The Phone app in macOS 26 is another baby step towards a cellular Mac

While there is even more a dream than an obvious stop AppleProduct roadmap, business updates in Offer new evidence that Apple could one day sell MACS with cellular connectivity. Of course, the biggest point to remember will probably be the new Design language that the company is sprinkling with all its operating systems, but on the basis of the addition of a telephone application to MacOS, laptops and Apple phones converge in more than one title.

The new telephone application, which combines recent telephone calls, favorite contacts and voice messages in a single interface, will offer the same features in iOS and MacOS. This is a first for Apple’s office operating system, which has an Application Application, but otherwise interacts mainly with telephone calls via . Currently, iPhone calls can be relayed and answered on a Mac, and you can make calls from the FaceTime application, but it is far from intuitive. This should change in MacOS 26. The telephone application allows you to make calls, listen to voice messages and even use new features like Hold Assist as easily as you would on an iPhone.

Each year, Apple puts its platforms together, as allowing you to access your iPhone from your office with or use your iPhone as a webcam with . But carrying applications directly from the iPhone is like a larger step. On iPad, which is sold in Wi-Fi and cellular configurations, adding the telephone application (as Apple is with ) makes sense. The iPhone and iPad share many similarities from the point of view of software and hardware. The Mac is not – at least, not yet.

In December 2024, that Apple “studied the idea of ​​bringing cell connectivity to the Mac”. Apple has been trying to move away from leaning on Qualcomm cellular modems for years. Business in pursuing this idea in 2019 and made its debut Its first device with a personalized Apple C1 modem, earlier this year. A cell mac seems to be a perfect opportunity to put future versions of this modem, let’s say a C2 or C3, to the test.

Even with better multitasking, there are still a lot of tasks that are easier on a Mac than on an iPad. A cell mac could allow you to download a video published by professionals in the field, or communicate with your team without having to be attached to a Wi-Fi hotspot. The two are possible on an iPad, but would feel more natural on a Mac.

Gurman suggests that the company would not try to bring its personalized modem to devices other than the iPhone until 2026 at the earliest, but Apple could lay the foundations from the point of view of the software at the moment. Mac already use Apple’s personalized fleas, and will soon have software more and more similar to the iPhone. All that is missing is a modem that can connect to cellular networks.

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