alt Hacker NewsDamn. Will this company ever make a Mac with cellular built in
Replies
I don't think that would be very popular considering how easy it is to hotspot to your phone. Their watches only offer cellular because they're frequently used away from a phone.
I would love it though if they did, but it would probably require a data-only esim.
When they don't have to pay a percentage of sales price as royalty to Qualcomm.
Because of the integration between the iPhone and the Mac it is extremely easy to tether your Mac to your phone. Like three clicks easy. Why would anyone want to pay for another data plan?
No. Apple needs reasons for the iPad to exist.
All of the rumors pointed that this time in the refresh cycle is a spec bump and if they ever were going to make a Mac with cellular it would be the end of the year with the Macbook Pro redesign.
Even a PCMCIA slot would help! ;)
Yeah that would be nice. My thinking is that they don't want to cannibalize ipad sales.
The rumours are that this is coming later this year with the M6 generation (along with OLED touch screens).
Agreed. That's my upgrade cue. Cellular iPad changed me.
Mobile hotspot is clunky and unreliable still. I don't see that changing in the next 5-10 years.
Yeah not sure if it's so necessary.
Everyone carries their phone. Power users (i.e. nomads who need connectivity in many different places) have lots of unlimited data plans available that are modestly priced (I've travelled asia the last few months and used e-sims for like $10 a month in each country). And that's a niche group, but even they have their phone as a hotspot. Downside is that it burns battery, but if you're sitting somewhere for any length of time that battery would matter, just plugging-in basically resolves that.
The vast majority of us are either at home, work, friends/family or a rotating set of a few local cafe's, all of which are in our wifi auto-connect list, and have their phone hotspot for the rare occasion there is no wifi.
Then for the powerusers you could just buy a mobile hotspot device as well, basically what your phone does but it's just connectivity + battery.
It's not as cheap a part as you'd think, estimates range between $100 and $300 extra per laptop, even though it seems like a niche thing for which alternatives at lower/similar price points (phone/dedicated device) already exist. So I'm not sure we're going to see it anytime soon. Maybe with Apple making its own modems now it'll happen in a few years. Previously it'd just make for a more expensive device for something few users need (and shipping cheap devices to everyone is a priority with their service business of $100b in 2025, more than Tesla with a market cap of 1 trillion)