The Memory Shortage Reaches the MacBook Air

The global shortage of memory chips has begun to affect the availability of Apple's most popular Mac. TechCrunch reports this, citing information from Bloomberg columnist Mark Gurman.

According to Gurman, the memory shortage — spurred on by demand from AI companies with a voracious hunger for chips — has already managed to hit Apple's more niche computers, the Mac mini and Mac Studio. Now the corporation is struggling to keep even the MacBook Air in stock: retailers say supplies are more constrained than ever before.

Confirmation is easy to find on Apple's own website. Anyone who tries to order a MacBook Air right now will face a wait until the second half of August, and some configurations are promised to arrive only in September.

How Apple Is Coping

Gurman lists the measures the company is resorting to. First, prices are going up. Second, it is starting to buy memory from Chinese suppliers. On top of that, Apple has shifted its traditional back-to-school promotion: it usually kicked off in June, but this time it has been postponed.

The most telling detail, though, is in the marketing materials. For the first time, the emphasis is not on the MacBook Air but on the base version of the MacBook Pro. And alongside the mention of the “air” model, a cautious note has appeared: “MacBook Air — subject to availability.” When a manufacturer starts promoting a pricier model instead of its bestseller and hedges in advance about availability, it shows better than any press release just how hard the AI servers' hunger for memory is hitting the industry.

Source: TechCrunch