Rising demand for the iPhone 17 lineup finally appears to have come to an end, amid rumors that Apple has finally lowered its expectations and reduced its production plans by 15%.
In two Weibo posts, the leaker known as “Fixed Focus Digital” said the claim came from reliable sources within the supply chain. The leaker said the current outlook for the iPhone 17 “won’t last long,” adding that “the world’s major smartphone makers – including Apple – have all lowered their shipping forecasts.”
The second article provides broader industry context for this assertion. Xiaomi is reportedly reducing its shipping targets by around 20-30%, while OPPO, Vivo, and Honor are also lowering their targets by around 15-30%.
A simpler explanation for slowing demand for the iPhone 17 could be the natural product cycle. The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are expected to launch in September alongside Apple’s first foldable iPhone, and many customers who were going to buy an iPhone 17 model have likely already done so after a run of near-record sales dating back to the launch last September.
As recently as June, TrendForce reported that Apple’s iPhone production jumped 19.7% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026, even as the global smartphone market as a whole contracted 1.7% over the same period. That report attributed Apple’s strong production to the launch of the iPhone 17e as well as the continued ramp-up of production of the broader iPhone 17 lineup, and described Apple as better positioned than most of its competitors to absorb rising memory component costs without sacrificing profitability.
In May, Counterpoint Research’s Global Handset Model Sales Tracker revealed that the iPhone 17 was the world’s best-selling smartphone in the first quarter of 2026, capturing 6% of global unit sales, with the iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone 17 Pro in second and third place. A separate Counterpoint report released the same month found that Apple dominated the global smartphone market in the first quarter for the first time, capturing 21% of global shipments and growing 9% year-over-year, even as the overall market contracted 3%.
The solid progression of the iPhone 17 range began at launch. Shortly after its September 2025 release, Apple asked two suppliers to increase daily production of the iPhone 17 by at least 30% after a strong pre-order weekend, and Counterpoint found that the line outsold iPhone 16 models by 14% in the first 10 days in the US and China. In January, Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC that demand for the iPhone during the holiday quarter was “simply astounding” and had exceeded the company’s own expectations, with iPhone revenue reaching $85.2 billion, a new all-time high.
After nine months and with another generation on the horizon, it was inevitable that the remarkably strong run of the iPhone 17 line would come to an end.
