Apple’s popular MacBook Air is experiencing significant supply shortages, while the company explores turning its upcoming smart glasses and headsets into health and fitness devices, according to reporting from Bloomberg News‘ Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter.
MacBook Air Hit by Memory Shortage
The global shortage of memory chips, driven by surging demand from AI data centers, has now reached Apple’s highest-volume Mac. Retail sources describe inventory of the MacBook Air as more constrained than they can recall. Online orders through Apple’s site show delivery estimates stretching into late August, with some higher-RAM or customized configurations delayed into September.
The crunch previously affected lower-volume models such as the Mac mini and Mac Studio. Apple has already raised prices on Macs and iPads (including a $200 increase that took the MacBook Air’s starting price to $1,299 in the U.S.) to offset higher component costs. The company is also exploring sourcing memory from Chinese suppliers for devices sold in China and is prioritizing production and sales of the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro ahead of an expected M6 refresh later in the fall. Marketing for the back-to-school season has been adjusted, with greater emphasis on the Pro and warnings that the MacBook Air is “subject to availability.” The timing is particularly challenging, as the MacBook Air is typically a strong seller during that period.
Health and Fitness Ambitions for Glasses and Headsets
Separately, Apple is working to position its future smart glasses and headsets as health and fitness devices. The company’s Vision Products Group is hiring a strategic product design leader to “define the future of health, well-being, and fitness experiences across vision products,” seeking candidates experienced in digital health products and sensor-driven features.
Earlier plans to bring similar capabilities to the Vision Pro, including a Fitness+ experience that would use body-tracking technology to analyze movements during workouts, were dropped due to technological hurdles and the headset’s weight. Future lighter glasses could incorporate a range of sensors to track movement, form, posture, and other fitness data without compromising comfort, Gurman reports. These features are not expected in the first-generation smart glasses (anticipated around 2027) but are part of longer-term plans that could complement devices such as the Apple Watch.
These developments highlight ongoing supply-chain pressures in consumer electronics caused by AI infrastructure buildouts, alongside Apple’s continued expansion of its health and wearable ecosystem beyond the Watch and AirPods.
MacDailyNews Take: Lighter Apple smart glasses will enable a huge range of applications. We can’t wait!
The Apple Glasses will be the key as holding up slabs of glass as “windows” is suboptimal. When we’re running in a race, for example, we don’t want to have to hold an iPhone or even glance at an Apple Watch, but with a pair of Apple Glasses constantly overlaying time, pace, splits, etc. it’ll be ideal! — MacDailyNews, September 6, 2019
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Tim Cook left things in a real mess
Just look at the share price
Bye bye Tim
Your supply chain obsession was bound to run out something that has been predicable for some time. Your complete lack of innovation getting rid of the bright young minds that could innovate because you did not understand them them and they warned you about wasting money on the car has left the company bereft of new innovative products. The song and dance about faster machines a home pod with a screen on it are not innovative. The phone is the best in the world
As the economy recedes people will hang on to their new phones longer and its only new innovative products that will prompt them to spend and for some insane reason you’ve starved the company of. Goodbye Tim you chose the time to leave knowing eyed hand the mess over to some one else.
John are you ready to step up or are you going to follow Tim in the down ward spiral in which case your tenure will be short lived