Every M6 Mac mini and M5 Mac Studio memory upgrade costs $25 per gigabyte
Seven memory upgrades across four chips in the new Mac mini and Mac Studio lines, and every one of them works out to $25.00 per gigabyte. The base tiers have cost that since 2020. The big tiers used to cost $10 to $16.67 — the flat rate is an increase everywhere except the bottom.
Every memory upgrade Apple sells on the new M6 Mac mini and M5 Mac Studio costs exactly $25 per gigabyte. Adding 8GB to the base mini is $200. Adding 160GB to an M5 Ultra Studio is $4,000. Seven upgrade options across four chips, and the rate never moves.
How much does Apple charge per gigabyte of unified memory?
| Machine | Upgrade | Price | Per GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| M6 Mac mini | 16GB → 24GB | $200 | $25.00 |
| M6 Mac mini | 16GB → 32GB | $400 | $25.00 |
| M5 Pro Mac mini | 24GB → 48GB | $600 | $25.00 |
| M5 Pro Mac mini | 24GB → 64GB | $1,000 | $25.00 |
| M5 Max Mac Studio | 48GB → 64GB | $400 | $25.00 |
| M5 Max Mac Studio | 48GB → 128GB | $2,000 | $25.00 |
| M5 Ultra Mac Studio | 96GB → 256GB | $4,000 | $25.00 |
The table draws on Daring Fireball’s configuration rundown and Apple’s configurator, and the list prices check out: the 16GB/512GB M6 mini is $1,099 and the 24GB/512GB is $1,299 — $200 for 8GB — and an 18-core M5 Pro mini with 64GB and 1TB lists at $3,199. One tier is missing: the M5 Ultra’s 512GB option exists on the page but carries no price until late October.
Did Apple raise Mac memory upgrade prices?
At the bulk tiers, yes. At the base tier, $25 per gigabyte is six years old. The M1 mini’s 8GB-to-16GB upgrade cost $200 in 2020, and the M2 and M4 minis charged the same rate for the same jump.
Bulk memory is the change. Pro, Max and Ultra upgrades used to get cheaper per gigabyte as they got bigger:
| Upgrade | Then | Now | Per GB then | Per GB now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pro mini, 24GB → 48GB | $400 (M4 Pro) | $600 (M5 Pro) | $16.67 | $25.00 |
| Pro mini, 24GB → 64GB | $600 (M4 Pro) | $1,000 (M5 Pro) | $15.00 | $25.00 |
| Ultra Studio, 96GB → 256GB | $1,600 (M3 Ultra, March 2025) | $4,000 (M5 Ultra) | $10.00 | $25.00 |
The Ultra jump is the steepest. The M3 Ultra’s 96GB-to-256GB upgrade launched at $1,600 in March 2025, was repriced to $2,000 in March 2026 and its M5 Ultra equivalent now costs $4,000 — 2.5 times the March 2025 price in 18 months. Apple did not cut the base rate to meet the bulk rate; the bulk rate rose to meet the base.
The lineup also restores options the shortage took away. The M6 mini brings back the 32GB configuration the M4 mini lost; our database records the M4 Pro 64GB and M4 Max 48GB and 128GB options withdrawn as of June 25, with press coverage of the cuts starting April 11 and May 5, after the 512GB Studio option went first in March.
Is Apple’s $25-per-gigabyte rate cheaper than PC RAM?
It is not a like-for-like comparison. Apple’s memory pricing was mocked for years as roughly five times what commodity RAM cost. That reference has moved. On Aug. 25, TrendForce’s spot price for a branded 16Gb DDR5 chip averaged $54.167 — an estimated $27.08 per gigabyte, with a high of $68.50 and a low of $37 per chip. By that measure, Apple’s flat $25 sits below spot.
The caveat belongs in the same breath: spot prices for DDR5 chips are not what Apple pays. The Macs use LPDDR5X, which has no public spot market, and Apple buys on contract at volume; TrendForce projected LPDDR5X contract prices up 78-90% quarter over quarter. Spot DDR5 is a reference point, not a bill of materials. What it shows is direction: the memory repricing we traced across local AI hardware and the M6 lineup’s worse price-per-benchmark has now pushed commodity memory past the price Apple charges for its own — at least until the 512GB Ultra tier gets a number in late October.
About the data: Upgrade prices are Apple's U.S. configurator prices for the M6 Mac mini, M5 Pro Mac mini and M5 Max/Ultra Mac Studio as observed Aug. 25, 2026, cross-checked against Daring Fireball's configuration rundown and against full-configuration list prices. Historical upgrade prices come from our configuration database; the June 25, 2026, withdrawal dates for the M4 Pro 64GB and M4 Max 48GB and 128GB options are the database's valid_to records, while press reports placed the removals on April 11 and May 5. The DDR5 comparison converts TrendForce's Aug. 25 spot quote for branded 16Gb DDR5 chips ($54.167 average) to an estimated $27.08 per gigabyte; spot DDR5 is a market reference point, not Apple's LPDDR5X contract cost, for which no public price exists.