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Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

wsj.com

101–110 of 188 posts

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#101

Spectacular and catastrophic business destroying world ending no good knee to the furniture corner poke your eye and step on a rusty nail failure I must say.

Yeah, at this rate, Apple might have to shut down in 83000000 years. They are well and truly beleaguered.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#102
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> then it's a short jump from iPhone logic board to iPad. Its arguably an even shorter jump between iPad and MacBook Pro today - the architecture of both products is incredibly similar now. > it's a longer jump to get a cellular capable antenna complex in an all metal (think semi faraday cage) aluminium unibody. You mean just like the aluminium bodies already present on the cellular iPads? Or several generations of i…

cellular ipads have an RF transparent band on their edges. ipad and iphone also have antenna designs integrated with the body design, which currently is only true for wifi and bluetooth in the above mentioned laptops. are you wanting a plastic band atop the laptop closing screen, to get a cellular capable antenna in an otherwise metal body? perhaps that's just not a priority with enough customers.

> are you wanting a plastic band atop the laptop closing screen, to get a cellular capable antenna in an otherwise metal body?

I'm almost certain Apple's world class hardware team can integrate a cellular antenna to an aluminum laptop in a way that is visually pleasing, yes. This isn't some insurmountable problem we are positing here.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They literally have one click pairing to the Wifi hotspot on an iPhone or iPad logged in to the same iCloud account. Everyone has a phone. Why increase the BOM?

I use this a lot. It burns two batteries instead of one, is unreliable, and adds latency. I would very much like to buy a laptop from Apple that has a modem builtin like I can get from Dell. Furthermore, I would like a modem in the laptop that is always on and ready, just like in the iPad (zero click).

I wonder how it will work if you attach an iPhone 15 Pro to your laptop with a short USB/Thunderbolt cable. Presumably it will at least save on rebroadcasting the internet connection.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No matter how much I am willing to pay, I cannot buy what I want. That is a market failure.

From one specific company though, you just don't want one from Dell

The choices are Windows with a modem or macOS without.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#105
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use this a lot. It burns two batteries instead of one, is unreliable, and adds latency. I would very much like to buy a laptop from Apple that has a modem builtin like I can get from Dell. Furthermore, I would like a modem in the laptop that is always on and ready, just like in the iPad (zero click).

I wonder how it will work if you attach an iPhone 15 Pro to your laptop with a short USB/Thunderbolt cable. Presumably it will at least save on rebroadcasting the internet connection.

I often do this with my iPhone 11 Pro. It is dumb and works better than having no connection. It is a ridiculous thing to do at a time when watches have LTE modems.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#106
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has, and still does attempt work via iOS tethering it is in fact a complete dumpster fire. Frequent disconnects which force me to constantly revisit the Settings app to disable & reenable is a nightmare. At this point, after many years of the same level behavior, I suspect the disfunction is on purpose (probably a back room deal with cell phone providers)

If you pull down to open Control Centre and then long-press on the WiFi button, you can toggle the hotspot off and on without having to deal with the Settings app. Not sure if you’re having the same problem but that works well for me.

I often have to toggle it to make it work. It doesn't always work. I just end up trying to work on my phone.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#107
post #93

Every time a new MacBook Pro is released, I check to see if they have figured out how to put a modem in it like they manage to with watches, phones, and tablets. This is an obvious example where the market is failing. The best explanation I heard is that the Apple deal with Qualcomm pays Qualcomm a royalty as a function of the price of the device and Apple does not want to give that much money to Qualcomm and/or rais…

Apple really really really wants to make more money from software subscriptions rather than hardware. They have a much better chance to do this in their walled garden environment of iPhones and iPads rather than on OSX where they face competition from other vendors. They have no incentive to make it easier to be mobile on your macbook when they would much rather you be on your iPhone and iPad instead. Someday they wo…

They make almost all their profits from hardware, and use good software as a strategy to sell more hardware.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The absence of a modem in MacBook Pros does not mean the market is failing.

No matter how much I am willing to pay, I cannot buy what I want. That is a market failure.

I bet you could get what you want if you are willing to pay $10 billion.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#109

Every time a new MacBook Pro is released, I check to see if they have figured out how to put a modem in it like they manage to with watches, phones, and tablets. This is an obvious example where the market is failing. The best explanation I heard is that the Apple deal with Qualcomm pays Qualcomm a royalty as a function of the price of the device and Apple does not want to give that much money to Qualcomm and/or rais…

They literally have one click pairing to the Wifi hotspot on an iPhone or iPad logged in to the same iCloud account. Everyone has a phone. Why increase the BOM?

Because hotspot data is always limited compared to a dedicated line. T-mobile's hotspot is all but useless.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#110
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you put a modem in a device, it becomes something completely different in the eyes of the taxman in some countries and taxes increase drastically.

It’s an option on iPads, surely Apple has the ability to work out a way of making this work? Apparently not.

Sure, they can have multiple versions. However, having multiple versions means multiple designs and production lines and paperwork and regulation complience etc. so Apple probably decided that it's not worth the investment.

It's very unlikely that they were not able to, they could have done it the same we they did with other Apple devices that have a modem.

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