The global memory shortage has reached Apple's best-selling Mac. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, buying a MacBook Air from Apple's own site now means waiting until the back half of August, and until September for some configurations.
Apple has pushed its back-to-school promotion out from June, is leading that marketing with the base MacBook Pro instead, and has started warning that the Air is subject to availability. The Mac mini and Mac Studio got squeezed first.
Interesting insights on MacBook Air shortage
Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron make over 95% of the world's DRAM, and all three have shifted wafer capacity to high-bandwidth memory for AI accelerators. TrendForce put DRAM price increases at as much as 98% in the first quarter of 2026, with another 58% to 63% expected in the quarter after, a run the industry has taken to calling RAMageddon.
Apple already raised Mac and iPad prices on 25 June, taking the MacBook Air from $1,099 to $1,299. Micron has locked in $22bn in long-term customer commitments. IDC now expects the PC market to shrink 11.3% this year and smartphones by close to 14%.
What others are saying about MacBook Air shortage
TechCrunch reported the stock constraints and Apple's move to source memory from Chinese suppliers. Cybernews covered the June price rises and the pressure on device margins, while Network World reported SK Hynix telling investors its memory capacity was essentially sold out for the year.
Budget for hardware like it is a commodity now
This is the AI boom sending its first invoice to people who never bought an AI product. A South African team kitting out staff pays dollar-denominated prices on a component that has roughly doubled, converted into rands, plus shipping and duty.
No procurement cleverness beats that, but two boring moves help: buy ahead of need while older stock is still on shelves, and stop treating a three-year refresh cycle as a law of physics. New fab capacity from SK Hynix and Micron is scheduled for 2027 and 2028, and semiconductor build timelines have a long history of slipping.
Plan device budgets for another two years of this rather than another two quarters.
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