Live Coverage of the iPhone 18 Pro Launch: The Pro Max Is Highly Sought-After, While the Standard Pro Model Meets Cold Reception and Trades Below Its Official Launch Price

After the starting price was raised by 1,000 yuan, can the new generation of iPhones still sell well? On September 18, the preliminary answer was revealed.

Apple Store on Century Avenue, Lujiazui, Shanghai

At 8 a.m. that day, the Apple iPhone 18 Pro series was officially put on sale. A reporter from National Business Daily witnessed at the Apple Store located on Century Avenue, Lujiazui, Shanghai that more than 100 consumers had gathered outside the store, and staff set up fences outside to maintain order. According to the store staff, only consumers who made an appointment in advance to purchase the device could enter the store to pick up their new phones. This year, both models of the iPhone 18 Pro series are not available for over-the-counter purchase, as all units have been pre-ordered.

Consumers queuing up to buy new devices

Along with the consumers outside the store, there were also "scalpers" waiting to buy new devices for resale. They kept asking consumers who had just received their new phones if they were willing to resell, and inquiries about the iPhone 18 Pro Max were extremely frequent.

According to quotations from multiple scalpers at the scene, the markup for iPhone 18 Pro Max buybacks is generally concentrated between 300 yuan and 500 yuan.

According to them, the most popular model at present is the 256GB and 512GB iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the new color "Burgundy Red" is particularly sought after; in contrast, the demand for higher-priced 1TB and 2TB large-capacity versions is relatively limited.

Apple's official website shows that as of September 17, the estimated delivery time for some versions of the iPhone 18 Pro is about 11 working days, while some versions of the iPhone 18 Pro Max require about 15 working days. However, pre-orders for the iPhone 17 Pro series in the same period last year generally required a wait of 3 to 4 weeks.

At the first-sale scene, the prices offered by scalpers kept changing. If consumers buy the popular iPhone 18 Pro Max from scalpers, they need to pay an extra 700 yuan to 800 yuan on top of the official price. "The price changes every day. The market is not good this year, and the official website has already raised prices. No one will buy it if we add too much," a scalper at the scene told the reporter.

Compared with the Pro Max, the Pro version has received little attention. The aforementioned scalper said, "No one wants the Pro version."

Only consumers who made advance reservations to purchase devices are allowed to enter the store

In fact, the divergence in popularity between different models has already emerged in recent days. Some third-party e-commerce platforms have seen the iPhone 18 Pro "sell below its official price". For example, the 10-billion-yuan subsidy page on Pinduoduo shows that the 256GB iPhone 18 Pro, which originally costs 9,999 yuan, can be purchased for as low as 9,099 yuan after applying subsidies and coupons, which is 900 yuan cheaper than the price on Apple's official website. Some other e-commerce channels have also launched discounts ranging from hundreds of yuan one after another.

The popularity at the first-sale scene reflects the product's own attractiveness to a certain extent.

Jeff Pu, an analyst at GF Securities, recently stated in an investor report that judging from the delivery cycle of the Apple iPhone 18 Pro during the pre-order phase, the initial demand for this series is relatively tepid. He believes that limited hardware upgrades and higher price points may have dampened consumer demand.

If the iPhone 17 Pro series last year made major adjustments in aspects such as body design, the changes in this year's iPhone 18 Pro series are more focused on areas that users cannot easily perceive, such as chips, imaging systems, and heat dissipation. For example, it is equipped with the A20 Pro chip built on the 2nm process, the heat dissipation area of the VC vapor chamber has been increased, and a variable aperture has been introduced to the main camera for the first time. These can be summed up as stronger performance and better heat dissipation, but for ordinary users, it is difficult to perceive a qualitative leap apart from the improvement in camera performance.

At the same time, the entire iPhone 18 Pro series has seen a price increase this year. Among them, the starting prices of the 256GB, 512GB and 1TB versions of the iPhone 18 Pro have increased by 1,000 yuan, 1,000 yuan and 2,500 yuan respectively compared with the corresponding versions of the previous generation. In addition, the iPhone 18 Pro has added a 2TB version for the first time, with a starting price of 20,499 yuan. The price increase for the iPhone 18 Pro Max also expands as the storage capacity increases. The starting prices of the 256GB and 512GB versions have both increased by 1,000 yuan compared with the previous generation; the 1TB version has increased by 2,500 yuan; and the 2TB version has seen a price hike of 3,500 yuan.

Behind the across-the-board price increase, Apple is also facing greater hardware cost pressure this year than in previous years. The continuously rising price of memory chips has become one of the important variables affecting the overall cost of the device.

A previous report released by TrendForce showed that memory chip prices entered a super upward cycle in the second half of 2025, which has a severe impact on the cost of new devices. Taking the 256GB Apple Pro model as an example, the memory chip cost in the third quarter of 2026 has increased by nearly 400% compared with the same period last year. Although Apple is actively negotiating prices for other components, it still cannot effectively alleviate the overall BOM (Bill of Materials) cost pressure.

However, relying solely on the new product delivery cycle and the popularity of the first-sale scene is not enough to judge the real demand for the iPhone 18 Pro series. In fact, the delivery time is also affected by factors such as the initial shipment volume and the production structure of different models. Therefore, what is more worth paying attention to for Apple is whether this generation of products, which focuses on performance and imaging upgrades, can continuously drive broader replacement demand after the first-sale boom fades, against the backdrop of overall weak demand in the smartphone market and the further increase in the price of the Pro series.

Original title: Live coverage of iPhone 18 Pro launch: Long queues at stores, Pro Max is highly sought after, scalpers charge a markup of over 700 yuan for resale; Pro version underperforms and is neglected, scalpers say "no one wants it", e-commerce platforms have cut prices by 900 yuan

This article is from the WeChat Official Account "National Business Daily", author: Wang Jing, editors: He Xiaotao, Wei Guanhong, Yi Qijiang, proofreader: Jin Mingyu, published with authorization from 36Kr.