There's a reason we've built some contacts in China, and refuting supply chain sources saying that demand for the iPhone 18 Pro is so low that Apple has cut back production is one of them.
In October 2025, it was that the iPhone Air orders might be be changing. In 2024, the iPhone 16 was definitely doomed. Or in 2022, it was that Apple might have have scaled back orders for the iPhone 14.
Now Nikkei Asia is reporting that suppliers have been told to cut component production because of low demand for the iPhone 18 Pro. Specifically, one of its sources said Apple has been more conservative with its component orders since early September.
That seems questionable. Although the iPhone 18 Pro was announced on September 9, 2026, pre-orders didn't start until September 12. But then another source says no, it was in August that Apple either cut orders or placed lower ones than usual.
AppleInsider did note that pre-order shipping dates were taking longer to slip back than in 2025, but also that there are reasons for that. Apple never says how many components it has ordered, or how many iPhones it made for launch.
Plus in 2026 it has three "Pro" grade iPhone launches including the iPhone Duo, and it has split its iPhone launches with the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e maybe coming in the spring.
"We do find the demand in terms of volume from August for the second half of this year is not as strong as previous years when all the new models are introduced all together," one source in the supply chain cited by the report obviously said. "This year, the standard iPhone 18, which could provide a boost to volumes, will not require components until toward the end of the year, for launch in early next year 2027."
"Could" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that quote. An iPhone line, launched six months after the last one, will provide a boost to volumes.
Claims of reduced orders don't see to take account of the iPhone Duo shipping much later than the iPhone 18 Pro
There is also the fact that of the premium models launched, the iPhone Duo is the most high-profile one, especially for the September and October buying crowd. And Apple is not shipping that until more than six weeks after announcement, meaning production started later too.
What's really happening
So Apple has launched fewer iPhone models and isn't placing component orders for the next releases just yet. That does not account for Apple later scaling back component production, but it does entirely account for orders overall being lower.
What does account for these reports of scaling back orders is that Apple calibrates how many parts it needs to have on hand like this every year, sometimes even several times a year. It then gets dutifully, possibly even gleefully, reported as the iPhone being in trouble.
When the same claim comes every single year, you have to question whether these sources have the whole picture. More often than not, there's some kind of bonus paid to writers that move the stock market, like Bloomberg does.
As is typical for Nikkei Asia, it really has no idea what to do with information it gets from the supply chain. The report only gives lip-service to the iPhone Duo and the split-launch as factors in why, maybe, Apple may have a different amount of Pro orders than it had a year ago.
And, we know from our sources that today, whole-unit assembly orders for the iPhone 18 Pro have not been cut. That says more about the claims than anything else.
