iPhone 18 Pro Max Sales Hint Price Rises Can Work

Apple raised iPhone prices this year, and shoppers everywhere are asking if buyers will pay more. China offers an early answer. Tipster Digital Chat Station says the iPhone 18 Pro Max had more than 760,000 activations in China in week 40, the National Day holiday week. The whole Pro series passed 1.12 million. The tipster writes these as "76W" and "112W." The "W" stands for "wan," the Chinese word for 10,000.

In the United States, the iPhone 18 Pro now starts at $1,199 and the Pro Max at $1,299. Each costs $100 more than last year. In China, the Pro costs 9,999 yuan (about $1,408) and the Pro Max 10,999 yuan (about $1,549). Both rose by 1,000 yuan. The main cause is a global memory chip shortage driven by AI demand. Reports say Samsung and Google also raised prices by about $100 on their latest phones.

Over its first three weeks on sale, the Pro series reached 2.89 million activations in China. The live count has passed 3 million. The Pro Max made up about two-thirds of the holiday week total, up from roughly 55.5 percent through week 39. First-day retail sales were about 322,800 units, roughly 130 percent of the iPhone 17 Pro's first day. The first week came close to 1.3 million, about 115 percent of last year's pace.

Strong sales in China do not guarantee the same result elsewhere, but they are a useful signal. China is one of Apple's biggest markets, and a tough one, with strong local rivals. Counterpoint Research says Apple held 33 percent of China's smartphone sales in week 38, the top spot. Analyst Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management wrote that Pro pre-order lead times were about 15 percent longer than a year ago on launch day. He sees buyers moving up from the standard iPhone 18, which Apple has delayed to spring 2027.

These are not Apple's numbers. Apple does not publish sales by model, and the tipster has not said how the data was collected. The figures cover China only, and a holiday week often lifts sales. Early software bugs, such as a reboot problem, do not appear to have slowed buyers so far. It is too soon to say whether the pace will last.