Industry Chain: Apple is developing 5G Macbook, and 5G iPhone may be released next year

Apple's third-quarter financial report shows that mobile terminal revenue has shown signs of recovery, and Apple's share of software and other revenue has begun to rise. For Apple, the iPhone will still be a stable source of revenue in the future, so it needs to actively deploy 5G networks. Of course, in addition to the iPhone, the notebook field is also indispensable.

With the advent of the 5G era, in addition to mobile phone manufacturers, notebook manufacturers also want to catch this train. According to industry insiders, the world's three largest notebook manufacturers Lenovo, HP and Dell will launch the first batch of 5G models in the second half of 2019, and Apple cannot miss this good opportunity.

There are actually many laptops with 4G connections on the market now, but they are basically positioned for high-end business use. Apple has not launched any products with cellular network connections on its MacBook laptops.

Apple considered launching a MacBook Air with 3G connectivity, but late CEO Steve Jobs said in 2008 that Apple decided not to launch the product because it would take up too much space and would tie users to a specific carrier.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Apple is developing laptops with 5G networks. The reason they have not had any related products may be because they feel that market conditions are not yet mature.

According to the latest news from Taiwan's industry chain, Apple is already developing notebook products that support 5G networks, which will be launched on the market as early as the second half of next year.

Apple is rumored to use ceramic antenna boards in its laptops to achieve better 5G performance. Ceramic antenna boards are six times more expensive than ordinary metal antenna boards, but their transmission and reception efficiency is twice that of ordinary metal antenna boards.

In addition, another reason why the 5G-equipped MacBook is expensive is the casing. Apple's iconic metal casing will shield 5G signals, which means that the laptop will require 13 to 15 antennas, while 5G smartphones typically use 11 antennas. In contrast, the manufacturing process of 5G notebooks is more complicated.

Finally, Tianfeng Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed that after Apple acquired Intel's baseband business, it will accelerate the research and development of 5G iPhones. It is expected that the 5G iPhone will be launched as early as 2020 or 2021, while it will still use 4G networks in 2019.