4 ms·

The sticking point is paying Qualcomm for the modems, because their terms take a % of the total device sale for each device sold with one. When you're talking a

The sticking point is paying Qualcomm for the modems, because their terms take a % of the total device sale for each device sold with one. When you're talking about $5000 laptops that's a huge amount of money.

tm-guimaraes 3y ago
Also, less risky to start using in house modems on the smaller product segment (laptops with 5g)
- whartung 3y ago
  There's also a lot more room, heat, antenna routing, and power budget in a laptop. They can have something functional, but just generally less efficient (for assorted values of "efficiency") that will work fine in a laptop, but not necessarily in a cell phone form factor.
adolph 3y ago
That doesn't seem to stop more cost sensitive manufacturers like Dell. Maybe other manufacturers just make an SKU for an NGFF module and Qualcomm's cut comes from that? https://www.amazon.com/Zopsc-Replacement-Wireless-DW5811e-Qualcomm/dp/B07VKNR8T2/ https://www.amazon.com/Zopsc-Replacement-Wireless-DW5811e-Qu...
- secondcoming 3y ago
  Are these legit? They seem quite cheap.
  - jdminhbg 3y ago
    It's only LTE, might be an old part.
    - mdasen 3y ago
      It is a very old LTE modem. It looks like it's 10 year old tech. People often forget how much LTE progressed in a decade.
    - secondcoming 3y ago
      yes, but the same suppliers seems to have a suspiciously cheap 5G card too https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5X9ZZR9/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0C5X9ZZR9&pd_rd_w=mDIuT&content-id=amzn1.sym.eb7c1ac5-7c51-4df5-ba34-ca810f1f119a&pf_rd_p=eb7c1ac5-7c51-4df5-ba34-ca810f1f119a&pf_rd_r=125XK1VTSZQDEP3TABGD&pd_rd_wg=3tUd6&pd_rd_r=01e917d0-0f28-40ea-b3ef-3ce7d7f84941&s=electronics&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5X9ZZR9/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?ps...
- jdminhbg 3y ago
  That's just a part. You can also buy a USB-C modem for a MacBook. And being cost-conscious is part of what makes it affordable to sell the integrated machine, since you're paying a % of the product cost. The total take for Qualcomm is smaller, and Dell can still make money selling device management solutions to its customers.
- mdasen 3y ago
  Dell isn't using Qualcomm's modems. At the heart of the Apple-Qualcomm dispute was the no-license, no-chips policy where Qualcomm won't give you their chips if you don't agree to their license terms. If you want FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) license terms, you don't get Qualcomm's modems. Apple needs Qualcomm's modems for their phones. Dell doesn't have a phone business so they can just use the Intel modems. As an aside, it does look like the laptops which have the modem as an option are $2,000+ for a laptop inferior to what Apple sells for $1,800 (slower processor, less hard drive space, same RAM, garbage 250 nit display). It's always hard to tease apart enterprise deals since everything is negotiable. Maybe Apple struck a deal with Qualcomm that they'd agree to no-license/no-chips for the iPhone and iPad, but it excluded other categories like laptops. We simply don't know. LTE/5G laptops are a small segment and data plans are still very expensive. Maybe a few people have gotten a nice unlimited deal, but carriers generally don't want people using lots of data at this point in time. Consumers generally don't want to be spending another monthly fee on their laptop either. It's a bit of a niche market at present. Maybe Apple is hoping to grow it out of a niche if they're able to do it cheaply. Maybe carriers are telling Apple that they are feeling confident about their network capacity in 2028 so it makes the most sense to launch then. If Apple is launching a 5G laptop, they are going to want to do it with carrier partners who have an easy plan ready for consumers. If that plan is "50GB for $50/mo and then you're throttled to an unusable speed," that isn't something that Apple is going to want to promote to their users. If we're talking about 2028, carriers might feel differently about their network capacity. Companies like Dell often target niches that Apple doesn't target. Apple creates a select few high-volume configurations. Right now, few people want a cellular modem in their laptop.

tm-guimaraes 3y ago

Also, less risky to start using in house modems on the smaller product segment (laptops with 5g)

whartung 3y ago
There's also a lot more room, heat, antenna routing, and power budget in a laptop. They can have something functional, but just generally less efficient (for assorted values of "efficiency") that will work fine in a laptop, but not necessarily in a cell phone form factor.

adolph 3y ago

That doesn't seem to stop more cost sensitive manufacturers like Dell. Maybe other manufacturers just make an SKU for an NGFF module and Qualcomm's cut comes from that? https://www.amazon.com/Zopsc-Replacement-Wireless-DW5811e-Qualcomm/dp/B07VKNR8T2/ https://www.amazon.com/Zopsc-Replacement-Wireless-DW5811e-Qu...

secondcoming 3y ago
Are these legit? They seem quite cheap.
- jdminhbg 3y ago
  It's only LTE, might be an old part.
  - mdasen 3y ago
    It is a very old LTE modem. It looks like it's 10 year old tech. People often forget how much LTE progressed in a decade.
  - secondcoming 3y ago
    yes, but the same suppliers seems to have a suspiciously cheap 5G card too https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5X9ZZR9/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0C5X9ZZR9&pd_rd_w=mDIuT&content-id=amzn1.sym.eb7c1ac5-7c51-4df5-ba34-ca810f1f119a&pf_rd_p=eb7c1ac5-7c51-4df5-ba34-ca810f1f119a&pf_rd_r=125XK1VTSZQDEP3TABGD&pd_rd_wg=3tUd6&pd_rd_r=01e917d0-0f28-40ea-b3ef-3ce7d7f84941&s=electronics&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5X9ZZR9/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?ps...
jdminhbg 3y ago
That's just a part. You can also buy a USB-C modem for a MacBook. And being cost-conscious is part of what makes it affordable to sell the integrated machine, since you're paying a % of the product cost. The total take for Qualcomm is smaller, and Dell can still make money selling device management solutions to its customers.
mdasen 3y ago
Dell isn't using Qualcomm's modems. At the heart of the Apple-Qualcomm dispute was the no-license, no-chips policy where Qualcomm won't give you their chips if you don't agree to their license terms. If you want FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) license terms, you don't get Qualcomm's modems. Apple needs Qualcomm's modems for their phones. Dell doesn't have a phone business so they can just use the Intel modems. As an aside, it does look like the laptops which have the modem as an option are $2,000+ for a laptop inferior to what Apple sells for $1,800 (slower processor, less hard drive space, same RAM, garbage 250 nit display). It's always hard to tease apart enterprise deals since everything is negotiable. Maybe Apple struck a deal with Qualcomm that they'd agree to no-license/no-chips for the iPhone and iPad, but it excluded other categories like laptops. We simply don't know. LTE/5G laptops are a small segment and data plans are still very expensive. Maybe a few people have gotten a nice unlimited deal, but carriers generally don't want people using lots of data at this point in time. Consumers generally don't want to be spending another monthly fee on their laptop either. It's a bit of a niche market at present. Maybe Apple is hoping to grow it out of a niche if they're able to do it cheaply. Maybe carriers are telling Apple that they are feeling confident about their network capacity in 2028 so it makes the most sense to launch then. If Apple is launching a 5G laptop, they are going to want to do it with carrier partners who have an easy plan ready for consumers. If that plan is "50GB for $50/mo and then you're throttled to an unusable speed," that isn't something that Apple is going to want to promote to their users. If we're talking about 2028, carriers might feel differently about their network capacity. Companies like Dell often target niches that Apple doesn't target. Apple creates a select few high-volume configurations. Right now, few people want a cellular modem in their laptop.