Apple to Bring Its 5G Modem to Mac [Report]

It may take a while, but Apple has plans to bring its in-house 5G modem to MacBook, according to a new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Last week, Gurman published a report that detailed Apple's effort to produce a 5G modem that could replace Qualcomm's modem chip for the iPhone. Those efforts have clearly fallen behind schedule; however, the company has thousands of employees dedicated to the project.

It's now expected that Apple's modem will be ready around 2026. However, Gurman expects it to take at least two years after that to make its way to other devices, including Mac.


In the long term, chips inside the Mac, iPad and iPhone will move from 3-nanometer to 2-nanometer. But the real test will be whether Apple can successfully apply its do-it-yourself approach to new areas. That includes building its own cellular modem, a component that's now expected to be ready around 2026. The company will then probably need two or three additional years to get that chip inside cellular versions of the Apple Watch and iPad — and the Mac, once the part is integrated into the company's system-on-a-chip.

It is rather surprising that Apple hasn't already introduced a cellular MacBook, especially with the launch of eSIM. There are plenty of cellular PC laptops on the market and the lack of this feature is a negative for MacBook. Certainly most customers would be happy to see the feature added with a third party modem, rather than wait 2028 to roll around.

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