

Carriers will be keen to offer yet another product they can connect to their networks. With 5G networks still in their nascent stage - nationwide coverage is disappointingly slow and the super-high speeds are only found in small pockets of major population centers - the immediate tangible benefits of connectivity are still pretty limited.īut analysts believe 5G will play an increasingly important role in laptops at some point - think one or two generations from now. The company was more than a year and a half behind the competition when it came to putting out a 5G phone, so it likely isn't in a rush to add it into yet another category of devices. The company's sales of Macs accounted for 7.7% of the total market for PCs, a notch up from a year ago, according to Gartner.Īpple also just finished unveiling its family of iPhone 12 handsets, where 5G plays a marquee role. "Apple's stellar Mac results last quarter certainly suggest that the lack of cellular connectivity is not holding Apple back," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Techsponential. The hardware and feature set are identical to previous Macs, so Apple wasn't taking any chances.Īn Apple spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment.Īdding 5G - a feature that customers aren't clamoring for yet - makes little sense at this point. This marks the first generation of Macs running on Apple silicon, and the company likely didn't want to take a flyer on relatively new technology since it had so many other fundamentals to take care of, like processor speed, app compatibility and power management.
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Specifically, these types of processors know how to balance the power management issues that come with a persistent cellular connection, so adding these radios is a snap. "Given that remote work is going to be a permanent fixture in enterprise in one way, shape or form, 5G notebooks could become an enterprise mainstay," IDC analyst Linn Huang said.īecause Apple's chips are based on the Arm architecture of mobile processors that power all smartphones and tablets, they're already extremely comfortable with cellular radios.
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The MacBook Pro will get the M1 treatment in a new update. Pair that with a 5G network that's starting to mature, promising higher speeds and better coverage in the coming years, and the idea of a constantly connected MacBook Air or Pro sounds attractive. Then along came the coronavirus, which has changed, like so many other things, the way we've seen connectivity and how we all work.

Ĭellular-connected laptops have been around for years, but they've largely been a niche category serving corporate road warriors. Yet it's what Apple spent no time on that could hold the most promise for this new line of Apple silicon-based Macs: 5G. He also talked up how quickly the computers would boot up and run programs, such as on the Mac Mini.
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Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering, talked up the power-saving benefits, which allow for the longest battery life ever for the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. Apple/Screenshot by Sarah Tew/CNETĪpple on Tuesday spent 45 minutes breathlessly describing the benefits of the custom-designed chip, the M1, powering its newest Macs.
