Apple fans are eagerly awaiting the brand new MacBook Pro with touchscreen and the Mac Studio models, but they have received some bad news. Reliable rumors indicate significant delays due to production issues with memory chips, causing these powerful updates to become available later than originally expected.
Mark Gurman, Bloomberg’s renowned Apple analyst, reports in his newsletter that a global shortage of RAM chips is the cause. Large AI data centers consume available inventory, disrupting the supply chain for consumer products and forcing Apple to adjust their planning.
AI causes delays
A global shortage of RAM chips is occurring due to the dramatically increased demand for memory, especially the explosive growth of artificial intelligence (AI). Major tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon are investing billions in AI data centers packed with high-end GPUs and CPUs. These systems require immense amounts of RAM to train and run complex AI models. This leads to data centers consuming the available production capacity of chip manufacturers such as Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron, resulting in a structural shortage for other sectors.
This shortage is disrupting the entire consumer electronics supply chain, as RAM is crucial for laptops, desktops and smartphones. Manufacturers such as Apple, who rely on these chips for new products such as the MacBook Pro and Mac Studio, are unable to achieve their planned production.
Even though Apple’s chips are used exclusively for its own products, production capacity goes to the highest bidders. As a result, Apple is forced to postpone release dates and revise priorities, such as skipping certain chip variants or adjusting designs. This issue has been around since 2024 and is exacerbated by geopolitical tensions and limited production capacity expansion, leading to longer wait times for pro users.
Mac Studio will be released later
The Mac Studio is also not spared from the chip shortage. Bloomberg suspects that the launch of the Mac Studio with the M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips has been postponed from the summer to October 2026. In addition, the current model, like the Mac mini, has limited availability and waiting times are longer due to the scarcity at chip manufacturers.
MacBook Pro with touchscreen postponed
It is common knowledge that Apple is busy developing the next generation MacBook Pro. Although the company has already launched a new version this year, completely new models were still expected this year.
However, analyst Mark Gurman has warned that plans for the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros with touchscreen functionality may be delayed. In his newsletter, Gurman reports that Apple expects an announcement in the first months of 2027.
The new high-end MacBook Pro models will have a touchscreen for the first time, as well as the M6 ​​Pro and M6 Max chips, an OLED screen, Dynamic Island and a slimmer design.