Marked-up Mac minis flood eBay amid shortages driven by AI

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TLDR

  • Apple’s M4 Mac mini base model is sold out, pushing buyers to eBay where markups reach $979.

Key Facts

  • The $599 base M4 Mac mini (16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) is sold out on Apple’s site with no delivery or pickup available.
  • Models with 512GB storage or more are only available to ship starting in June.
  • On eBay, the same base configuration is listed from $715 up to $979 for refurbished units; some “lightly used” listings exceed $700.
  • Bloomberg cites an industry-wide memory crunch and a planned Mac mini refresh as contributing factors alongside demand.

Why It Matters

  • Mac minis have become a go-to device for running local AI models at home, driving unusual consumer demand for a desktop machine.
  • The shortage has spilled over to the Mac Studio, which is now also sold out across several configurations.

Sarah Perez, TechCrunch · 2026-04-24 · Read the original