Apple Just Raised the Mac Mini's Starting Price
Apple this week stopped offering a 256GB storage option for the Mac mini worldwide. As a result, the desktop computer now has a higher starting price.
In the U.S., for example, the Mac mini now starts at $799 with the M4 chip, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage, whereas it previously started at $599 with the M4 chip, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.
While the 512GB configuration always started at $799, customers who want a new Mac mini from Apple for $599 no longer have such an option.
Mac mini models with the M4 Pro chip already had a minimum of 512GB of storage, so there are no pricing changes for those configurations.
The base Mac mini with 256GB of storage had already been unavailable to order since last week, but it has now been removed entirely.
Due to an ongoing global memory chip shortage, driven by companies building out AI server facilities, Apple is expecting "significantly higher memory costs" in the current quarter. This situation likely contributed to Apple's decision to stop selling the $599 configuration, and it remains to be seen if it ever returns.
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