MacBook Air is extremely hard to come by

Image source: Apple official website

Memory shortages first pushed up the selling price of Apple's MacBook Air, and now the laptop has become extremely hard to obtain.

Recently, according to renowned tech journalist Mark Gurman, affected by the memory and chip shortage crisis, MacBook Air is facing severe supply shortages, and a large number of new orders will not be shipped until September. Back in June this year, Apple raised the price of the MacBook Air by 1,500 yuan for the same reason.

Gurman wrote in his newsletter column: "Sources from offline retail stores revealed that Apple's this laptop has been continuously out of stock, and the restrictions on new unit shipments have hit the highest level since they started working in the industry."

Signs of MacBook Air shortages have already appeared on Apple's official website. Gurman pointed out that all configurations of the 13-inch and 15-inch M5 chip version MacBook Air available on Apple's U.S. official website are marked as pre-order, with the latest shipment scheduled for early September, meaning a waiting period of over a month. The higher the memory specification, the longer the waiting time for arrival.

According to his disclosure, Apple's back-to-school promotion campaign this year is mainly promoting the base model M5 MacBook Pro with a starting price of 1,999 U.S. dollars, intentionally diverting consumers who originally intended to buy the MacBook Air. Other sources say that some promotional advertisements for this campaign are marked with a disclaimer that "MacBook Air inventory is subject to supply availability".

On August 4th, Jiemian News checked Apple's official China website and found that for the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air (M5 chip version) with 16GB memory, the current shipping time is from August 19 to August 26, while the 24GB and 32GB memory versions range from August 26 to September 12. In contrast, 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro can be delivered the next day if ordered on the same day. If you choose to buy at an offline store, some MacBook Air models are available for pickup at Apple's Xidan Joy City, Wangfujing and Sanlitun stores in Beijing on the same day, while pickups are not available at Beijing Livat, China Central Place Shopping Center and Chaoyang Joy City stores.

Comparison of shipping time for MacBook Air and MacBook Pro on Apple official website

On the official Apple Store Tmall flagship store, the shipping time for MacBook Air is even longer, at least 22 days, while MacBook Pro can be shipped within 48 hours. The customer service staff of this store told Jiemian News that MacBook Air is a hot product, the order volume has been relatively large since the graduation season, and it takes some time for the warehouse to prepare stock.

If you need the device urgently, the customer service suggests placing orders for the MacBook Pro which has a slightly higher price but faster shipping time at the same time, and returning the MacBook Pro after the MacBook Air arrives. The customer service staff emphasized that Apple's Tmall flagship store supports 7-day return without man-made damage and 14-day return for quality issues starting from the day after receipt, and returns and exchanges are allowed even if the device is activated and unpacked.

Currently, the 13-inch MacBook Air (M5 chip) is priced at 9,999 yuan, with optional 16/24/32GB unified memory and 512GB–4TB solid-state drive; the 15-inch MacBook Air (M5) is priced at 11,999 yuan after the price increase, and the high-spec 32GB memory model has a higher price hike, which is also the main out-of-stock model whose orders are scheduled to early September on the official website.

For comparison, the 14-inch MacBook Pro M5 chip version (base version, 16GB+512GB) is priced at 15,999 yuan, the M5 Pro chip version is 19,999 yuan, and the M5 Max chip version is as high as 33,999 yuan; the 16-inch MacBook Pro equipped with M5 Pro chip is priced at no less than 24,999 yuan, and the M5 Max chip version has an even higher price of 35,999 yuan.

MacBook Air is Apple's mid-range lightweight main model in the Mac series, featuring portability, long battery life, balanced M5 chip performance, and a moderate pricing targeting students, commuters for office work and light creative users, covering the full-scenario usage needs of the vast majority of people. Different from the entry-level minimalist MacBook Neo and the heavy professional-oriented MacBook Pro, MacBook Air is Apple's core high-volume model to maintain notebook sales and drive the overall Mac revenue.

Apple's recently released financial report for the third fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2026 shows that its total revenue reached 109.42 billion U.S. dollars, up 16% year on year; profit was 29.789 billion U.S. dollars, up 27% year on year, both revenue and net profit hit all-time highs for the same period. Among them, the revenue of the Mac business was 10.35 billion U.S. dollars, surging 28.7% year on year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook mentioned on the earnings call that the market response to the new affordable MacBook Neo is exceptionally hot, and the MacBook Air remains "the best-selling laptop in the world".

But Cook also admitted that the skyrocketing price of storage chips has brought unprecedented pressure to Apple. Cook described the current memory price environment as a "once-in-a-century flood", saying that prices have seen exponential growth. When talking about Apple's recent price hikes for Mac and iPad, he said the company made the decision "reluctantly".

Apple CFO Kevin Parekh also said that the negative impact brought by the shortage of chips and memory supply will expand significantly quarter on quarter, and the three core product lines of iPhone, Mac and iPad will all be constrained by production capacity.

Cook further explained that the current demand side has not weakened, on the contrary, terminal orders far exceed the carrying capacity of the supply chain, and the production capacity of self-developed chips with advanced manufacturing processes and DRAM memory supply are both restricted. "We are struggling with the supply chain, which is far less flexible than usual. Even if we advance stock preparation to drive shipments, the production capacity ceiling is still difficult to break through." Cook said that there are only three core suppliers in the current memory market, and Apple is evaluating all possibilities to expand supply channels to ease the dual pressure of cost and supply.

Just on local time August 2, Gurman also published an article saying that the iPhone is expected to increase in price by 100 to 200 U.S. dollars (equivalent to about 675 to 1,350 yuan). He said Apple will definitely raise prices this year, for reasons including the company's current shortage of memory chips and main device processors, the higher cost of the brand-new camera system on iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, not to mention the more expensive design adopted by the first foldable iPhone.

As for the foldable iPhone, Gurman advised users to prepare mentally that its starting price will reach at least 2,000 U.S. dollars (about 13,507 yuan) or even higher.

According to the judgment of consulting firm Counterpoint Research, the tight storage supply and rising costs will be difficult to ease in the short term. It is expected that OEM manufacturers will continue to raise prices, further optimize product portfolios, increase the proportion of high-value products, and supply is gradually becoming a key factor restricting the development of the industry.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Jiemian News", written by Song Jiannan, and published by 36Kr with authorization.