One of the myths of the #5G era is that we're on the verge of a mass switch to cellular-connected #laptops. The same myth was hyped in the 4G era 10 years ago, and even the 3G era as far back as 2008.
The reality is that:
- Few users want or need 5G capabilities in a laptop
- Laptop & chipset vendors are largely ambivalent - and aren't going to start adding the capability as a default, rather than an add-on
- Retailers seem disinterested & don't have customers clamouring
- Almost nobody wants to pay extra for cellular data services for laptops, or go through the hassle of SIM registration
The first point is critical. Many laptops are just used at home, office or school, where there is generally good, reliable broadband and Wi-Fi. Nomadic users (such as myself) who regularly travel, work in cafes or in hotels rely on Wi-Fi if it's easy to access and supports VPNs, or occasionally tether to our smartphone's hotspot.
The main group that needs cellular capability are field-workers (eg police or utility engineers) that need ruggedised laptops for work, often outdoors or in vehicles. Then there's a few groups that won't trust public WiFi for security reasons, and are locked-down to cellular only.
The idea that #private5G is going to lead to a major upswing seems unrealistic. It will cover a comparatively few users in a few places - and most will need #WiFi as well, anyway.
A look at the Currys website (one of the UK's largest computing retailers) shows just a single 5G-enabled device, out of 450 models.
On Amazon UK's site with the 5G technology box ticked, it claims 163 results at the top of the page, but most don't actually have cellular and instead just have 5GHz Wi-Fi mis-spelled as 5G. There's *some* cellular laptops, but trying to find them is hard.
Even Qualcomm's web page for devices with its Snapdragon Compute Platform only shows 5 out of 50 with cellular - including 4G.
I’ve discussed the underlying issues before:
- Manufacturers are not going to add $50-100 extra bill-of-materials, plus extra test & certification costs, to products with very slim margins, unless consumers will pay more. Most won’t
- Most laptop purchasers with an extra $100 budget would rather spend it on more memory, a faster CPU/GPU, longer battery life or higher-quality case & keyboard
- Users with occasional needs will not pay for monthly subscriptions
- Retailers aren’t set up to deal with sales & support of cellular products or data plans
- eSIM makes it somewhat easier to get temporary or localised data plans (eg for travel) but it’s still hard to get a comprehensive storefront for all plans from all providers
- WiFi tethering is getting easier & more understood. Venues with fibre & WiFi 6/7 are getting better performance & security. Openroaming should help get rid of some hated captive portals & data capture.
The only thing I can imagine that *might* move the needle would be wide use of “free 5G” hotspots.
Otherwise - just ignore the hype.
