Apple MacBook Neo is set to launch later today, but will it have 5G?
Qualcomm says it will welcome the cheaper MacBook Neo as it may make cellular more accepted on the PC
Update: The Apple MacBook Neo is official and costs $599 – read all about it here.
It seems set that we’ll get the cheaper MacBook Neo laptop during an Apple Event later today and while the new device is set to use an older iPhone chip, there’s one area that will be bang up to date – 5G cellular support using Apple’s own C1X modem also seen in the iPhone Air and newly-announced iPhone 17e.
During a talk at Mobile World Congress 2026, Qualcomm’s head of mobile, compute and XR, Alex Katouzian was asked a question about the new, lower-priced MacBook, rumored to be called the MacBook Neo.
While he welcomed the competition, Katouzian (predictably) said that what his company was offering was a better solution – but that he would be very pleased if the MacBook Neo would make it more acceptable for 5G connectivity to be provided in laptops as standard.
“One good thing is that they will put their modem inside that device. Which then that means cellular connectivity on the PC may get more accepted.
“Which ironically I think Apple screwed that up in the beginning because if you guys remember when the iPad came out you were already in the $600-700 price range and then you had to pay another $120 just to get cellular in the tablet. And then by default cellular became an added extra cost.”
Qualcomm has skin in the game when it comes to cellular modems of course and previously had a huge deal with Apple to supply the tech for its devices after a long-running legal battle last decade. Now Apple has developed its own modem tech after a long-running effort and finally launched its own C1 modem with last year’s iPhone 16e.
Katouzian was also keen to point out Qualcomm’s Snapdragon performance advantage: “ARM [based laptops] from multiple tiers is a good thing. And so what I would say today, some of our solutions are already in that same range but offer much better performance. Because the rumor is they’re going to use the A18, which is a two-year-old chip.”
“That has 4 channel memory interface, ours has 8 channel memory. [Qualcomm has] stronger Snapdragon CPUs already in the market in the price range that people think Apple will be. So I think that’s good because the sales will start to rise. Overall, good for us.”
Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
