AIBRIEF
Apple's website now shows MacBook Air delivery slipping into late August and September as the same memory squeeze that hit the Mac mini and Mac Studio reaches the consumer laptop.
A MacBook Air ordered from Apple's website now won't ship until the back half of August, and some configurations slip into September. The reason: AI companies are buying up the memory chip supply that ordinary consumer laptops also depend on, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman (via TechCrunch).
Apple's own storefront now carries the line "MacBook Air subject to availability" — a disclaimer that previously appeared only on niche models. The Mac mini and Mac Studio, both aimed at pro users, hit the same memory squeeze earlier this year; the MacBook Air is the first high-volume consumer laptop to land on the list.
Apple's stated mitigations: raise prices, source memory from Chinese suppliers to diversify the chain, delay the back-to-school promotion from June, and refocus MacBook Pro marketing on the base model. None closes the gap; each is a hedge against it.
What remains unknown: which specific configurations are slipping, how long the wait will run, and whether the supplier pivot to China changes Apple's usual component economics.