Regardless of production costs Apple will probably still charge the end-user a high amount extra.
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Apple 'Investigating' Macs With Cellular Connectivity
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Memories of the past are kicking in. 2007 15" MacBook Pro Santa Rosa laptop with a 3G antenna.
It’s actually not. If you add $150 for the cellular modem, which is what it costs to upgrade an iPad for cellular, that makes the base model Macbook Air $1050. This works out to $29.16 for the MacBook over 36months. The unlimited data plan with hotspot from Verizon that I have on my iPad is $9 a month. It was $21 when I first got it, but it’s dropped over the 6 months I’ve had it. This makes the monthly cost for an unlimited cellular MacBook Air base model $38.16, without taxes.
As many have already said, we’re already carrying a phone so why not just tether to it? Am I missing something?
There will never be "normal" usage of satellite. It requires line of sight. But if you want to stand outside all the time to get a signal, it isn't too bad. Then there's the high power consumption of the phone due to the distance and low power signal from satellites.
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I personally think it isn't. You could say the same about iPad, but they have the option for their own cellular connection. Tethering uses your phone's battery, and a phone is typically more critical than a MacBook or iPad should something happen where you can't charge. Additionally, most carriers only allow so much tethering data, whereas a standalone data plan is typically cheaper because you get unlimited data.
I believe it’s most likely due to cost. Qualcomm doesn’t charge a flat rate for using their patented chips, it rather a percentage of the device cost. With Mac’s being generally more expensive, the price begins to become prohibitive. This is already the case with the iPad pros costing $280 extra to add cellular (here in Canada).
Once Apple has started using their own chips, they should be able to add their own chips at a price that’s not completely unreasonable.
More details on this $30 per month unlimited plan that’s probably some legacy plan I can’t get anyway
How can it be prohibitive if a top end iPad Pro sells for $2,399 with a $200 cellular upgrade? The price of iPad Pro exceeded MacBook Air a long time ago.
Plenty of PC notebooks offer cellular for $200 so it's clearly not cost prohibitive. Ditto for the Snapdragon X based notebooks.
I think Apple is a little bit early with this technology, but perhaps they are thinking of the future. Currently cellular data plans with the amount of data for a desktop OS wouldn’t be cheap.
If they can make it sort of affordable a cellular MacBook Air would be an instant buy for me.
If they can make it sort of affordable a cellular MacBook Air would be an instant buy for me.
Xfinity wireless. Two lines, $30.00 each. Unlimited text, data, and talk with tethering allowed. After some amount of high speed data, speeds are slowed. One line for me, one for the spousal unit.
If this product is actually released, it will cannibalize iPad (cellular model) sales for sure...
Instant buy for me. Tethering just doesn’t cut it. Once I went cellular on the iPad Pro- I stayed cellular.
In fact give me a MB PRO with cellular and an oled screen, that device would take a millisecond decision to buy!!
No more carrying 2 devices. I’m at a hotel now whose internet is slooow and spotty. My current MB PRO is useless in this situation. With what I need to do tethering is not really an option. My saving grace is the IPad Pro on cellular.
I am for sure skipping a 2025 upgrade and holding hope the rumors pan out.
Yup. I just posted the MBPRO with cellular would be a nanosecond buy for me. My IPad PRO would bite the dust if a cellular Mac is released. One less device to carry. Put a decent screen on it and the IPad will be gone.
I have to call BS on this. I’ve been tethering for years and years. It’s seamless and works well. So you’re saying you’ll ditch your phone to carry a cellular MBP? Your post is spurious at best.
More than when hotspotted through an unlimited plan on a phone? I use my MacBook like that all the time. Much easier than faffing about with public WiFi connections, which are often slow and have questionable security.
I'm not sure I'd pay extra for a MacBook with built-in cellular data, though. I can't think of a scenario where I'd be out and about and have my computer but not my phone with me. Why pay for two SIMs/data plans when one will do?
Besides the Apple modem chip, another thing that has changed is the move to eSIM, which makes cellular more viable as an option on devices like a MacBook since they don't have to engineer a physical SIM slot into the case.
