Apple’s latest flagship phones have made a strong entrance in China. The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max delivered a 12 percent sales increase in their opening days according to the newest data from Counterpoint Research.
The new models reached store shelves on September 18. In just those first three days they sold more units than the entire first week of last year’s iPhone 17 Pro series. That early momentum was enough to push Apple into first place in China’s smartphone market for the week of September 14 to 20. Apple claimed 33 percent of all smartphones sold in the country during that period even though the Pro models were available for only the final three days of the week.
This performance stands out because the overall Chinese smartphone market has been soft. Weekly sales across all brands have been falling by double digits year over year since July. The week of September 14 to 20 was no exception. Total smartphone sales in China were still 17 percent lower than the same week in 2025. Soft consumer demand and higher memory chip costs have weighed on the market for months.
Counterpoint senior analyst Ivan Lam pointed to a couple of clear reasons for the Pro models’ success. Apple chose not to release a standard iPhone 18 model at the same time. That delay may have encouraged some buyers who wanted a new phone right away to choose the more expensive Pro versions instead of waiting. At the same time many Chinese flagship phones from local brands raised their prices by more than 200 dollars. Those increases narrowed the price gap and made the iPhone 18 Pro series look like better relative value to some shoppers.
Early demand from customers ready to upgrade and steady support from retail channels also helped. The larger Pro Max model appears to have been the stronger seller in the opening numbers.
