Overview
- Apple’s online store, which on Tuesday showed some Mac mini and Mac Studio orders arriving in late summer, lists select builds as shipping in August and September 2026.
- The longest delays hit high‑memory options, with an M4 Mac mini at 64GB quoted at about 16 to 18 weeks and an M3 Ultra Mac Studio at 256GB quoted at four to five months, while some base models show earlier dates or in‑store stock.
- One line of reporting ties the bottleneck to a costly RAM market, with Samsung raising memory prices about 30% for Q2 after a 100% year‑over‑year jump in Q1 and LPDDR5 contract prices roughly tripling since early 2025, making supply tight and parts expensive.
- Another explanation, cited by industry commentator Vadim Yuryev and echoed in coverage, says Apple wound down production of high‑RAM M4 and M3 Ultra chips early so inventory sells out ahead of rumored M5 models, with some secured RAM reportedly reserved for M5‑series chips.
- Apple’s unified memory design mounts DRAM on the same package as the processor, so unsold high‑RAM chips cannot be reused, which raises the stakes of inventory calls and leaves buyers choosing between long waits, standard configs, or waiting for next‑gen Macs that are still unannounced.