Apple appears to have discontinued its cheapest Mac mini

Source: Engadget

Discontinuation of the Entry‑Level Mac mini

Apple has stopped selling the cheapest $599 model of the Mac mini, as indicated by changes to the company’s store page spotted by MacRumors. Only configurations with at least 512 GB of storage are now available, effectively raising the starting price to $799. The tiny desktop’s popularity as a host for local AI agents likely contributed to this shift.

Engadget has reached out to Apple for confirmation of the discontinuation and will update the article if a response is received.

Background

When Apple introduced the redesigned Mac mini for $599 in 2024, it was one of the company’s best deals in years. The device offered multiple tiers of Apple’s M4 chip, a minimum of 16 GB of RAM, at least 256 GB of storage, and a generous selection of ports, making it remarkably capable. These specs attracted the AI community, first for running local large language models and later as a dedicated machine for AI agents such as OpenClaw.

Possible Reasons

A combination of heightened demand from AI enthusiasts and growing constraints on components like memory and storage may have motivated Apple to remove the entry‑level model, at least temporarily.

CEO Tim Cook hinted at supply‑demand imbalances during Apple’s most recent earnings call:

“We think, looking forward, that the Mac mini and Mac Studio may take several months to reach supply‑demand balance. Both of these are amazing platforms for AI and agentic tools and the customer recognition of that is happening faster than what we had predicted, and so we saw higher than expected demand.”
—Apple earnings call coverage, MacRumors

Related Product Adjustments

Apple has managed component shortages—sometimes dubbed “RAMaggedon”—by adjusting other product lines. When the MacBook Air was updated with the M5 chip, its base storage was increased to 512 GB and the starting price rose to $1,099, likely reflecting higher RAM and storage costs. The impact was mitigated by the introduction of the MacBook Neo, which offered comparable performance at a more affordable $600.

Currently, there is no equivalent low‑cost offering for the Mac mini, and it remains uncertain when—or if—Apple will reintroduce a similarly priced model.