Pre-orders in the US may have been less than stellar, but the new iPhone 18 Pro models are a huge hit in China. Local publications report that a total of over 7 million units have been pre-ordered across all channels. Pre-orders for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max started late in the evening of September 12 (Saturday) at 8pm. Retailer JD ran out of available units in under a minute. We don’t know how many units JD had on hand, but there are similar stories from other retailers. Sales revenue from iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max pre-orders on Tmall was double what the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max pulled last year. Keep in mind that this doesn’t directly translate into units sold since the 2026 Pros are CNY 1,000 more expensive than the 2025 models (the 18 Pro starts at CNY 10,000 and the 18 Pro Max at CNY 11,000). It’s still an impressive stat, though.

Interestingly, most people, 60%, went with the iPhone 18 Pro, preferring its lighter build (211g vs. 249g for the Pro Max). Usually, the Pro Max sells better. It’s no surprise that the new Burgundy color was the top pick. And not just because it’s the new hero color – apparently, the color name is a homonym of “prosperity” in Chinese. Whichever Apple designer picked Burgundy as the iPhone 18 Pro hero color, take a bow.