“Apple cuts iPhone 18 Pro orders”... shares fall

[Financial News]

Reports have emerged that Apple, facing slower demand for its latest smartphone, the iPhone 18 Pro, has asked suppliers to cut production.
Yahoo Finance reported on the 9th (local time), citing a report by Nikkei Asia, that Apple cut its iPhone 18 Pro orders for this month by 15–20% from its initial estimate.
Apple’s stock plunged nearly 2.9% early on before paring its losses. It ultimately closed at $336.64, down $3.78 (1.11%) from the previous session.
Apple, too, has raised product prices amid a serious shortage of memory chips, and is suffering from falling demand as consumers turn away as a result.
With memory being siphoned off by the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, most tech companies are facing memory shortages. From smartphones and laptop computers to game consoles, companies are raising prices one after another to cover the cost of memory, whose prices have soared amid supply shortages.
Apple raised prices across the iPhone 18 Pro lineup by $100 apiece, setting the iPhone Pro at $1,199 and the iPhone 18 Pro Max at $1,299. It also raised prices for iPads and Mac computers.
According to Gene Munster, a partner at Deepwater Asset Management, the so-called lead time—the time from placing a product order to shipment—fell 31% for the iPhone 18 Pro. By contrast, the lead time for the iPhone 18 Pro Max rose 1%, suggesting that demand for the premium Pro Max is not sensitive to price changes.
Munster explained, however, that when the Pro and Pro Max are considered together, lead times for the iPhone 18 Pro lineup are not much different from those for last year’s iPhone 17 Pro lineup.
However, the launch of the iPhone Duo, a foldable phone priced at $1,999 per unit and scheduled for the 23rd, is expected to eat into the market for the iPhone 18 Pro.
In an analysis note issued that day, Munster said, “The rapid decline over the past several weeks is telling,” and pointed out that, given the shorter lead times, “the case for growth in sales of existing iPhones in the fourth quarter of this year is less convincing.”
He nevertheless expected the foldable Duo to drive a surprise increase in overall iPhone sales. Munster said, “The wild card is Duo, which is still expected to be the main driver of a surprise rebound,” and was optimistic that “Duo will ship close to 20 million units in its first year, twice the existing market forecast of 10 million.”

[email protected] Song Gyeong-jae Reporter