• soramac@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Wait, if Apple is able to pull off their own cellular modem chip, they might put it into a Mac as well? That would be sick.

    • NPPraxis@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      The problem with the cellular modem is that Apple has to hit a moving target. Qualcomm has had significant performance increases in their last few modem releases. Apple needs to be at least almost as good as Qualcommā€™s modem in any given year and Qualcomm keeps hitting big performance jumps.

    • Logicalist@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      it would, but I donā€™t know if they would do that.

      It would be a fair bit of overhead for a function many would not use, and cellular tech makes more sense in a phone, because people are more likely to have that with them than a laptop.

      They could have it as an option, but then it would further fragment their laptop line.

      Personally, I wouldnā€™t do it if I was them. Almost everyone has a phone, and the network connection can be shared, itā€™s really not a hassle.

      • HVDynamo@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        This is why (the pro laptops especially) should have some internal slotted expansion slots. There should at minimum be 1 M.2 slot, and to be honest if they included 2, then having a chip you populate one of the sockets with for Cellular would be awesome. Just include the antenna layout in all designs so it just needs to be plugged in. Then it can be configured or added later if someone desires.

      • 0RGASMIK@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        As someone who works in IT an always online MacBook is nice. As it is it causes a few problems when you canā€™t connect a not signed in MacBook to a new wifi network. Makes find my obsolete for laptops unless the person who finds/steals it goes to wipe it and signs into wifi on the recovery screen. For support this has other implications because it means we have to physically have the machine or tell a user our admin account password if they get locked out in a place theyā€™ve never been. There are plenty of other implications this has but for business users on the move it would make my job easier.

      • SeismicFrog@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        I believe you miss the turning of the technological clockā€¦ the future is 5G to the home. Itā€™s here now and offers as fast or faster speeds than many traditional broadband plans.

        Have an iMac which is designed for someone who ā€œwants it to work out of the boxā€ - a cellular connection makes this useful in places that broadband is tough but cellular is not impossible. Adding their own cellular silicon would cost little and greatly expand use cases for existing models and alter the value prop of the consumer laptop market. Work across devices anywhere.

        Add an access point to the device and now your Mom only needs an iMac and an AppleTV - no cable, no broadband, virtual switch/router in the cloud. Just a new cellular bill that is just a bit less than a broadband package and you have a winner. Have an Apple Watch? Buy a bundle - phone, watch, and computer.

        • vmbient@alien.topB
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          1 year ago

          future is 5G to the home. Itā€™s here now and offers as fast or faster speeds than many traditional broadband plans.

          Wired > wireless. Always, no matter how technologically advanced we are. By the time mmwave is available to everyone weā€™ll have 20gbps fiber at home.

        • Logicalist@alien.topB
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          1 year ago

          Adding their own cellular silicon would cost little

          Theyā€™re kinda struggling there from the sounds of it.

          I think anyone with access to fiber to the curb internet access would be crazy to opt for 5g instead. Unless you really donā€™t care about consistent and reliable internet access. Which so people donā€™t and thatā€™s fine. If I only streamed movies, and browsed, I certainly wouldnā€™t.

          But the upstream speeds on cellular are garbage. It takes more electricity to run, generates more heat, and itā€™s still half duplex right?

    • iMadrid11@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      If you can put a cellular modem on an iPad. You can definitely put one a MacBook.

    • Aozi@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      I mean they havenā€™t added cellular to Macs thus far, I donā€™t see why they would start after making their own chips.

      Theyā€™d rather sell you an iPhone so you can tether that to your Mac.

  • alphex@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Apple wants its own cellular chips so they can put it in the vision headset.

  • go-nintendo-1987@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Thereā€™s no doubt that Appleā€™s hardware will continue to be the best. I hope that advances in AI will also lead to significant improvements on the software side.

    For example, it is impossible to manually rewrite and improve the entire code of macOS or iOS, but it may be possible with future AI.

  • thehighplainsdrifter@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Thatā€™s it weā€™ve designed our chip, we can shut down the department and all get new jobs. No new chip will ever need to be designed, thatā€™s just how technology works.

  • weaselmaster@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Fuck Bloomberg.

    Their ā€˜journalistsā€™ are judged on whether their articles ā€˜move the marketā€™, so theyā€™re incentivized to make any company look invincible or doomed regardless of reality or if thereā€™s even a basis for an article in the first place.

    So we get this constant stream of drivel, about how Apple is one false step away from disaster.

    • fviz@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      what part of the article made it seem like ā€œApple is one false step away from disasterā€?

  • Dull_Half_6107@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Apple: ā€œOh shit I didnā€™t think of that, guess we should keep trying to improve thingsā€

    • weaselmaster@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      Itā€™s a garbage article. Apple is working on their own cellular modem, and Bloomberg wants to paint a picture of high stakes drama, that either Qualcomm or Apple is doomed (or both), and that Apple is going to have to make newer, better versions of the chips that theyā€™ve been making better, faster versions of for 15 years, otherwise, againā€¦ doomed.

  • QVRedit@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    An obvious thing is if they want to beef up their neural engine to better handle AI stuff ? If they are going to add ā€˜on deviceā€™ LLM runtime support ?

    • MasterofOreos@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      LLM, emphasis on the Large. A standard LLM will take up A LOT of storage space to the point where the user wonā€™t have much left. Let alone the continuous processing power needed.

      Siri + local ā€œSmallā€ Language Model. It could have full access to on device data, but more generalized quires are done remotely.

  • mredofcourse@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    So many comments, so little reading the articleā€¦

    This is a weekly summary article by Mark Gurman. Itā€™s not ā€œoh duh, there will be an M4ā€. Itā€™s pointing out the status and challenges of several things Apple is working on, and who at Apple is responsible for it. That includes:

    • A-Series and M-Series
    • Modem
    • WiFi & Bluetooth
    • MicroLED displays
    • Noninvasive glucose monitoring
    • Custom batteries
    • Camera sensors

    Thatā€™s just one section. The full article covers:

    Appleā€™s quest to replace every major part of the iPhone with an in-house design. Also: The company is finally embracing the RCS texting standard; Appleā€™s revenue share from the Google search deal is revealed in court; and one of its health executives heads to Oura.

    • BvByFoot@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      Yeah idk why people arenā€™t even clicking the link. Thereā€™s a couple things in there like the glucose monitoring that would be a huge leap forward