New Mac Studio and Touchscreen MacBook Pro Could Be Delayed by Memory Shortage

Apple's Mac release timeline may be slipping as memory shortages continue across the semiconductor industry. The constraints are starting to show up across the broader tech sector, and could end up pushing back both the next generation Mac Studio and Apple's highly anticipated touch screen MacBook Pro.



Apple has been working on a refresh of the Mac Studio with newer high-end silicon to succeed the current generation. While the company had been targeting a mid-year release for the desktop, that timeline now appears to be shifting. According to Mark Gurman, the industrywide memory shortage is creating bottlenecks for systems that rely on large amounts of unified memory. Internal expectations now point to the new Mac Studio arriving closer to October.


Signs of tightening supply are already showing up in retail channels. Inventory levels for the current Mac Studio have been declining in recent weeks, particularly for higher-memory configurations. Apple is having to manage limited component availability across its lineup as it prepares its next round of Mac updates.

The supply chain pressure is also affecting Apple's notebook roadmap. The company has been developing a major redesign for the MacBook Pro that introduces an OLED display and touch input. The updated model is expected to feature a thinner design and replace the traditional notch with a Dynamic Island-style camera cutout. Apple had been planning a release window between late 2026 and early 2027.

With memory constraints continuing and a transition to next-generation chips on the roadmap, the launch timing for the touch screen MacBook Pro may shift toward the later end of that window. Gurman notes that the software work for touch support in macOS is already well underway. That suggests any delay would be tied to hardware production and component availability rather than the operating system itself.