In the same breath as Tim Cook speaks of the best Mac launch week ever for first-time buyers, he acknowledges a problem: Mac mini and Mac Studio are in very short supply. Apple cannot meet the demand – driven by the AI boom. The MacBook Neo also remains scarce. According to Cook, these shortages will continue for several more months.
What begins as a success story often ends with a supply chain commitment at Apple. That's exactly what happened today with the Mac. Both in the CNBC interview before the earnings call and in the official earnings call for the Q2 2026 results, Tim Cook spoke not only about strong iPhone sales but also about the current Mac portfolio. His statements paint a picture of a Mac lineup that's a hit with the market – and simultaneously reveals bottlenecks on several fronts that will likely affect Apple for some time.
Cook's statement on the Mac lineup
In the CNBC interview, Cook is unusually euphoric: He couldn't be happier with the enthusiasm generated by the current Mac lineup, he says, in essence. Apple has launched the most advanced Mac offering in its history – and this is reflected in the sales figures. The MacBook Neo, introduced in March, in particular, is opening the Mac to a whole new customer base. In fact, according to Cook, Apple recorded its best launch week ever among first-time buyers – a figure rarely communicated so openly in the Mac business.
The MacBook Neo, available in the US starting at $599 (in Germany starting at €699), is Apple's most affordable MacBook to date and uses the A18 Pro chip from the iPhone 16 Pro. Critics had questioned the use of a "mobile chip" in a notebook – but sales figures vindicate Apple. There is clearly a market for an affordable Mac variant with ample performance for everyday use.
Mac mini and Mac Studio: Demand meets AI wave
More interesting than the pure Mac success story is Cook's admission regarding the Pro desktops. The Apple CEO literally speaks of a "huge demand" for the Mac mini – so huge that Apple simply cannot meet it. "We had supply shortages this quarter, we still have them, and we will probably have them for several more months," Cook said in the CNBC interview.
In the official earnings call, Cook was even more specific, explicitly naming both devices for the first time: Mac mini and Mac Studio are "great platforms for AI and agentic tools"—and the speed at which customers are recognizing this has exceeded Apple's own expectations. In other words: Apple underestimated demand and is now producing far more than is needed. Currently, many Mac mini and Mac Studio configurations are completely sold out in the Apple online store.
The background is remarkable: Apple's compact desktop computers have become favorites in the AI community. Those who want to run local AI models—such as language models, image generators, or increasingly agent-based tools like OpenClaw that autonomously process tasks—frequently opt for the Mac mini or Mac Studio. The reason: The price-performance ratio is unbeatable in the Apple Silicon camp, and the shared memory between the CPU and GPU directly benefits large AI models. The Mac Studio also offers configurations with a particularly large amount of unified memory—ideal for running even very large local models.
The result: Not only Apple itself, but also third-party sellers have hardly any of the devices in stock. Mac minis are increasingly appearing on eBay at inflated prices – often the only option for buyers who don't want to wait. For the Mac Studio, delivery times for particularly high-capacity models sometimes extend to several weeks. This is an unusual market dynamic for Apple products in this price range.
Triple bottleneck: MacBook Neo, Mac mini and Mac Studio
Apple is thus under pressure on three Mac fronts. As early as April, it was clear that even the A18 Pro chip stocks for the MacBook Neo would not be sufficient to meet demand. Apple had originally planned for around six million units – but actual demand is significantly higher. A different dynamic is at play with the Mac mini and Mac Studio: Here, in addition to the availability of advanced chip manufacturing processes, the global DRAM shortage resulting from the AI boom is the primary limiting factor. In the earnings call, Cook cited the availability of the "Advanced Nodes," on which Apple's silicon is manufactured, as the primary bottleneck.
Both types of bottlenecks have the same origin: The global AI wave is tying up enormous amounts of memory modules and manufacturing capacity. Hyperscalers like Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic are buying memory and computing power at a pace that consumer products struggle to keep up with. Apple has so far protected itself well through supply contracts, but is visibly reaching its limits in certain areas. Furthermore, Apple expects memory prices to continue rising in the foreseeable future and is exploring several options to mitigate the impact on margins.
Those waiting for a Mac mini or Mac Studio should be patient
For prospective buyers, Cook's statement means that anyone currently wanting to order a Mac mini or Mac Studio should expect significant delivery delays – likely for several more months. Those who can will have the best chance of success, albeit with some patience, on the official Apple website. Buying a Mac mini at a premium on eBay is a faster, but more expensive, option. No quick relief is in sight – the DRAM shortage is unlikely to resolve itself in weeks, but rather on a quarterly basis.
No immediate relief is in sight for the MacBook Neo either. The second generation of the MacBook Neo with the A19 Pro chip was originally planned for 2027. Whether Apple will bring this timeline forward or have TSMC produce more A18 Pro chips remains to be seen. Neither option would offer a quick solution.
Cook's Mac balance sheet as a signal to Ternus
Two things can be gleaned from Cook's statements today. First, Apple's Mac strategy of recent years—an affordable entry-level model, a broad Apple Silicon range, and the Mac mini and Mac Studio as AI-enabled desktop platforms—is working better than even Apple anticipated. Second, the supply chain challenges with which Cook is ending his tenure are precisely the structural issues that John Ternus will inherit on September 1st. As the former head of hardware, Ternus is intimately familiar with this subject matter—but he is also being handed a roadmap that leaves little to be desired on the demand side. Resolving these bottlenecks will be one of his first major tests. (Image: Shutterstock / M21Perfect)
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