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.
That is not what a market failure is.
Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones
91–100 of 188 posts
Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
This logic doesn't hold - the same is true of an iPad. To quote you, "Everyone has a phone. Why increase the BOM?" - if it's ok to include cost of a modem for an iPad, it's ok for a MacBook Pro too.
the thing is, historically, if you already make laptops (and they 20 years ago had a pcmcia slot in which a verizon, etc, cellular modem could fit...i had one), and you already later make iPhones, then it's a short jump from iPhone logic board to iPad. it's a longer jump to get a cellular capable antenna complex in an all metal (think semi faraday cage) aluminium unibody. point is, it's historical artifact originally…
Are these cellular antennas really that much different from the wifi antennas that are already found in Apple laptops?
Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones
#93Every 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 would really love for macbooks to go away and for everyone to use iOS for everything as they will own the entire environment and competition is much less.
Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
the thing is, historically, if you already make laptops (and they 20 years ago had a pcmcia slot in which a verizon, etc, cellular modem could fit...i had one), and you already later make iPhones, then it's a short jump from iPhone logic board to iPad. it's a longer jump to get a cellular capable antenna complex in an all metal (think semi faraday cage) aluminium unibody. point is, it's historical artifact originally…
> 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.
Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
the thing is, historically, if you already make laptops (and they 20 years ago had a pcmcia slot in which a verizon, etc, cellular modem could fit...i had one), and you already later make iPhones, then it's a short jump from iPhone logic board to iPad. it's a longer jump to get a cellular capable antenna complex in an all metal (think semi faraday cage) aluminium unibody. point is, it's historical artifact originally…
Are these cellular antennas really that much different from the wifi antennas that are already found in Apple laptops?
Yes.
it's a huge topic, antennas are tuned in physical geometries for wavelengths, etc.
this is a fun rabbithole
Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones
#96Earlier 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.
Thanks.
That settings app is not a happy place.
Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones
#97Every 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…
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.
Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones
#98Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones
#99What’s the fundamental reason why SOTA modems are more challenging than microprocessors for Apple? Intuitively I would’ve guessed the opposite was true.
For the processors they had Jim Keller
Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones
#100Every 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…
Somehow I doubt it. If that were the case, we'd see a lot more effort to make the iPads true productivity devices, and a lot less effort to modernize Mac hardware.