Will Apple’s revised MacBook Pro finally offer 5G cellular support?

This week, Apple will redesign the MacBook Pro for the first time since 2021. OLED, touch support and a significantly lighter design are expected. Another rumor surrounding the new MacBook Pros concerns cellular support, although it’s unclear if this will actually be available.

To recap, Apple is expected to unveil its first touchscreen MacBooks at its “Pro and tell” experience on October 28 in Los Angeles. This likely won’t be a streamed event, but simply a hands-on experience for influencers and media. At this event, we should see the iPad mini OLED, the MacBook Pro OLED, as well as a refreshed iMac and a base model 14″ MacBook Pro, both powered by the M6 ​​chip.

Cellular MacBook on the way?

If Apple were to ship a cellular MacBook, it would likely use the C2 modem found in the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo. While we don’t know for sure if this week’s new MacBooks will offer cellular, we do have a number of clues to suggest so.

In 2024, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman initially reported that Apple was exploring cellular MacBooks as early as 2026. At the time, he reported that Apple was testing its second-generation modem with these MacBooks, which we can assume is the C2.

Additionally, last year Filipe Esposito reported to Macmonde that Apple was testing configurations of an M5 Pro-based MacBook Pro with Apple’s C1 modem. Of course, this is just testing, but the fact that it’s an M5 Pro chip is interesting given that these new MacBooks this week will debut with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, rather than M6-based chips.

Since then, we haven’t had any major leaks regarding cellular support in the MacBook Pro lineup. That said, we haven’t had any leaks that explicitly rule it out either. One way or another, it should only be a matter of days before we know for sure.

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