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Apple usually doesn't need to sweat pre-order numbers, but this year the excitement seems to have taken a coffee break. Analyst Jeff Pu has been tracking wait times across the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max lineup, and his verdict is refreshingly unglamorous: lukewarm. Considering how the internet usually treats every iPhone launch like a moon landing, "lukewarm" is basically Apple's version of a bad report card.
So what's actually going on behind the wait times, and why does colour seem to matter more than ever this year? Let's break it down.
The numbers tell their own story. The go-to 256GB and 512GB models are sitting at 3-4 week wait times across most colours, which isn't disastrous, but isn't the usual mad scramble either.
Flip over to the pricier 1TB and 2TB models, and Silver is available almost immediately, practically begging to be picked.
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Black and Glacier are looking at 1-2 week waits, while Burgundy, clearly the star of this year's colour lineup, stretches out to 3-4 weeks. Translation: everyone wants Burgundy, and almost nobody's fighting over Silver.
Here's where it gets interesting. Last year, the iPhone 17 Pro Max hit similar 3-4 week wait times within a single day of pre-orders opening, a full six days before its release. This year, that same demand curve is taking noticeably longer to build.
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Pu points to a mix of reasons: limited upgrades, higher prices, and yes, the phones being on the heavier side too. Then there's the elephant in the room, the iPhone Duo, Apple's first foldable, quietly pulling attention away from the Pro lineup.
With the standard and Air models pushed to next year, all eyes now shift to how the Duo performs once tracking begins next month.