Apple has cut October component orders for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max by at least 15% from its original requests, Nikkei Asia reported on October 9, per The Next Web. Apple has also ordered more cautiously since early September. The report cites unnamed suppliers. Apple has not commented.
Parts for a 256GB iPhone 18 Pro cost about 38% more than last year's model, mostly because of memory, according to a TrendForce estimate from August. Apple raised both Pro models by $100, to $1,199 and $1,299. Suppliers told Nikkei the higher prices are the reason for softer orders. AI data center builders are buying much of the world's memory supply, and phone makers pay the resulting prices.
A second cause sits in the launch calendar. Apple held the standard iPhone 18 and a new iPhone Air until early 2027, so this fall's lineup has no lower-priced new model. A supply chain manager told Nikkei that buyers have been less active since summer for that reason. The $1,999 iPhone Duo, Apple's first foldable, goes on sale October 23.
This is the consumer end of the shortage Micron described on September 30, when it said memory supply would get tighter through 2028, as we reported. Apple raised Mac and iPad prices in June for the same reason. Its shares fell 1.6% in premarket trading on October 9. A 15% cut in one month's orders is a single data point. It is unclear whether the cut continues into November.
Bottom Line
Memory costs have reached the least price-sensitive buyers in consumer hardware, and demand moved. If you ship a device with DRAM or flash, test your price increase against demand before committing to holiday volumes. If you are buying memory for 2027, do not count on Apple's cut to loosen supply, since data center buyers are still contracting ahead.