Is iPhone 18 demand cooling off? Here's how deep Apple reportedly is cutting component orders

By Nora Redmond

Apple's stock shed almost 2% in premarket trading on Friday.

Shares in Apple declined early on Friday after the technology giant reportedly told a number of suppliers to cut production of parts for two of its recently released iPhones.

The Cupertino, Calif.-headquartered company became more conservative on dispatches of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max at the beginning of last month, according to Nikkei Asia, who spoke to multiple people familiar with the situation.

Two of the people reportedly told the publication that component orders for October are down about 15% from what was initially asked for because of softer-than-anticipated demand.

Apple did not immediately respond to MarketWatch's request for comment.

The company's stock (AAPL) fell nearly 2% in premarket trading to $333.30 a share.

Apple unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro and the larger 18 Pro Max on Sept. 9. The device comes in black, silver, burgundy and glacier, and the smaller model provides up to 24 hours of charge, while the larger phone offers up to 30 hours. CEO John Ternus said the company had made "massive advancements" across the product's battery, intelligence, camera and performance. The Apple 18 Pro retails from $1,199 and the Pro Max's pricing starts at $1,299.

"We don't know how things would develop from here," one of the executive-level people reportedly told Nikkei Asia in relation to the company reducing its orders for parts for the newly launched premium phones. It is currently unknown whether changes to order requests will also be made in November. The change in shipping levels this month will affect some but not all suppliers of the phones, according to the publication.

While sales of the iPhones appeared to be strong in China during the first few weeks of their launch, demand globally seems to be weaker as the prices of memory chips soar.

It is unclear which suppliers Apple reportedly specifically spoke to but Tata Electronics is a major manufacturer of the iPhone 18 Pro, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Qualcomm also supply the company with chips. TSMC shares in New York (TSM) were up over 1% in early trading and Qualcomm's stock (QCOM) rose 0.3%.

In a note written at the start of October, analysts led by Erik Woodring at Morgan Stanley, wrote that they had not seen "meaningful supply chain adjustments" following the release of the two models.

"Apple's product roadmap remains amongst the most exciting in over a decade," they wrote, but said the bank's earnings outlook for the company remained largely the same.

Morgan Stanley's earnings per share estimate for Apple was kept at about $10 in the financial year of 2027 and almost $11 in 2028. Its price target was marginally reduced from $360 to $355 on uncertainty regarding the company's ability for long-term monetization in its services unit.

-Nora Redmond

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