The new Mac mini M6 starts at $899, up from $599 for the same base memory two years ago. Apple hasn't explained the jump, but the mechanism is pretty traceable if you follow the memory supply chain.
TrendForce has DRAM contract prices up 90-95% quarter on quarter. The reason is straightforward: AI datacenters are now absorbing roughly 70% of high-end memory supply, and that demand doesn't compete on the same terms consumer electronics makers are used to. A hyperscaler buying HBM and server DRAM for a GPU cluster pays whatever keeps the cluster fed; a laptop or Mac mini SKU has a retail price point it can't blow past without hurting sales, so the squeeze shows up as thinner margins first and then, eventually, sticker shock like this.
What's notable is the timing signal: Intel and Silicon Motion are both saying this doesn't ease before 2028. That's not a one-quarter blip getting priced in, it's a multi-year reallocation of a finite input (fab capacity for memory) toward AI infrastructure and away from consumer devices.
Curious what others are seeing on this - is anyone tracking whether laptop/phone OEMs are quietly downgrading base RAM/storage configs instead of eating the cost, or is straight price increase the more common response so far?
[link] [comments]