Apple's Best-Selling Laptop Suddenly Scarce, Prices Soar Dramatically
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - A global shortage of memory chips is now disrupting the availability of Apple’s flagship product, the MacBook Air. The scarcity is being triggered by soaring demand for memory from artificial intelligence (AI) developers, which is absorbing the majority of factory output.
According to a report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the supply constraints previously only affected Apple’s more niche computer lines, such as the Mac mini and Mac Studio. However, the company’s most sought-after model, the MacBook Air, is now feeling the impact. Retailers report that unit availability has become significantly more limited than in previous periods.
Consumers looking to purchase a MacBook Air through Apple’s official website must now be patient. New orders are only expected to ship in the second half of August, with certain configurations not arriving until September.
In Indonesia, the impact of this crisis is clearly visible through a sharp price surge in early July 2026. The 13-inch MacBook Air M5 with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage, previously priced at Rp 20.499 million, is now selling for Rp 25.249 million, an increase of Rp 4.75 million. The 15-inch variant with similar specifications has jumped from Rp 24.499 million to Rp 28.999 million. The largest increase, reaching Rp 8 million, has hit the top-tier 13-inch MacBook Air with 24 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage.
This price hike is not exclusive to Apple products. The memory crisis has drastically altered the pricing landscape for laptops throughout 2026. Major manufacturers like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are now prioritising the production of high-speed memory for AI servers, causing the supply for consumer devices to shrink sharply. The price of DRAM modules alone has reportedly surged by 170 percent over the past year, while memory costs now account for 35 percent of a laptop’s total manufacturing cost, up from a previous 15-20 percent.
In the domestic market, CNBC Indonesia monitoring shows that average laptop prices have risen by Rp 2 million to Rp 4 million, depending on the type and specifications. Laptops that were sold for Rp 7-8 million a year ago are now priced at Rp 9-10 million with similar specifications.
Facing this situation, Apple is reportedly taking several steps. Besides raising selling prices, the US-based company is seeking memory supplies from Chinese suppliers. Another visible impact is the postponement of the back-to-school promotion, which is usually held every June. For the first time, the prepared promotional materials are instead highlighting the base model MacBook Pro. Apple has even explicitly included a warning in its product description stating that ‘MacBook Air availability depends on stock’.
Industry analysts estimate that this price pressure will only begin to ease by the end of 2027 at the earliest, as memory factory production capacity adjusts worldwide.