The $599 Mac mini is gone
Apple dropped the cheapest version in May 2026, raising the starting price to $799 as memory and storage chips ran short.
Kivorent News desk, published , 1 min read
$799new starting price of the Mac mini, up from $599
This is a look back at an event from . We wrote it on November 11, 2026, from the sources listed at the end.
Apple stopped selling the Mac mini with 256GB of storage on May 1, 2026. The cheapest model became one with 512GB, and the US starting price rose from $599 to $799, MacRumors reported.
Three weeks earlier, Apple's US store had marked Mac mini and Mac Studio models with the largest amounts of memory as currently unavailable.
Why it mattered
Both changes point to the same cause. AI data centers are buying memory and storage chips faster than they can be made, which leaves less for everything else.
The Mac mini had also become popular for running AI models at home, which increased demand for the high-memory versions.
The pressure did not ease. In June, Apple raised prices across most of the Mac and iPad lines.
Sources
- Top stories: iOS 26.5 coming soon, goodbye $599 Mac mini, and more, MacRumors, May 9, 2026
- Top stories: iPhone Ultra rumors, Mac mini and Mac Studio shortages, and more, MacRumors, April 18, 2026
ApplePhones and computersAI chips and data centers
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