The Mac lineup is doing so well that Apple can’t keep up

Apple CEO Tim Cook is thrilled at how well the new Mac lineup is doing, but that isn’t good news for anyone looking to score a Mac mini.

Apple’s had a great quarter as far as Mac is concerned. And not just with returning Apple fans, but new to Mac users, too.

On Thursday, ahead of the April quarterly earnings call, Cook told CNBC:

“We could not be happier with the enthusiasm that we’ve seen do the most advanced Mac lineup in our history… we saw huge excitement for MacBook Neo, which opens up the Mac experience to a whole new range of customers.”

The MacBook Neo, introduced in early March, is Apple’s most budget-friendly MacBook offering, coming in at $599. While critics have balked at the use of the A18 Pro chip, as it’s a “mobile chip,” Apple’s right, there is a market for it.

In fact, Cook even said that Mac had its best launch week ever for first-time Mac customers. The high demand for Apple’s “Little Laptop that Could” greatly contributed to it.

However, that demand is a double-edged sword. While no company wants to see a sales slump, it doesn’t necessarily mean that “more is more,” when it comes to moving products, either.

Demand for certain products, specifically the M4 Mac mini, is at an all-time high. So high, in fact, that you can’t get one.

“Huge demand,” Cook said of the Mac mini. “So big a demand that we can’t fulfill it all. We had supply constraints during the quarter. We still have supply constraints, and we’ll likely have them for several months.”

This is largely because Apple’s pint-sized desktop has become a fan favorite for running local AI models and tools. And it’s not just Apple that’s seeing shortages, either: third-party sellers can’t keep them in stock, leaving marked-up models on eBay as the only option in most cases.

In addition to Mac mini shortages, some models of the Mac Studio are also completely out. While it’s still possible to get “lower end” models if you’re willing to wait up to twelve weeks, higher end models are also listed as “unavailable.”