Getting your hands on a Mac mini or Mac Studio might be harder than expected. Delivery times for even the basic configuration now stretch to four weeks, with high-end models showing lead times of up to 4-5 months.
Apple either appears to be struggling to meet demand or gearing up for an imminent M5 refresh.
There’s a long wait for a new Mac mini and Mac Studio
After a few months of delay, Apple refreshed the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lineup with its new M5 family of chips in late February. The new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips bring a significant uplift in CPU, GPU and AI performance. The Mac Studio and Mac mini are also due for an M5 refresh, but it’s unclear when it will land.
The extended shipping delays of these Macs could be an early sign of that transition. Apple may be winding down inventory of current models ahead of the refresh. Or it could be struggling to keep up with demand. Despite their age, the Mac Studio and Mac mini are great for AI tasks.
In the US, the Apple Store currently shows a one-month delivery time for an M4 Pro Mac mini with 24GB of system memory. The shipping time jumps to a whopping 10-12 weeks if you bump the memory to 48GB.
Screenshot: Rajesh Pandey/Cult of Mac
The base model Mac Studio with M4 Max chip and 36GB memory is more readily available. Apple’s online store shows next-day delivery being available for some NY zip codes. However, bumping the RAM to 48GB pushes the delivery date back to early July.
For an M4 Max configured with 128GB memory and 1TB storage, the Apple store shows a delivery time of 4-5 months. That’s late August! The same extended delivery times also apply to the M3 Ultra Mac Studio.
If not for an imminent refresh, the only other reason for the delay could be the ongoing DRAM and NAND supply crunch. Apple may have diverted its resources to meet the demand for the M5 Pro/Max MacBook Pros, leading to longer shipping times for the Mac mini and Mac Studio.
Rajesh has been writing about consumer technology for over a decade, with a strong focus on iPhones, Macs and Apple’s ecosystem. He enjoys digging into Apple software updates, hardware changes, and discovering new Mac apps that make work faster and more enjoyable.
