iPhone 18 Pro beats iPhone 17 Pro in global sales as India demand jumps 28% YoY: Report

Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro series recorded 3.1% higher global sales in the first three weeks after launch than the iPhone 17 Pro series did over the same period last year, according to Counterpoint Research. The firm described the launch as a mixed but broadly positive start for Apple’s premium smartphones. 

The Apple iPhone 18 Pro starts at an official MRP of ₹1,64,900 in India for the base 256GB storage model. The official starting price for the Apple iPhone 17 Pro in India is ₹1,34,900 for the 256GB storage variant.

China was the standout market, with iPhone 18 Pro sales rising 29% year over year — the strongest growth of any market tracked by Counterpoint. The research firm attributed the surge to better early availability of the new models and price increases among rival Chinese Android flagship phones, which made Apple’s devices more competitive.

Counterpoint noted that excluding China, global sales growth would have been considerably weaker, underscoring how dependent the early result was on Chinese demand.

India emerges as key growth market

India was among the strongest performers for Apple’s new Pro lineup, with iPhone 18 Pro series sales rising an estimated 28% year over year (YoY) in the first three weeks after launch, according to Counterpoint Research’s Smartphone Weekly Sales Tracker. This placed India just behind China, where sales grew 29%, and helped offset weaker demand in the United States and Japan.

Counterpoint said growth in India and other emerging markets skewed toward the standard iPhone 18 Pro rather than the larger and more expensive Pro Max, suggesting that higher prices influenced buyers’ model choices.

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Uneven demand elsewhere

The launch was less successful in some major markets. Sales in the United States fell 4% from a year earlier, while Japan saw a sharper 27% decline, according to Counterpoint Research.

The firm said US consumers saw few meaningful improvements in features or design to justify the higher prices of the new models. In Japan, currency movements amplified the effect of price increases, weakening demand.

Pro Max popular choice

Within the iPhone 18 Pro lineup, the larger iPhone 18 Pro Max accounted for 56% of sales, the Counterpoint report said. That is a slight decline from the 57% share recorded by the iPhone 17 Pro Max during the comparable launch period.

The data suggests Apple’s premium-tier strategy remains resilient, even as regional demand diverges. Strong performance in China and India helped offset softer sales in the United States and Japan, according to the research firm.

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The early sales figures offer a cautiously encouraging signal for Apple, particularly given the importance of the Pro lineup to the company’s overall iPhone revenue. However, Counterpoint’s findings also highlight pricing sensitivity and uneven international demand as challenges for the new generation.

Apple has not publicly disclosed unit-sales figures for the iPhone 18 Pro series, making third-party estimates such as Counterpoint’s an important indicator of early market performance.