From CNET: As if a new range of iPhones expected in the coming weeks wasn’t enough, Apple broke from its usual announcement timing to debut new chips and configurations of its Mac Mini and Mac Studio desktops.
In addition to launching a Mac Mini with a new M6 chip and Mac Studio with a new M5 Ultra, Apple brings its desktops into line with its MacBook Pro offerings, adding M5 Pro configurations for the Mini and M5 Max models for the Studio. Both the Mini and the Studio are identical to their predecessors physically: The performance and capabilities of the updated chips are the only changes.
That and the prices. With the exception of the M5 Max Mac Studio, which starts at the same $2,499, the prices for the base models of both systems have gone up. Prices have increased by $100 for the Mac Mini, which now starts at $899 for the M6 and $1,699 for the M5 Pro. The M5 Ultra Mac Studio has gone up by $200 to $5,499. Those are on top of the already significant bumps announced in June.
Not that the price increases come as a surprise. We’ve been going through a huge price shock, oversimplistically dubbed “RAMageddon,” thanks to ongoing component shortages. Semiconductor fab resources have been increasingly reallocated toward whatever’s ultimately the most profitable. Right now, that means anything critical to AI, notably data centers. And that pressure carries all the way down the supply chain, resulting in volatile prices for all other electronics.
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