Apple caps Mac Studio M3 Ultra at 256GB unified memory
Apple has quietly dropped the 512GB unified memory option from Mac Studio. Its current Mac Studio product pages now show M3 Ultra configurations topping out at 256GB unified memory, which means the previous top-end memory tier is no longer part of the standard configurator.
This is a clear change from launch. When Apple introduced Mac Studio with M3 Ultra in March 2025, it said the system could be configured with up to 512GB unified memory. Today, Apple’s public sales pages no longer advertise that option.
March 5, 2025, announcement of 512GB option, Source: Apple
MacRumors reports that Apple also raised the price of the 256GB upgrade on the high-end M3 Ultra model. According to that report, moving from 96GB to 256GB now costs $2,000, up from $1,600, while the removed 512GB option previously cost $4,000. The same report says 256GB configurations now show longer wait times than lower-memory models.
Source: Apple
Apple has not given a public reason for the change. The timing lines up with a broader memory supply squeeze. The M3 Ultra model now tops out at 256GB unified memory on Apple’s current store pages, not 512GB. That will matter most to users buying these systems for large local AI models, data-heavy workloads, and other tasks that benefit from keeping more data in memory, which Apple itself highlighted when it launched M3 Ultra.
Source: Mac Studio (Apple) via MacRumors
