Apple Store is down: ‘We’re making updates,’ Apple says

Apple’s Online Store is down this morning, with the company saying it’s “making updates to the Apple Store.”

The Apple Store is down

The Apple Store is likely offline as Apple preps for its annual Back to School shopping promotion. Apple launched the promo on June 17 last year, so it’s actually about a week behind this year.

Apple’s Back to School promotion typically offers shoppers AirPods or another eligible accessory for free when they buy a new iPad, MacBook, or iMac.

This year, Apple’s Back to School promotion will likely have an additional wrinkle. Apple started requiring verification for education purchases. This change ended a long-running “honor system” in which anyone could shop at Apple’s Education Store, regardless of actual eligibility.

It is always possible that the Apple Store is down because Apple is about to launch new products. The company is working on multiple product updates, including the Mac Studio, Apple TV, HomePod, Mac mini, and more.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also said last week that Apple will increase product prices due to rising component costs. It’s possible the Apple Store is down as Apple makes those changes.

We’ll update this post once the store is back online with all the details …