RAMageddon is reportedly causing a MacBook Air shortage
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that the global memory crunch is causing a MacBook Air shortage. Some variants of the popular laptop are backordered more than a month out.
The Apple MacBook Air is facing a shortage due to the ongoing RAM shortage, known as "RAMageddon." According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, this shortage is directly impacting the availability of the MacBook Air, which has seen its price raised by $200 in late June. Apple is struggling to keep the laptop in stock, with shipments of new units reportedly more constrained than ever before.
The shortage is so severe that some configurations of the MacBook Air are backordered until early September, and estimated shipping dates for various models are pushed back to mid-September. Third-party retailers like Amazon and Best Buy are also experiencing inventory issues, with some MacBook Airs only available for one to seven days of shipping.
Apple is shifting its back-to-school promotion towards the more expensive MacBook Pro, and some advertisements for the promotion include a "subject to availability" disclaimer. The RAM shortage, caused by a surge in AI data center construction, has made RAM and SSD storage chips scarcer, leading to increased costs for other laptops and consumer tech devices.
Despite the shortage, Mac sales have seen a 29 percent year-over-year increase in revenue, with the budget MacBook Neo being particularly popular. However, Apple is still lobbying the U.S. government for permission to purchase memory components from a blacklisted Chinese chipmaker as a potential solution.
Written by urgent.news from Mashable's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
