During the pre-order period in China, retailers quickly ran out of available iPhone 18 Pro series units – according to estimates, 7 million units were pre-ordered. Some stores saw double the revenue compared to the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max launch last year.
This momentum has carried over into actual sales too. According to information by blogger RD Observation, the new iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max have sold approximately 1.3 million units during the first week of availability in China.
This is 15% more units than what the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max sold last year during their first week. Of course, they were competing with the vanilla iPhone 17 and the iPhone Air.
iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max
But here’s the more impressive stat – sales of the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max are 90% of what the whole iPhone 2025 lineup sold in China during the first week of availability. The absence of a new vanilla and a new Air model isn’t hurting Apple’s bottom line, it seems. Anyone who wants a new iPhone now has to get a Pro. And if you don’t, in a few months, Apple will release the new vanilla (and likely the new Air) model.
Interestingly, these estimates point to the iPhone 18 Pro Max as the more popular model of the two – it sold 55.5% of the total. During the pre-order stage it was the other way around – 60% of people picked the smaller Pro.
Apple raised the prices of its new models, but it was clever about it. The 256GB and 512GB models only went up by CNY 1,000 (around $150).
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