Up to 50 % of the persian/median sparabara may be upgraded to immortal.

Up to 2 Ugs could be once again upgraded to applebearers

Do those applebearers count for the initial 50% maximum  or are they considered out of the 50 % maxima that can be upgraded

Er no...

What the list says is "Regrade Persian or Median Sparabara as Immortals - Up to half"
"Regrade Immortals as Guard Immortals or Applebearers" 0-3 front rank and = number of rear rank."

So I reckon you can only have 1 UG of Applebearers and yes they do count towards the half total.

All looks very clear to me.

Ok I see it now . The 6 number was what made me wonder. Too tired when I read it sorry