Igeekphone News, April 15th: According to the latest information, the iPhone 18 Pro, which will be launched in September this year, will offer three highly textured color options: dark gray, dark red, and silver white. What’s notable is that the highly sought-after Starry Orange of the previous generation will be replaced by the brand-new deep red color.
This change in color scheme has triggered a chain reaction within the industry. Some manufacturers in the Android camp seem to have keenly sensed this aesthetic trend. Currently, some brands have begun to urgently produce samples of deep red tones, attempting to follow Apple’s aesthetic lead when launching their new products.
In terms of the price that consumers are most concerned about, the iPhone 18 Pro is expected to maintain the starting price of the previous generation. If this is true, the entry threshold for this series will still remain at 8,999 yuan. Against the backdrop of a significant increase in memory prices, this pricing strategy appears to be highly competitive in the market.
To consolidate its competitive advantage, Apple is implementing a highly targeted supply chain strategy. It is reported that the company is purchasing almost all available memory chips on the market at high prices on a large scale, even at the expense of some operating profits, in order to squeeze out the supply space of its competitors.
This action validates the view expressed by analyst Guo Mingzhi earlier, who believed that although the increase in memory prices would lower Apple’s hardware gross profit margin, by absorbing the costs to maintain the selling price, it would help Apple capture a larger market share.
Apple’s logic is that by not raising prices and retaining users, they can later make up for the profit gap in hardware through the continuous revenue generated by their internet services. This is not only a competition in hardware, but also a battle for ecological dominance.
Furthermore, the product release schedule of Apple this year will undergo a significant adjustment. The autumn launch event in September will focus on the high-end market, simultaneously introducing the iPhone 18 Pro series and the highly anticipated foldable phone, marking the first step in arranging the lineup of top-tier flagship products.
The standard version of iPhone 18, which targets the mainstream market, as well as the more lightweight iPhone 18e, have been postponed until next spring for their debut. This strategy of separating product grades from release dates indicates that Apple is re-establishing the competitive rhythm of its mobile phone business.