durable demand or front-loaded buying will become clearer in the coming weeks."
Lim also says that the research firm is looking to see whether the iPhone Duo's later launch than the other models will cannibalize sales, or generate fresh, incremental demand.
Taking China out of the equation
Counterpoint Research says that in the US, sales were down 4% year over year, and speculates that this is because buyers didn't find sufficient improvements to warrant upgrading for. However, 4% is more likely to be the number of US buyers who elected to wait for the iPhone Duo instead of buying the iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max.
Then there was also a dramatic downturn in Japan as sales there were 27% down from the iPhone 17 Pro's figures. However, that was reportedly due in part to increased iPhone prices being exacerbated by higher exchange rates.
As ever, the iPhone 18 Pro Max accounted for the majority of sales across every territory. Although for the 2026 iPhones, 56% were the Max edition, compared to 57% in 2025.
This time Apple split its launch so that it only released the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the new iPhone Duo. The usual base iPhone 18 model will now be launched sometime early in 2027.
One analyst believes this split means Apple has lost sales that it won't get back, which doesn't make sense to us, given the seasonality of the iPhone market. Others have reported that Apple has cut iPhone 18 Pro orders, although JP Morgan analysts have dismissed those claims.
