Apple quietly removed the 512GB RAM upgrade option from the Mac Studio this week, capping the M3 Ultra configuration at 256GB, MacRumors reported on Thursday. At the same time, Apple raised the price of the 96GB-to-256GB upgrade from $1,600 to $2,000, and delivery estimates for 256GB configurations have slipped to May.
The Mac Studio starts at 36GB RAM, with upgrade tiers ranging from 48GB up to — until this week — 512GB. The 512GB option, which was exclusive to the M3 Ultra chip and previously cost $4,000, no longer appears on Apple’s configuration page. Apple has not commented publicly on the change, but the company’s rationale will inevitably link back to the ongoing memory shortage, which has sent commodity prices to record highs and constrained supply across the industry.
Apple has generally fared better than most OEMs struggling with the memory shortage. The company is understood to have secured long-term DRAM supply agreements extending through Q1 2026, giving it more allocation certainty than Android manufacturers or PC vendors working on shorter procurement cycles, but CEO Tim Cook has acknowledged that the shortage will have a greater impact on Apple’s Q2 earnings.
Apple is also expected to release M5 Max and M5 Ultra versions of the Mac Studio later in 2026, though no release window has been confirmed. Whether the 512GB tier returns with that update will depend on whether DRAM supply conditions improve enough to make high-density memory available at scale, but that’s not looking likely.
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