AI boom depletes inventory, Apple raises Mac Mini starting price by $200

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Apple has raised the starting price of the Mac mini desktop from $599 to $799 in response to inventory shortages and tight processor supply driven by AI demand.

The price increase is actually achieved by discontinuing the entry-level configuration—which was equipped with the M4 processor and 256GB of storage. The current starting configuration still uses the same chip but with storage upgraded to 512GB. The version equipped with the M4 Pro still starts at $1,399.

The discontinuation of the $599 tier happened after this model had sold out at most channels. Other configurations still require several weeks or even months to ship from Apple’s website, and in-store inventory is also very limited.

On Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the shortage was partly due to the so-called SoC (System on Chip), the core processor of the Mac mini. He stated during the earnings analyst call:

The supply bottleneck is mainly due to capacity limitations of the advanced process nodes used for our SoCs.

He also pointed out that another factor is consumers rushing to buy the Mac mini and Mac Studio to run AI. These devices are excellent platforms for running AI and agent tools, and customer recognition is happening faster than we expected, so we’ve seen higher-than-expected demand. The MacBook Neo, also starting at $599, has seen similarly stronger-than-expected demand.

It may take months for the Mac mini and Mac Studio to return to supply-demand balance.

Both of these machines can be configured with large enough memory to run large language models locally, reducing dependence on the cloud. Apple plans to begin producing some Mac mini models in Houston later this year. According to media reports, Apple is also preparing to launch an updated Mac Studio by the end of the year.

Apple previously raised prices on some Mac products in March this year, including the starting prices for several MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models. Apple is not the only company raising prices—Meta and others have also recently increased prices for their devices.

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