Mac’s are becoming increasingly harder to get, as delivery dates get pushed further back on the Apple online store, due to the memory chip crisis and supply constraints. The disruption appears to have forced Apple to prioritise the production of certain Mac models over others.
In a post on X, promoting his Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman said that ”Major shortages [have] hit the MacBook Air”, and that this had led to Apple ”prioritizing sales now of the entry level MacBook Pro.”
This statement correctly reflects the current situation on Apple’s online store in the UK, with the only Mac models available for delivery next week, being the base model MacBook Pro and the M4 iMac, Apple’s all-in-one desktop.
MacBook Neo, Apple’s newest and cheapest MacBook model, is slightly delayed with a mid-August delivery date. Other models, such as the MacBook Air - which Apple claims to be the world’s best selling laptop - faces further delays until the 1st of September.
The company seems to have made a decision to push customers who do not want to wait for a MacBook Air, up a tier to the base model MacBook Pro - though this is still a £700 jump.
Apple is however, keeping the MacBook Neo on standby with closer delivery dates, to perhaps prevent budget customers shopping for Chromebooks or Windows PCs instead.
Desktop Macs
Apple’s desktops remain hard to get, with a 4-5 week wait for the base model Mac mini. This comes after a period of time where Apple removed the 256GB variant from their website entirely, likely because they could no longer justify the £599 price tag. It returned in June, with long wait times and costing an extra £200.
Customers looking at buying a Mac Studio face an even longer wait, with the base model M4 Max Mac Studio delivery date pushed back as far as early October.
Whilst new desktops are rumoured, these delays have been going on for months and do not seem to be part of Apple’s usual process of slowing down shipments a few weeks before new models launch.
Final Thoughts
As Apple continues to boast its ‘best-ever’ Mac lineup, with the low priced MacBook Neo, thin and light MacBook Air and powerful Mac mini, customers are struggling to get their hands on them.
It is unclear where the company goes from here, as Apple’s supply chain CEO, Tim Cook, retires next month and the memory crisis continues on with no signs of stopping. Next day delivery may become more of a luxury over the coming months, as certain models are prioritised over others.
