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More and more indications suggest that the situation with the availability of computers from Apple is becoming quite unusual. The strongest configurations of the Mac mini and Mac Studio are disappearing from sales in various regions, and where they are still available, the wait time is even reaching several months. The problem mainly concerns the top versions with a large amount of RAM and the most powerful chips, which has immediately triggered a wave of speculation. Is this a result of huge demand, production issues, or perhaps a sign of an upcoming hardware refresh?
The strongest models disappear the fastest
The most affected configurations are those like Mac mini with the M4 chip and 32 GB of RAM and Mac Studio with M3 Ultra and even 256 GB of memory. These variants have completely disappeared from sale in many countries, including the USA, UK, and Australia. In practice, this means that users have no option to order them, even with a long wait time. Interestingly, this situation does not resemble a typical temporary lack of availability. In the past, similar cases often ended with the discontinuation of a given model, as recently happened with the Mac Pro. This suggests that Apple may be slowly phasing out current configurations, paving the way for something new.
AI, Memory and the Upcoming M5
One of the main suspects is the increasing demand for memory and components related to artificial intelligence. AI servers and data centres consume enormous amounts of resources, which may affect the availability of components for consumer computers as well. In the case of Apple, the situation is complicated by the fact that the company uses unified memory, which cannot be expanded later on; everything must be available at the production stage. On the other hand, there are increasing indications that a new generation of hardware with M5 chips is just around the corner. Apple may therefore be deliberately limiting the availability of current models to make room for new devices. Furthermore, according to users and industry observers, current models are experiencing enormous interest partly because they are excellent for running local AI models. This combination of high demand and potential refresh may explain the current situation.
Regardless of the reason, one thing is certain something big is happening in the Mac offerings. Stock shortages may be a sign of upcoming changes, and for buyers, it’s the last moment to grab the current models... if they’re still available somewhere.
source: techradar
