Without warning, Apple has stopped selling the Mac Studio with its previous maximum configuration of 512GB RAM, perhaps because of worldwide shortages.
One day ago, you could have spent $14,099 on a maxed-out Mac Studio. That included $4,000 on a 512GB RAM option, but that is now gone.
At the same time, Apple has raised prices on what RAM upgrades it still offers. The configurations depend on which processor you select, but for one example, it now costs an extra $400 than it did to upgrade from 96GB RAM to 256GB RAM.
While it's not possible to read much into shipping delays and stock levels, the Mac Studio has been showing longer wait times. At present, selecting the maximum RAM now available pushes the delivery date back into early or middle May.
By comparison, a Mac Studio with a base configuration ships within days. Ones with the base RAM but a larger SSD storage ship by the end of March or start of April.
Apple has not made any announcement about this change to Mac Studio configurations, nor is it likely to. It's hard not to suspect that its down to how demand for AI RAM is making it difficult for other manufacturers to order as much as they usually do.
Recently, Apple appears to have been willing to pay suppliers such as Samsung twice their previous costs in order to secure RAM in sufficient quantities. Tim Cook has recently implied that Apple is more concerned about processor availability rather than RAM.
It's not as if many people can have needed to buy 512GB RAM for the Mac Studio. But if Apple could source that amount, it would continue selling it as it's surely the most profitable of its RAM upgrades.
Separately, Apple has been expected to launch a new M5 Max version of the Mac Studio. It's just not clear when.
