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Article: Apple’s Mac Mini selling out across China as OpenClaw fever rages

Impact Score

5 / 10

AI Summary (Processed Content)

Demand for Apple's Mac Mini is surging across China, leading to widespread sell-outs and significant price mark-ups by remaining retailers. This spike is driven by a national obsession with running the autonomous AI tool OpenClaw, for which the Mac Mini is seen as an ideal, affordable, and secure dedicated machine. Wait times at official stores have extended to over a month, with the trend particularly evident in major electronics hubs like Beijing and Shenzhen.

The main topics covered are the high demand and scarcity of the Mac Mini in China, the resulting price increases, and the cause of this trend: using the device to run the OpenClaw AI tool.

Original URL

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3346538/apples-mac-mini-selling-out-across-china-openclaw-fever-rages?utm_source=rss_feed

Source Feed

Tech - South China Morning Post

Published Date

2026-03-13 14:00

Fetched Date

2026-03-13 11:30

Processed Date

2026-03-13 11:32

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Present

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Not Clustered

Raw Extracted Content

Apple’s Mac Mini selling out across China as OpenClaw fever rages
The few retailers who still have units jack up prices as demand surges for the computer, seen as ideal for safely running the AI tool
Beijing electronics seller Frank Chai said he was asking for a mark-up of at least 500 yuan (US$73) for a basic Mac Mini model, which comes with 16 gigabytes (GB) of memory and 256GB storage and normally sells for 4,499 yuan.
Chai, who runs a private shop in Beijing’s Zhongguancun area, said on Friday that he had a few units available. Meanwhile, the wait time for the same model at the official Apple Store had expanded to at least a month.
The Mac Mini’s sudden surge in popularity comes amid a national obsession for OpenClaw, an autonomous AI tool. The Apple device, with its affordable price and robust performance, has emerged as an ideal dedicated machine for running OpenClaw and other AI agents, allowing users to leverage its capabilities while minimising security and privacy risks.
Among the most affordable personal computers from the US tech company, the Mac Mini was also selling out rapidly in Shenzhen’s Huaqiangbei, home to the world’s largest electronics wholesale market, according to a Friday report by state-owned Securities Times.
Many vendors had run out of stock, while the few who still had units were charging mark-ups of several hundred yuan, the report said.
Running OpenClaw – a trend dubbed “raising a lobster” in reference to the tool’s marketing mascot – was best done on a dedicated computer due to the software’s design, according to industry experts.