Apple's best-selling notebook is now almost impossible to find in its own store on short notice. The reason isn't a lack of demand, but rather a component that data centers are currently buying up in massive quantities. At the same time, Apple is redirecting its production capacity to another model.
For years, the MacBook Air has been the device with which most people enter Apple's notebook lineup. Ironically, this very model can currently only be ordered with a considerable lead time, even though the M5 generation was only introduced in March. This adds an unfortunate continuation to the price hikes of June 25th: higher prices apparently haven't dampened demand enough to ensure sufficient stock levels.
Key Facts at a Glance
- According to the report, orders placed in the Apple Store will not be delivered until the end of the month.
- Retailers describe availability as more strained than ever before for this model.
- The cause is the storage shortage, triggered by the expansion of AI data centers.
- Apple is currently favoring the entry-level MacBook Pro, thus clearing the way for a model update in the fall.
- The successor with the M6 chip is not planned until early 2027.
Weeks-long wait at the Apple Store
A check at the German Apple Store on August 2nd confirms this: For the basic configuration of the MacBook Air, the store indicates a delivery date between August 25th and September 1st – a waiting time of around three and a half to four weeks.
The information regarding US delivery times and Apple's internal priorities comes from the Bloomberg newsletter Power On. This shortage demonstrably extends to the German market. Retailers report that availability of this model is tighter than it has been in any remembered period.
A second clue lies in Apple's own advertising: In the materials for the back-to-school discount promotion, the company explicitly lists the MacBook Air with a availability clause. Such a disclaimer is unusual for a device mid-product cycle.
What's behind the scarcity
The trigger lies outside of Apple's product range. The construction of AI data centers is tying up enormous amounts of high-quality memory and has disrupted supply chains for ordinary consumer components. DRAM prices rose by around 98 percent in the first quarter of 2026 alone.
Apple absorbed the additional costs itself for months and only passed them on in June. The industry has long since demonstrated that additional suppliers don't automatically solve the problem: more memory manufacturers don't necessarily mean lower prices as long as data centers dictate the demand side.
At its earnings call at the end of July, Apple had already warned of significant supply shortages in the current quarter. The current situation with the MacBook Air is the first visible manifestation of this.
The MacBook Pro will be given priority
Adding to the shortage is a decision from Cupertino. Apple is currently prioritizing the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro model in order to clear shelves before a model update expected in the fall.
For buyers, this means a double shortage: the already hard-to-obtain component is preferentially used in another product. A direct comparison of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro reveals the actual differences between the two models.
How much the MacBook Air costs in Germany
The price increase on June 25th hit the Air hard. It came just under four months after the market launch of the M5 generation, which had already raised the entry price – but in return offered 512 GB instead of 256 GB of basic storage.
| Model | Price valid until June 24th. | Price since June 25th |
|---|---|---|
| MacBook Air M5, 13-inch, 8-core GPU | 1.199 € | 1.399 € |
| MacBook Air M5, 13-inch, 10-core GPU | 1.324 € | 1.509 € |
| MacBook Neo, 256 GB | 699 € | 799 € |
| MacBook Neo 512GB with Touch ID | 799 € | 899 € |
Apple recently described its internal decision-making process for such measures – the logic behind price increases is based on cost developments in the supply chain, not demand. The price hike also hit an already shrinking laptop market.
Why the Chinese storage doesn't help here
Apple has been working for weeks to source memory from China and is testing components from a controversial manufacturer. The crucial point in the current report is that this source is initially intended for devices sold in China.
In addition, a finding from the beginning of August revealed that the Chinese manufacturer cannot undercut the Korean suppliers because it lacks access to modern exposure technology and therefore produces at a higher cost – thus rendering Apple's negotiating leverage useless.
For buyers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, the release will not change availability in the short term. Those who need a MacBook Air in these countries have three options: wait, look for remaining stock at retailers – the MacBook Air is currently available at Amazon – or switch to a different model.
This is precisely where the MacBook Neo becomes interesting, as it costs around €600 less than the Air at €799. Whether the extra cost is worth the difference depends primarily on the display and performance, as a direct comparison of the two models shows.
One word of caution: Apple hasn't ruled out further price adjustments. Waiting could therefore end up being more expensive than it should be with this device.
Why little will change until 2027
The exact timing of the successor is now known: The MacBook Air models with the M6 chip are planned for early 2027, again in 13- and 15-inch sizes and without any visible design changes. Until then, the current generation will have to cope with the shortage – for about seven months, during which Apple cannot counteract the shortage either by introducing a new model or by changing the memory configuration.
The situation is similar on the supply side. SK Hynix committed around $38 billion in early August for two new plants, but the first cleanroom of the DRAM plant in Yongin is not expected to begin production until June 2029. Capacity that starts production as early as 2027, according to industry forecasts, will not deliver significant quantities until 2028 at the earliest – and a growing portion of that will go into memory for data centers rather than notebooks.
This comes at an inopportune time for the German-speaking market. While the school year has already begun in the USA, summer vacation here lasts until mid-September, depending on the state, and in Austria and Switzerland, classes don't start until the end of August or the beginning of September. The period in which laptops for school and university are purchased in these countries thus coincides precisely with the weeks with the longest delivery times.
Apple's storage problem reaches the store shelves
Until now, the storage shortage has primarily been a question of price for customers. With the delivery times for the best-selling notebook, it is now, for the first time, also a question of availability.
Anyone buying now is no longer just choosing between models, but between waiting and making alternatives. To determine how much RAM is actually needed for your specific use, first look at how much RAM a Mac really requires – because the higher memory levels are currently the most difficult to find. (Image: Apfelpatient)
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