Tethering to an iPhone is so easy though - just select it in the Wifi menu. I'm not sure if I'd ever pay for an LTE modem option. I'm sure it would be better efficiency and performance to have it built-in, but I wouldn't think many people care enough about that small difference to offer it as an option.
It's not about efficiency or performance, it's about not having to own the iPhone in the first place. Just put a SIM card inside the laptop and forget about it. Windows laptops can even seamlessly switch between wifi and LTE depending on which one is available. But of course Apple would never allow that because they want to force you to own the full set of Apple devices. Laptop being self-sufficient would be against their policy.
Not to mention that in the US the cell phone carriers artificially limit tethering speed or put data caps on it when you tether from your phone. You have to buy a dedicated data-only plan and modem.
I use the tethering quite often. I have for years. It is flaky and burns two batteries instead of one. I agree that many people do not care. Some of us who are traveling a lot are willing to pay for more options.
I wonder if one of the obstacles is the amount of data that would likely be used.
Most cellular carriers offer unlimited on-device data plans, but they cap data for tethering. Integrating an LTE modem into a laptop essentially requires a mobile data plan with unlimited tethering - which, AFAIK, doesn’t exist at the moment. I’m not sure why.
Integrating an LTE modem into an iPad requires a mobile data plan, and thats about it. It's not "tethered" if its built into the device.
I've always heard that patent disputes were at the root of the lack of a modem option. Apple had a prototype MacBook Pro back in the early Intel days IIRC but it was never released.
Maybe if Apple ever gets their in-house modems working, we'll see them on all of the product lines, but until then, it's a niche use case that likely isn't causing them to lose a ton of sales.
> It's not "tethered" if its built into the device.
I understand that. My point is that I think an LTE modem in a laptop might reasonably use far more data than an LTE modem in a phone or tablet. Most people who download and/or upload very large files do so on their computer rather than their mobile devices.
There is no reason macOS cannot have some option for throttling usage by background updates when connected over LTE. iPads have an LTE option.
That carriers have not figured out how to charge me by the byte over all my devices instead of per device is really not a big issue to me. I would like to pay for an LTE modem and the necessary bandwidth.
My intuition is that when Apple has their own LTE modem and is not dependent on Qualcomm, a MacBook Pro will have an option similar to that for Dell power users.
The industry as a whole is trying its best to not rely on Qualcomm, given its extremely litigious past. Apple already tried once to avoid using their chips for the iPhone's modem, which I seem to recall failed. When it comes to devices for enterprise, it's less of a gamble because the cost can be passed on to orgs who are less price sensitive.
