Mac Shortages: Which Models Are Affected and Where It’s Getting Worse
▼ Summary
– Apple CEO Tim Cook credited the new low-cost MacBook Neo for attracting new Mac buyers during a recent earnings call.
– Supply constraints on several Mac models, worsened by less flexible supply chains, are limiting Mac sales success.
– Apple expects to pay significantly higher prices for RAM due to shortages of components like RAM, storage, and chipmaking capacity.
– The author created a large spreadsheet tracking shipping estimates for 423 discrete Mac configurations to back up anecdotal reports with empirical data.
– The author tracked shipping times for nearly every Mac configuration in early April and again later, noting which times changed by more than a few days.
Apple’s Mac lineup is enjoying a notable resurgence, with CEO Tim Cook highlighting its strength during last week’s earnings call. The new low-cost MacBook Neo has been a particular bright spot, drawing in a significant number of first-time Mac buyers rather than just existing users upgrading. However, Cook acknowledged that the momentum is being tempered by persistent supply constraints affecting multiple Mac models, compounded by a less flexible supply chain than Apple is accustomed to. The company also faces significantly higher RAM costs moving forward, as shortages of memory, storage, and advanced chipmaking capacity limit production.
Tracking the real-world impact of these shortages has become a near-weekly ritual for Apple observers. Reports frequently surface about a Mac mini model disappearing from the online store, and shipping estimates for the MacBook Neo are monitored with religious consistency. But these snapshots only capture a single moment in time, so I took a different approach. I built a comprehensive spreadsheet to turn anecdotal observations into hard data, tracking every available Mac configuration across processors, RAM, storage, and color options,423 discrete setups in total. I skipped niche variables like nano-texture displays or iMac VESA mounts, but otherwise left no stone unturned.
In early April, I recorded both the earliest and latest shipping dates for each model, converting vague estimates like “weeks” or “months” into specific dates based on the current timeline. Then, this week, I repeated the entire exercise, noting which models saw their ship times shift by more than a few days. The results offer a clearer picture of where the shortages are biting hardest and where they are getting worse.
(Source: Ars Technica)
