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I really hope these modems will come to MacBooks.

shmoe 2y ago
Man, this has been talked about for years now. I wish they'd just pull that trigger. A cell enabled macbook is the dream.
- atonse 2y ago
  Yeah for a while I felt that a valid counter-argument was "modems are iterating faster than laptop cycles so you don't want to be stuck with an older modem" – but with 5G modems and all the architecture changing over to IP with LTE years ago, now you can probably have a C1 in a laptop for the next 5 years and be perfectly content without cell phone networks phasing those out.
  - xxpor 2y ago
    The issue for LTE and 5G is/was less tech evolution as it was just new bands coming online. At least in the US, you really did need a pretty recent phone to get decent performance on TMobile or even more recently C-Band 5G
- zitterbewegung 2y ago
  ARM MacBooks before launch were talked about for 10 years too. Same with AVP. Cannibalizing the iPad and iPhone market is a big concern for Apple
- Cthulhu_ 2y ago
  I suspect they have some numbers on how much the ipad cellular is sold and how often that feature is used and they may be using that to determine whether it's worth it. But now that they develop the chip in house, I don't see why they wouldn't include it. In fact, given they put an Apple Watch chip and extra display in their macbooks for a few years, I don't see why they haven't done it years ago. edit: I googled, apparently Qualcomm's licensing fees are a percentage of the whole device the chipset is installed in. I suppose it's less of a factor now that some iPhones are more expensive than Macbooks though.
  - formerly_proven 2y ago
    Apple doesn’t even put NFC hardware into iPads. Despite the obvious use cases (nevermind platform homogeneity)
xnx 2y ago
Even better if Apple started its own cellular ISP.
- shmoe 2y ago
  It would just be an MVNO I would think, but still cool.
- boredatoms 2y ago
  TBH Id sign up in half a second
kcb 2y ago
Is there really a need to carry multiple cellular modems? We already have one in our pocket most of the time and can easily share it in a single click. Feels like the vast majority of use cases are already covered by that solution and it doesn't require a second expensive data plan.
- zuhsetaqi 2y ago
  You don't need a second expensive data plan. There are plans where you can get more than one device connected with.

Man, this has been talked about for years now. I wish they'd just pull that trigger. A cell enabled macbook is the dream.

atonse 2y ago
Yeah for a while I felt that a valid counter-argument was "modems are iterating faster than laptop cycles so you don't want to be stuck with an older modem" – but with 5G modems and all the architecture changing over to IP with LTE years ago, now you can probably have a C1 in a laptop for the next 5 years and be perfectly content without cell phone networks phasing those out.
- xxpor 2y ago
  The issue for LTE and 5G is/was less tech evolution as it was just new bands coming online. At least in the US, you really did need a pretty recent phone to get decent performance on TMobile or even more recently C-Band 5G
zitterbewegung 2y ago
ARM MacBooks before launch were talked about for 10 years too. Same with AVP. Cannibalizing the iPad and iPhone market is a big concern for Apple
Cthulhu_ 2y ago
I suspect they have some numbers on how much the ipad cellular is sold and how often that feature is used and they may be using that to determine whether it's worth it. But now that they develop the chip in house, I don't see why they wouldn't include it. In fact, given they put an Apple Watch chip and extra display in their macbooks for a few years, I don't see why they haven't done it years ago. edit: I googled, apparently Qualcomm's licensing fees are a percentage of the whole device the chipset is installed in. I suppose it's less of a factor now that some iPhones are more expensive than Macbooks though.
- formerly_proven 2y ago
  Apple doesn’t even put NFC hardware into iPads. Despite the obvious use cases (nevermind platform homogeneity)

xnx 2y ago

Even better if Apple started its own cellular ISP.

shmoe 2y ago
It would just be an MVNO I would think, but still cool.
boredatoms 2y ago
TBH Id sign up in half a second

kcb 2y ago

Is there really a need to carry multiple cellular modems? We already have one in our pocket most of the time and can easily share it in a single click. Feels like the vast majority of use cases are already covered by that solution and it doesn't require a second expensive data plan.

zuhsetaqi 2y ago
You don't need a second expensive data plan. There are plans where you can get more than one device connected with.