CUPERTINO, California, April 20, 2026, 09:36 PDT
Apple’s next Mac Studio and its long-rumored first touchscreen MacBook Pro could arrive later than expected as the global memory shortage spills further into consumer hardware, according to reports citing Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Bloomberg said Sunday that memory shortages could at least slightly delay the latest Mac Studio and touch-screen MacBook Pro models.
The timing matters because Apple’s pro Mac calendar was already tight. The Mac Studio refresh had been expected around mid-2026, but people inside Apple now believe the new models may not ship until around October, while the touchscreen MacBook Pro is seen as more likely to land at the early-2027 end of a late-2026-to-early-2027 window, MacRumors reported.
That would move a key desktop Mac update away from Apple’s June developer conference season and closer to the post-iPhone window. Apple shares were up about 0.9% at $272.54 in morning trading.
The reported Mac Studio update is expected to bring M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips, while the higher-end MacBook Pro overhaul is expected to add touch input, OLED displays and M6-class chips. Apple’s current Mac Studio line runs on M4 Max and M3 Ultra, and is aimed at pro users who need high memory and fast storage for media, software and AI workloads.
The pressure point is memory. DRAM, the working memory used by computers, and NAND flash, the storage used in solid-state drives, have both tightened as AI data centers take more supply. TrendForce said conventional DRAM contract prices are projected to rise 58% to 63% quarter on quarter in the second quarter of 2026, while NAND flash contract prices are expected to rise 70% to 75%.
Apple usually has more leverage than smaller device makers, but not a free pass. Morningstar analyst William Kerwin told Reuters Apple is “better-positioned” because it buys under contracts, but “isn’t immune” to higher input costs. Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne said the shortage could lead to “more tepid consumer device sales” this year. Reuters
The squeeze is already broader than Apple. Reuters reported in January that Dell and Lenovo were expected by TrendForce to plan price hikes of as much as 20%, while HP CEO Enrique Lores had said the company would raise PC prices because of significant memory costs.
For Apple, the holdup appears tied to supply, not software readiness. 9to5Mac, citing Gurman, said software changes for the touchscreen MacBook Pro would be ready in the fall as part of macOS 27, leaving components such as RAM and SSD storage as the main constraint.
There is still room for the timeline to move. Apple has not announced either product, and reported launch windows often shift before hardware enters mass production. The downside case is simple: if memory supply stays tight, Apple may hold launches until it can build enough stock, or it could protect margins with higher prices on premium configurations.
The story is bigger than one Mac cycle. Morgan Stanley said Monday that more autonomous AI systems could shift computing bottlenecks toward CPUs and memory, sharply lifting memory demand and giving supply-constrained chip companies more pricing power. That is now touching the part of the market Apple used to be best placed to shield.
