The machines themselves are fine. But the storage is not.
Beneath the gleaming surface of Apple's stable Mac pricing, a quieter disruption is reshaping what it costs to simply hold onto one's own data. AI data centers, hungry for storage at industrial scale, have consumed so much of the global supply that consumer-grade external SSDs have tripled in price almost overnight — a 1TB drive now commanding $360 where it once asked $120. The machines we buy may not have changed, but the world around them has, and the cost of that transformation is landing squarely on ordinary users.
- AI data centers are absorbing storage supply at such scale that consumer markets are being left with scraps — and paying dearly for them.
- A 1TB SanDisk external SSD has jumped from $120 to $360, a 300% increase that is not an anomaly but a market-wide pattern affecting multiple manufacturers.
- Apple controls its own hardware pricing and has held the line, but external storage is priced by vendors — meaning Apple's storefronts now display prices Apple itself did not set and cannot soften.
- External SSDs are selling out across retailers, including Apple's own website, as inventory dries up faster than it can be replenished.
- Apple's quiet discontinuation of its 512GB MacBook Pro option may now look prescient — buying more internal storage upfront is increasingly the rational choice over braving the external market.
Apple's Macs are not getting more expensive. But the storage you might want to pair with them is a different story entirely.
External solid-state drives have become collateral damage in the AI infrastructure boom. Data centers require enormous amounts of storage to operate, and they have consumed enough of the global supply to leave consumers facing brutal markups. A 1TB SanDisk drive that cost $120 a year ago now sells for $360. A 4TB model has climbed from roughly $500 to $1,200. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman documented the shift after Apple updated its external storage listings — prices that Apple does not set, but simply reflects, since vendors control their own margins.
The irony is not lost on longtime Apple watchers. The company has long drawn criticism for charging premium prices on built-in memory and storage. Yet right now, Apple's own hardware looks like the reasonable option. A MacBook Pro with M5, 16GB of unified memory, and 512GB of storage runs $1,399.99. Stepping up to 1TB adds only $100. Apple recently discontinued the 512GB entry point altogether — a move that, given current market conditions, may actually benefit buyers. Paying Apple's modest upgrade fee now looks far more sensible than entering an external storage market where prices have tripled.
The situation is expected to worsen. External SSDs are selling out across retailers, and the supply chain has been structurally redirected toward data center infrastructure. This is not a temporary spike. It is a reallocation of resources toward AI at the expense of consumer options — and for anyone who needs to expand capacity or back up their data, the window for reasonable pricing may have already closed.
The machines themselves are fine. Apple's new Macs are not getting more expensive—at least not yet. But if you need to buy storage to go with them, you're about to have a very different conversation with your wallet.
External solid-state drives have become collateral damage in the scramble for computing resources. AI data centers, which require vast amounts of storage to function, have consumed so much of the global supply that what's left for consumers carries a brutal markup. A one-terabyte SanDisk drive that cost $120 a year ago now sells for $360. A four-terabyte model has climbed from around $500 to $1,200. These are not modest adjustments. They are price increases of 300 percent and more.
Mark Gurman, reporting for Bloomberg, documented the shift this week after Apple updated its external storage listings across both its website and physical retail locations. The price tags reflected a market in distress. Drives from multiple manufacturers were affected, not just SanDisk. What made the situation particularly acute was that these were not Apple's prices—the company does not set them. Vendors control their own pricing, which means Apple is simply passing along what the market now demands. Still, the effect is the same: consumers who want to expand their storage capacity are being asked to pay multiples of what they would have paid months earlier.
The irony is sharp. Apple has spent years absorbing criticism for charging premium prices on memory and storage upgrades built into its machines. The company's margins on these components have been a persistent complaint among buyers and reviewers alike. But right now, the opposite dynamic is playing out. Apple's own hardware remains reasonably priced. The base MacBook Pro with M5 chip, 16 gigabytes of unified memory, and 512 gigabytes of storage costs $1,399.99. The step up to one terabyte adds only $100, bringing the price to $1,499.99. These are the machines Apple controls. The external storage market, by contrast, has become a different animal entirely.
Apple recently discontinued its 512-gigabyte MacBook Pro option, moving the entry point to one terabyte. The timing is notable. Users who might have previously bought a smaller machine and supplemented it with external storage now face a choice: pay Apple's relatively modest $100 upgrade fee, or venture into the external market and confront prices that have tripled. For many, the math suddenly favors buying the larger machine outright.
But even that option is becoming constrained. External SSDs are selling out across retailers, including on Apple's own website. Inventory is drying up as demand collides with a supply chain that has been redirected toward data center infrastructure. As 2026 continues, the situation is expected to worsen. The shortage is not temporary. It reflects a fundamental reallocation of resources toward the infrastructure that powers artificial intelligence, leaving consumer storage options scarce and expensive. For anyone who needs to back up data or expand capacity, the window for reasonable pricing may have already closed.
Notable Quotes
Supply constraints are hurting consumers, with vendors—not Apple—setting the prices on external drives— Mark Gurman, Bloomberg
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
So the prices tripled because of AI data centers. But Apple's own machines didn't get more expensive. How does that work?
Apple controls what it charges for the machines themselves. But external storage—that's made by SanDisk, Western Digital, and others. Those companies set their own prices. When AI data centers buy up most of the supply, the vendors raise prices on what's left for consumers.
So Apple benefits from this, in a way. People who might have bought a cheaper Mac and added storage now just buy the bigger machine.
That's the unintended consequence, yes. Apple's $100 upgrade from 512GB to 1TB suddenly looks like a bargain compared to paying $360 for a 1TB external drive. The company didn't engineer this, but it's working in their favor.
And the drives are selling out?
Across the board. Apple's website, retail stores, everywhere. The shortage isn't just about price anymore. There's nothing to buy at any price.
What happens to someone who actually needs to back up their data right now?
They either pay the premium if they can find inventory, or they wait and hope prices come down. But given how much AI infrastructure is still being built out, waiting might not help.