iPhone 18 Pro reportedly sold 1.3 million units in its first week in China, 15% ahead of last year

Apple charged more for the iPhone 18 Pro in China and appears to have sold more of them anyway. Blogger RD Observation estimates roughly 1.3 million iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max units moved in the first week of availability there, 15% above what the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max managed in the same window a year ago.

The same estimates put those two Pro models at 90% of what Apple's entire 2025 iPhone lineup sold in China during its own first week. First-day sales alone came in around 322,800 units, about 130% of the year-ago figure, based on retail point-of-sale data. Pre-orders were estimated at 7 million units, and some stores reportedly took double the revenue they did at the 17 Pro launch.

The split between the two models flipped after launch. At pre-order, 60% of buyers picked the smaller Pro; in the sales estimates, the Pro Max ends up ahead with 55.5% of the total.

Prices went up unevenly. The 256GB and 512GB versions rose by CNY 1,000 in China, around $150, while the 1TB and 2TB versions were hiked by CNY 2,500 and CNY 3,500 respectively, and that came despite Apple using slow QLC chips. Data compiled by BigGo puts the increase on a 256GB model at around 11%.

Japan took a harder hit. The 256GB iPhone 18 Pro there costs JPY 40,000 more than its predecessor's original launch price, a 22% increase, and Apple had already lifted the iPhone 17 Pro from JPY 179,800 to JPY 194,800 before the new model arrived.

Demand looks different in the US. GF Securities analyst Jeff Pu called it "sluggish" within days of pre-orders opening, with most iPhone 18 Pro configurations available for immediate delivery. Morgan Stanley's Erik Woodring noted that second-half 2026 production for the Pro pair rose 18% year over year to 71 million units while delivery lead times held at 2 to 4 weeks, the same as last year, which is the kind of detail that can read either as comfortable supply or as soft demand depending on which side of it you sit.

In China, iPhone holds over 60% of the market above CNY 6,000, around $890.

Not everything about the phone is landing well. Third-party testing data published on Weibo suggests the Samsung G9N OLED panel in the 18 Pro has noticeably worse off-axis color accuracy than the previous generation, with color shift becoming perceptible at around 20 degrees and peak color difference values approaching 3.0 at 35 to 40 degrees. South Korean outlet The Elec reports Apple proposed paying about $70 per OLED panel for the 18 Pro Max, down from roughly $80 for the 17 Pro Max, which it describes as a 20% cost cut.

Next up is the foldable. The iPhone Duo goes on sale October 23 with pre-orders from October 16, its inner display unfolds to 7.6 inches, folded and unfolded aspect ratios are a unified 4:3, and the hinge uses over 100 components with internal display layers designed to spread stress like the pages of a book.