When you go to the Apple website and go to the section with Mac mini computers, at the turn of April and May there was an unpleasant change for customers: previously there was an inscription “From PLN 2,999”, now in its place there is “From PLN 3,999”.
Apple quietly increased the minimum price of this great minicomputer by PLN 1,000, but after going into the details it turns out that We are not dealing here with a typical price increaseand with a more complex situation. Namely Apple has removed the most profitable version of the Mac mini from its offer with a data carrier with a capacity of 256 GB, which made the cheapest available version the PLN 1,000 more expensive model with 512 GB of memory.
Just last week there was an inscription “From PLN 2,999”
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Onet
This isn't the first Apple computer configuration to disappear from the Apple Store. Previously, this happened to the most powerful version of the Mac Studio computer with 512 GB of RAM. And although it might seem that the disappearance of the cheapest Mac mini and the most expensive Mac Studio should not have much in common, the reasons for both changes are most likely similar.
Apple cannot keep up with the production of its computers
The first clue to what's going on with Apple computers is to take another look at the configurator in the official Apple store. The minimum waiting time for order fulfillment for these computers is 3-4 weeksand in some cases you get the message “temporarily unavailable”. In other words, Apple and its legendary supply chain simply can't produce them fast enough.
You currently have to wait several weeks for delivery of a new Mac mini or Studio purchased on Apple's website.
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Onet
We heard more about this during last week's Apple financial report. Tim Cook bluntly said: “We think, looking forward, that Mac mini and Mac Studio they may need several monthsto achieve a balance between supply and demand.
Reason? The usual in recent months, i.e. AI and chip shortage. More specifically, the significant increase in popularity of the Mac mini and Studio due to the emergence of AI agents, which has collided with chip shortages – and therefore their rising prices.
Artificial intelligence enthusiasts are buying up Mac computers
Already at the end of last year, Mac mini and Studio computers began to be purchased by AI enthusiasts to run AI agents like OpenClaw and to locally run language models, the more advanced versions of which require large amounts of RAM.
Computers were virtually impossible to buy, first in California, and then the shortage spread to other parts of the world. The first victim of this trend was the previously mentioned Mac Studio with 512 GB RAM.
Currently, used copies of this model cost more on auction sites than new ones used to cost, and are becoming popular among online fraudsters. Now, apparently, Apple has decided that it is unable to produce enough of the very popular, cheapest Mac minis and sell them at margins that satisfy the company.
The basic Mac mini for less than PLN 3,000 was one of the most profitable computers on the market.
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Mieszko Krzykowski / Onet
However, computer memory is not the only type of chip that is in short supply and becoming more expensive. Apple also admitted that producing enough processors is an increasing challenge leaving TSMC production lines. In the past, when Apple was the largest customer of the Taiwanese giant and its factories were not used to the same extent as now, increasing orders for processors was relatively easy. Now the situation is completely different.
On top of that Apple may not want to increase orders for older generation processorswhen in the near future it probably intends to update its miniature computers with configurations with M5 series systems.
This whole situation will definitely breathe new life into Mac computers. This is because the Apple product segment, in which relatively little has happened for years, began to quickly gain popularity and would gain it even faster if only production kept up with demand.
However, what makes Apple shareholders happy may not necessarily make all users happy. The fact is that the cheapest desktop Mac has become PLN 1,000 more expensive and in current conditions it is unlikely that its successor will return to the base price of PLN 2,999. So if you were thinking about buying an Apple minicomputer at the lowest possible price, now is the last momentwhile the last pieces of the old base Mac mini configuration are still available in stores.
