This year was supposed to be a banner year for the Mac. Eight weeks after the beginning of the year, the fun started in a big way with the MacBook Neo release, along with the M5 MacBook Air, M5 Pro/M5 Max MacBook Pro, and the new Studio Display and the Studio Display XDR, which all arrived in March.
The star, of course, was the MacBook Neo, which made a huge splash with its combination of affordability, performance, and quality that can’t be found in a PC laptop. It created hype that lasted several weeks, and for Mac enthusiasts like me, it was nice to revel in the idea that 42 years after it debuted, the Mac is still able to change conventional thinking. All the excitement raised expectations even higher for Mac releases for the rest of 2026.
But it was too good to last. Widespread industry supply constraints finally caught up with Apple, and now it looks like the Mac parade we thought was going to happen this year isn’t going to happen.
The AI effect
AI is “the thing” now in technology, and it’s so overwhelming that it’s at the root of the supply chain shortages. Chip components are being swallowed up by manufacturers for AI infrastructure. The demand is so high that suppliers can’t keep up, and chips of all kinds that should be destined for consumer products are suddenly very difficult and expensive to get.
Macs that are currently in Apple’s lineup are already affected. Apple is resorting to narrowing down the options customers once had when shopping for Macs. The entry-level $599 Mac mini is no longer available, replaced by the $799 model with 512GB, double the storage of the previous $599 model. Both the Mac mini and Mac Studio no longer have their highest RAM configurations (32GB, 128GB, respectively) available. If you order a MacBook Neo from Apple, you still have to wait a week or so, though stock for some color options on Amazon and other third-party retailers has improved to overnight delivery (for now).
The situation looks like it’s going to worsen before it improves. During Apple’s Q2 2026 earnings announcement, CEO Tim Cook said that for the upcoming June quarter, “The majority of our supply constraints will be on several Mac models, given the continued high levels of demand that we’re seeing, and we have less flexibility in the supply chain than we normally would.” Cook also cautioned that stock issues with the Mac mini and the Mac Studio “may take several months to reach supply-demand balance.” That implies that an M5 model isn’t coming anytime soon, and the same could happen to the iMac, as well.
The Mac mini has become so popular with AI enthusiasts that it’s basically sold out.
Foundry
Changing the schedule
More importantly the current crop of Macs, supply chain shortages appear to be seriously impacting Apple’s 2026 Mac roadmap. We thought that Apple would end 2026 with a bang by releasing its first touchscreen MacBook Pro, but Apple may very likely be forced to delay the new laptops until 2027.
The Mac Studio, which was expected to get an M5 upgrade during WWDC, is probably going to be pushed back to October, and it could be pushed back even further. Rumor has it that the M5 Ultra was going to make its debut in the Mac Studio, but this chip requires a ton of RAM. If it’s going to take Apple “several months” for its current Mac Studio supply to catch up, it doesn’t seem likely that it’ll be capable of creating enough supply for a brand-new M5 Max or M5 Ultra Mac Studio.
Updates to the Mac mini and iMac were also expected this year, but we haven’t heard any reports about their time on the schedule. While those Macs don’t need as much RAM as the Mac Studio, it doesn’t seem likely that their release is still on for 2026. Apple could limit the configurations so that those Macs are released this year; the iMac seems to have the best chance of actually being released, since it is usually sold in lower RAM configurations, and iMac unit sales aren’t as high as other Macs.
Out of Apple’s control
If it’s any consolation, the cause of any Mac delays isn’t Apple’s fault or the result of some unexplained decision, like when the company decided not to update the Mac mini from 2014 to 2018. While Apple is doing its best to address the issue, there’s only so much it can do.
These new Macs are going to be released eventually. It’s just that 2026 won’t have the Mac parade we were looking forward to.
