Zayed Rehman on May 2, 2026, 7:38 pm

Mac mini Price Increased To $799 As Apple Drops $599 Model Amid AI Demand

Apple has quietly made a big change to one of its most popular Macs. The Mac mini is no longer a $599 machine.

The company has removed the 256GB version of the M4 Mac mini. That means the 512GB model, priced at $799, is now the starting point. Nothing else changed in the lineup, but the entry price just jumped by $200 overnight.

So what’s going on? It mostly comes down to demand, and more specifically, AI.

According to CEO Tim Cook, Apple didn’t expect how quickly developers would start using Macs for local AI work. The Mac mini and Mac Studio have become popular for running AI models directly on-device, thanks to Apple’s unified memory system. This setup makes it easier to handle heavy tasks without needing expensive cloud hardware.

Because of that, supply has struggled to keep up. Some configurations are already backordered, and Apple says it could take months to balance things out.

There’s also a bigger industry trend at play. The same memory used in these Macs is in high demand for AI data centers, which is pushing prices up across the board. That puts pressure on consumer devices too.

For everyday users, this feels like a simple price hike. The cheaper option is gone, and you now have to pay more upfront. But for developers, the new base model actually makes more sense, since 256GB was pretty limiting anyway.

Either way, the message is clear. The Mac mini is no longer just a budget desktop. It’s becoming a small but powerful AI machine, and demand is reshaping its price.