Apple’s latest desktops, the Mac mini and Mac Studio, have become as elusive as last year's must-haves. Configurations that were once easily available are now marked ‘currently unavailable,’ while others will take weeks or months to arrive.

At Apple's Q2 earnings call, CEO Tim Cook admitted that higher-than-expected demand for these machines has led to shortages. He cited their popularity among users eager to run AI and agentic tools locally as the culprit, noting that ‘both are amazing platforms’ for such tasks but adding that customer recognition is happening faster than predicted.

While Cook did not specify which components were in short supply, he mentioned constrained availability of advanced manufacturing nodes used to produce SoCs. He stated that these shortages primarily impacted the iPhone, with a lesser effect on Macs, largely due to TSMC’s lack of spare capacity to fulfill Apple's requests for more chips.

For now, patience is key for those hoping to upgrade. Cook suggested it may take several months for supply to meet demand, though he did not provide any timeline for resolution.