For years, Apple fans have been asking for cellular connectivity as an optional upgrade for the MacBook, which seems like an odd omission given that it has been an option on the iPad for years.

Well, according to Bloomberg's Mark Garman, these fans may get their wish within the next two years. Why now? Because Apple will finally debut its own cellular modem with next year's iPhone 17.

Apple is only “investigating the idea of bringing cellular connectivity to the Mac for the first time,” Gurman writes, and it's not a sure thing, but it seems much closer than what the company has gotten before.

Even if it gets the go-ahead, it is unlikely to be a laptop option in 2025. Garman writes that Apple is unlikely to include cellular support before 2026 and will wait for “a second-generation modem that supports faster transmission speeds.”

Other Apple products could also benefit, Garman writes, with future models of the Vision Pro headset being considered, and possibly in the long-rumored AR Apple Glasses (though Garman notes that “such a device is years away (though Garman cautions that “such devices are years away”).

People have been waiting for a cellular MacBook for over a decade, and here's a Daring Fireball article speculating why we didn't see a cellular MacBook 11 years ago.

That long wait may finally be coming to an end, but will anyone really care by 2026?

No wonder, we are in a very different world than when the call for LTE MacBooks was at fever pitch in the mid-2010s. If you live in a city or a town of any size, free Wi-Fi is everywhere, just waiting to be connected. Even if you don't, mobile data is now cheap and plentiful, and Apple has made it ridiculously easy to set up your iPhone as a mobile hotspot to share a connection without adding MacBook hardware.

In theory, the idea of a MacBook that can connect to the Internet without connecting to dubious Wi-Fi networks or draining cell phone batteries seems appealing. However, that allure would quickly dissipate if it became apparent that it would be a paid upgrade.

Still, more options are a good thing, and without having to pay someone to license a modem, there is no reason for Apple not to test it and see if buyers are excited about it. After all, better late than never.