The M5 Mac Studio is now expected to be delayed from its summer launch, and the OLED MacBook Pro pushed to 2027, solely because of the industry-wide shortage of memory.
Apple has so far weathered the global RAM and SSD shortages better than most, but still it has raised some prices and ceased selling certain Mac configurations. Now according to Bloomberg, the shortage is going to mean that key new Macs will be delayed.
Specifically, the updated Mac Studio that Bloomberg recently claimed was due for summer 2026, is now more likely to come in October. Then while the OLED touchscreen MacBook Pro wasn't expected until near the end of 2026, the report claims that it will now most probably be launched in 2027.
Delaying the launch even though at least the Mac Studio is believed to be ready, is expressly to avoid being unable to meet demand. Moving the models back a few months is not necessarily an indication that Apple expects the shortages to level out, though.
It is also possible that Apple is stockpiling what it predicts it will need. The company has already been making costly deals, such as reportedly paying Samsung double its previous price for DRAM chips.
The shortage is affecting the entire technology industry, and it's all because of the explosion of demand for AI servers. Those are all heavy RAM users, and SSD users, and AI datacenters are being built out worldwide as rapidly as possible.
This shortage is also affecting processors, which Tim Cook has previously said is Apple's main concern. He said that in January 2026 and so the situation may have changed since then, but of course new Macs need processors, RAM, and SSDs, so any shortage becomes an issue.
