It wouldn't be pointless for me. I quite often use my iPhone to provide an Internet connection for my MacBook Pro. I wish it were more reliable and didn't consume so much battery. Dell and other laptop vendors have been embedding cellular modems in laptops for a long time. Apple manages to put one in a watch and every other device.
It appears that the Qualcomm license problems are the only impediment to Apple putting an LTE modem into a bigger device.
They pretty much only exist in business laptops because in that context it can be useful to issue someone a field laptop with a SIM in it, and it doesn't really mean much for cost on a large corporate data plan.
What if you want to save battery life on your phone while you're on the go? I imagine having LTE modem in the machine must be a less laggy experience as well.
LTE modem in laptop will take more power and you always can charge your phone from laptop. And also, I know this is kind of stupid solution but because of crappy battery life on most of the smartphones this days I can imagine going out for a day without emergency powerbank.
Having used laptops with LTE modems, I prefer having the option. That the option is not available from Apple indicates that the Qualcomm patents are causing market failure.
