Apple has asked some suppliers to cut production of iPhone 18 Pro components after demand fell short of expectations, according to a report citing company sources. Component orders for October were reduced by at least 15 percent compared with original requests, and Apple has been more cautious about shipments since early September.
iPhone 18 Pro demand and production cuts
The report links the slowdown to higher prices driven by rising memory chip costs. The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max start at $1,199 and $1,299 respectively, each $100 more than the models they replace. Apple has publicly blamed AI-driven memory chip costs for recent price increases across its product lineup, including MacBooks, iPads, iPhone 16 and 17 models, and other products.
Softer demand between late August and October may also reflect a change to Apple’s launch schedule. Rather than unveiling the entire flagship series at once, Apple is expected to release the regular iPhone 18 in the spring of 2027 alongside a lower-cost iPhone 18e and an ultra-thin iPhone Air 2 as part of a split launch strategy.
On hardware, the iPhone 18 Pro models use 12GB of RAM, the same working memory as last year’s iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. One rumor reported that Apple had considered equipping the iPhone 18 Pro lineup with 16GB of RAM but may have decided against it because of the higher cost.
