The story of why many people who bought a Mac during the New Year sale are seeing a 'March delivery' date

“I bought a Mac during the New Year sale, but
the delivery date has somehow become March”

Such comments have been appearing here and there recently.

I thought it might just be a few people, but there are multiple similar reports both domestically and internationally, and it seems to be
a phenomenon that is actually happening.

What is actually happening

• Purchased a Mac from the official Apple Store during the New Year sale period

• At the time of order, it was 'delivery in early February'

• After that, the scheduled delivery date slipped to late February or March

• It is especially common with CTO (custom configurations)

Some people are even seeing 'scheduled for mid-March'.

Which models are most affected?

The trend shows that it is common for:

• MacBook Pro

• High-end configurations (Pro / Max series)

• CTO models with upgraded memory and SSD

These are what you might call 'heavy configurations among the best-sellers'.

Conversely,

• Standard configurations

• In-store stock models

These seem to be relatively less affected.

Why are delivery times being extended?

Although there has been no official explanation from Apple, the following are considered to be the reasons.

1. It sold better than expected during the New Year's sale

The New Year's sale is a time when

• point rewards

• enhanced trade-in offers

• concentrated demand at the start of the year

tend to overlap, causing orders to surge all at once.

In particular, there is a possibility that the trend of 'getting a Mac now' has accelerated.

2. Supply adjustments for CTO parts

CTO models have

• memory

• SSD

• SoC configurations

produced individually, so
they are prone to delays due to parts inventory or production line constraints.

The situation is different from standard configurations that can be mass-produced.

3. Production adjustments in anticipation of next-generation Macs

This is purely speculation, but

• next-generation chips

• next-generation models

in anticipation of the transition to
the possibility that production of current models is being limited is also conceivable.

Apple often does this kind of "quiet adjustment".

Should I cancel this?

To conclude,

• If you need it urgently → Consider store stock or refurbished models

• If you can wait → Waiting as is is the right answer

is the answer.

Especially now,

• there is plenty of stock for refurbished Macs

• it's a generation where performance differences are hard to feel

so,
choosing "a refurbished model for immediate use rather than waiting until March"
is also quite reasonable.

Conversely, you can also look at it this way

The fact that the delivery time is extended means,

• that muchorders are concentrated

• Apple iscontrolling shipments

is also a sign of that.

"The current Mac is still selling well"
"I wasn't wrong about the timing to buy"

It's also fine to interpret it that way.

Something is moving behind the scenes

• The delivery delay for Macs bought during the New Year's saleis actually happening

• in some casesit has extended to a March delivery

• Occurring mainly with high-end configurations and CTO models

• It is better to observe the situation and make a decision rather than canceling in a panic

Quietly, but surely,
behind the scenes at Apple, it feels like something is moving.

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