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Lukewarm orders for iPhone 18 Pro, says analyst – but it doesn’t mean much

2026-09-15 | original

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Why This Matters

This story highlights early indicators of iPhone 18 Pro demand based on pre-order wait times, which can suggest how popular the new models are. While the data points to potentially lower interest compared to previous years, it’s important to interpret these signals cautiously. For consumers and the industry, it underscores the challenges in accurately gauging product popularity before official sales figures are released.

Key Takeaways

Pre-order wait times suggest potentially lower demand for the iPhone 18 Pro.
Availability varies across different models and configurations.
Demand estimates based on shipping times are imprecise and should be viewed as educated guesses.

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A high-profile analyst has said that demand for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max appears “lukewarm” based on pre-order wait times.

Jeff Pu notes that most iPhone 18 Pro configurations are available for immediate delivery and that the longest wait for the most popular iPhone 18 Pro Max extends only to three to four weeks …

Pu says that there’s no delay with most iPhone 18 Pro configs, while availability varies for the Pro Max:

Silver 1TB & 2TB models: Immediate

Black/Glacier 1TB: 1-2 weeks

Burgundy 1TB: 3-4 weeks

256GB and 512GB models in most colors: 3-4 weeks

Assuming consistent supply levels, this would indicate that the iPhone 18 Pro is less popular than most of its predecessors. However, there are so many caveats to this that our take is longer than reporting the data …

9to5Mac’s Take

Actual sales data for Apple products is, of course, extremely commercially sensitive, and the company long stopped revealing unit sales even in earnings reports. There are a number of ways analysts and market intelligence companies can try to get a steer on approximate numbers, however.

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