Apple’s Custom Silicon Opens up Potential for a Cellular MacBook

iPhone Air share of mix samples 2x iPhone Plus

Explore how Apple’s C1X modem performs in the real world, with Ookla Speedtest data from Q4 2025 showing the iPhone Air matching Qualcomm’s X80 download speeds while setting new latency benchmarks.

iPhone Air marginalizes competing slim form-factors. The iPhone Air has largely eclipsed the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge globally, out-sampling it 3-to-1 in the U.S. based on Speedtest data, while the Edge remains statistically negligible in terms of adoption across European markets. South Korea remains the primary competitive exception, driven by strong home-market bias.

In 2024, the iPhone 16 Plus was the clear laggard of the range, capturing a mere 2.9% of the launch mix. By sunsetting the iPhone Plus and replacing it with the design-centric iPhone Air, Apple more than doubled the share of this roster slot to 6.8%. This suggests that “Slim” as a category successfully resonates with a segment of the market that “Large” simply did not.

Apple’s newest hardware cycle centered on a key question: could Apple’s first high-performance modem, the C1X, improve upon the original C1? Furthermore, could it match the industry-standard Qualcomm X80, without the thermal headroom of a “Pro” chassis. Despite its slim form-factor, the iPhone Air does include a vapor chamber to aid cooling, while its titanium frame also aids heat dispersion. Qualcomm remains a formidable incumbent with its X85 modem, which alongside MediaTek’s M90, will feature in newer Android flagship devices this year. Based on comparisons with the X80, our data suggests that Apple’s silicon has reached a critical maturity point, shifting the conversation from a performance gap to a strategic “equalizer” in real-world performance.

Source: Ookla®

NB: Lots of very interesting data in the source. Definitely worth looking at carefully. The conclusion is quite a bombshell…

… The conclusion stands out:

The introduction of the iPhone Air and its C1X modem confirms that Apple’s custom RF silicon is no longer a work in progress, achieving real-world download parity with the Qualcomm X80 in the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and outpacing it on latency. The modem’s lead in responsiveness will benefit Apple’s hardware in an AI-first world, where network latency will represent a clear bottleneck for real-time cloud computing.

However, the C1X is merely the opening salvo. As we look ahead to the anticipated launch of the iPhone 18 and the likely next-generation C2 modem later this year, Apple’s immediate engineering hurdle remains mastering complex uplink carrier aggregation. They must close this final gap against a moving target, as flagship Android devices transition to the Qualcomm X85 and in the future to the X105, which according to Qualcomm will both offer faster peak speeds and greater efficiency than the X80. Yet, the most disruptive potential of Apple’s modem program ultimately lies beyond the smartphone. The power efficiency and architectural integration demonstrated by the C1X sets the stage for the long-rumored “Always-Connected MacBook.” By embedding the C2 (or its derivatives) in its Apple MacBooks, Apple is poised to sever the MacBook’s reliance on Wi-Fi alone, and in doing so, redefine baseline expectations for portable computing.

This is quite the bombshell.

The question of why laptops don't have cellular connectivity even though phones, iPads and even Watches do has always been a paradox.

The author asserts that there is a performance issue but also the fact that paying Qualcomm for the IP involved killed the economics of laptops. It has been said that Qualcomm requests a percent of product price as licensing fees and for a laptop, even if priced in the thousands of dollars that margin was simply not there. Apple silicon might finally break this economic blockade on always connected MacBooks.