Apple admitted it couldn’t predict how fast businesses would start buying Mac minis and Mac Studios for AI workloads, and the supply crunch that followed tells you something concrete about where on-device AI computing is right now. I’m not surprised by the popularity of the mini and Mac Studio at all. Last year, people were buying them up to run local LLMs, local AI, and settings with OpenClaw.
Now Apple bumps up the specs and processors on these mighty little beasts, which seem perfectly tuned for local AI. With the component shortages, these new Apple devices are not being produced as much. So we are hit with the usual supply-and-demand curve. Supply is low, demand is high. I don’t think Apple will raise prices any further, since they have already done so, but scarcity will also drive aftermarket demand.
I recently e-recycled some old Apple laptops. I recycled the batteries, stored the hard drives for later, and saved a bag of RAM chips. I wonder if I could donate that old RAM to an organization that needs to “save the components” – I’m kidding, of course.