Mac mini Starting Price Increased, $599 Entry-Level Model Quietly Discontinued
Apple has recently and quietly increased the entry price of the Mac mini. The standard $599 base model has been removed from the US website and is no longer available as a configuration option. As of May 1st, the $599 Mac mini model with 256GB of storage is no longer available for order from the Apple US online store, and this capacity is no longer shown in the configuration options.
Currently, the main models displayed on the official website are higher-priced configurations, and the publicly stated starting price has risen to around $799, although the supply of different configurations is still fluctuating. At the same time, this 256GB entry-level configuration has also disappeared from Apple's exclusive stores for education and military personnel, and users cannot order it or pre-order it when it is out of stock. Lower-priced Mac mini models still occasionally appear on Apple's official certified refurbished page, but quantities are limited and availability is unstable.
Looking back at the product launch, Apple launched the M4 chip-equipped Mac mini on October 29, 2024, positioning it as the "most affordable Mac" with a starting price of $599, standard with 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage. However, currently not only has the entry-level model disappeared, but other configurations have also experienced longer shipping times or limited supply, indicating that the impact of this supply shortage extends beyond a single model. Reports indicate that this base model experienced approximately two weeks of continuous stockouts before being removed from the official website, coinciding with the pace of supply constraints affecting the entire Mac mini product line.
During the Apple 2026 Fiscal Year Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call held on April 30, 2026, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that demand for the Mac mini and Mac Studio has exceeded supply capacity and that it is expected to take several months to restore supply and demand to equilibrium. As more and more users want to run AI workloads locally, the demand for compact Mac desktops has risen significantly, further exacerbating the already tight supply pressure.
For consumers, the Mac mini is no longer able to serve as a $599-priced "entry-level Mac," and this position is gradually being taken over by the MacBook Neo. In most purchasing scenarios, the starting price of the Mac mini is now closer to $799, which means that the cost of entering the macOS ecosystem has been raised overall. From Apple's own strategy perspective, removing the lowest-priced configuration in the context of limited supply helps guide users to higher-priced models, thereby increasing the overall average selling price.
It is currently unclear whether this price and product structure adjustment is a temporary measure to address supply issues or a longer-term product line reshaping. According to earlier reports, the next round of Mac mini updates is not expected to arrive until late 2026, but the specific timing remains uncertain, and the current supply shortage may also continue to affect Apple's production capacity and channel arrangements.