RAMageddon made the Apple MacBook Air more expensive. Now, it’s making it harder to buy.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the global memory chip shortage is affecting supplies of the MacBook Air, Apple’s bestselling mid-range laptop. This comes roughly five weeks after Apple raised the MacBook Air’s price by $200 because of the same circumstances.
“Retail store sources say Apple is struggling to keep the laptop in stock and that shipments of new units are more constrained than they can ever recall,” Gurman writes in the Aug. 2 edition of his Power On newsletter. He later adds: “From what I’ve heard, the MacBook Air shortage is indeed tied to the ongoing memory crunch.”
Evidence of a possible MacBook Air shortage is emerging in Apple’s online storefront. As Gurman points out, all configurations of the current 13- and 15-inch M5 MacBook Air are backordered there to as late as early September — more than a month out. The more RAM, the longer the wait.
Credit: Apple / Mashable composite
At the time of writing, third-party retailers like Amazon and Best Buy were advertising one- to seven-day shipping for all of their in-stock MacBook Airs (depending on the size, color, storage, and memory options). However, that could change as their inventories dwindle.
Bloomberg’s Gurman further reports that Apple is pushing the $1,999 base M5 MacBook Pro in favor of the Air as part of its back-to-school offer, which was delayed this year from June to July. Moreover, some of the company’s ads for the promotion reportedly include a “MacBook Air subject to availability” disclaimer. Mashable could not independently verify this, though a screenshot of the ad was posted on X.
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As Mashable previously reported, Apple raised its MacBook and iPad prices in late June due to increased component costs related to the global memory shortage (aka “RAMageddon”). A surge in AI data center construction has made RAM and SSD storage chips scarcer, thus making other laptops and consumer tech devices more expensive. In the company’s Q3 earnings call last week, outgoing CEO Tim Cook likened the phenomenon to “a 100-year flood.”
In addition to implementing price increases, Apple has removed some configurations of its mac Mini and Mac Studio desktops from its online store amid RAMageddon. The company is reportedly lobbying the Trump administration for approval to buy memory components from a blacklisted Chinese chipmaker as a means of some relief, per the Financial Times.
Yet so far, at least, RAMageddon hasn’t decimated Apple’s bottom line. On the same earnings call, Cook said Macs had their “best June quarter yet,” with revenue for the category jumping 29 percent year-over-year. The new budget MacBook Neo “has been especially popular,” Cook noted, though the MacBook Air remains “the world’s most popular laptop,” he said.
Source: https://mashable.com/tech/macbook-air-shortage-global-memory-crisis
