Apple's Mac Mini and Mac Studio computers are facing prolonged shortages and steep price rises, months after outgoing chief executive Tim Cook admitted the company had been caught off guard by surging demand driven by local AI workloads. While the worst stock-outs have eased slightly, delivery times remain long and could see customers ordering current M4 models only to receive them after an expected M5 update arrives this autumn, underlining how far behind Apple has fallen in meeting demand.

Buying directly from Apple, the entry-level 16GB Mac Mini now ships in three to four weeks, with waits stretching to around a month for 36GB configurations and three months or more for 48GB models; a 48GB Mac Studio can take 13 to 14 weeks. Amazon offers faster delivery on limited configurations, though often at a premium of several hundred dollars. Prices have also risen across the range: the Mac Mini's starting price effectively jumped from $599 to $699, while the top M3 Ultra Mac Studio rose from $3,999 to $5,299, a roughly 25 percent increase that Apple has attributed to soaring memory and storage component costs, with analysts warning the shortage may persist until 2027 or beyond.