Relay 5G USB-C card in Silver

relay

5G for MacBook. No drivers. No hotspot.

Relay is a USB-C card that gives any MacBook 5G. macOS sees it as ethernet — plug in, three seconds, online.

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R1 · Silver · 70 × 35 × 7 mm USB-C · 5G NR · macOS NATIVE

A USB-C card for working people. Built for any MacBook with a USB-C port — no driver, no hotspot, no app to download.

Discover how it works
Field notes · EVT-3

From the first fifty engineers to plug one in.

"It just shows up as ethernet. There's literally nothing to configure. I forgot it was 5G until I noticed I'd left Wi-Fi off."

SK
Sam K · iOS engineer

"My MacBook Pro plus Relay is finally the laptop Apple should have shipped. No hotspot dance. No phone heating up in my pocket."

RM
Riya M · founder

"The matte finish is dead-on for the M3 Air. It's a real Mac accessory, not a USB stick with a logo printed on it."

JT
Jun T · industrial designer

"Worked on my Linux box too. Same CDC-ECM driver, same three seconds to come online. The hardware is honest."

EP
Eli P · firmware engineer
§ 01 — The problem

Every laptop has 5G.
Except MacBook.

01
Phone hotspot drains 15% battery per hour.

Every hour you tether, your phone dies faster. You started the meeting at 78% and ended it at 31%.

02
Hotspot drops every time a call comes in.

iOS personal hotspot was never built to be a primary uplink. One ring and your video call freezes.

03
Public Wi-Fi is insecure and unreliable.

Captive portals, rate limits, MITM risk, and a different login captcha at every café you walk into.

75 million
MacBooks.

Zero of them have built-in cellular. Apple hasn't shipped a cellular Mac since the 2008 PowerBook G4. The category has been frozen for sixteen years. Until now.

§ 02 — The solution

Plug in.
You're online.

Relay is a $199 USB-C card. macOS detects it as ethernet — built-in since Catalina. No app. No driver. No hotspot. Plug in, 3 seconds, 5G.

Read the spec sheet Reserve yours →
R1 · Silver Relay in Silver Link · −68 dBm
§ 03 — How it works

Three steps.
No setup.

Step 01
Plug into USB-C.

macOS detects an ethernet adapter the moment Relay is seated. No popup, no permission dialog, no captive portal.

Step 02
Built-in CDC-ECM driver loads.

Every Mac since 2019 ships with it. Relay enumerates the same way Apple's own ethernet dongle does.

Step 03
Traffic routes through 5G.

Your phone stays in your pocket. Wi-Fi can stay off. Your laptop is just on the internet.

Your Mac already knew how to do this. We just built the hardware.

R1 · Space Black Relay in Space Black 70 × 35 × 7 mm · 22 g
§ 04 — Technical

The whole
spec sheet.

ModemQuectel RG255C-GL · Qualcomm SDX35
Standard5G NR RedCap · Release 17
Max downlink223 Mbps
Max uplink123 Mbps
macOSCatalina 10.15 + · zero-driver install
Form factor70 × 35 × 7 mm
Weight~ 22 g
PowerUSB-C bus-powered · no battery
ShellPC/ABS V-0 FR · IPX4 · soft-touch matte
SIMnano-SIM tray (V1) · eSIM target (V2)
ColorsSilver · Space Black
Price$199 USD
§ 05 — Why Relay

They built a dongle.
We built a Mac accessory.

Phone hotspot USB stick / MiFi Relay
Battery drain Your phone dies Separate charge Never — bus-powered
Form factor Wi-Fi hop Cable dangles Flush USB-C
Mac native Wi-Fi network Partial Full ethernet
Carrier Your carrier Locked or limited Any SIM, any country
Setup Manual hotspot Varies 3 seconds — zero steps

The closest USB 5G competitor has a 3.2★ rating. 39% one-star reviews. The top complaint: "Does not work with Mac." We designed Relay for Mac first.

§ 06 — Finish

Silver. Space Black.

Matched to every MacBook sold today. Same matte soft-touch shell. Same machined edge. Same price.

Relay in Silver
Silver R1 / 001
Relay in Space Black
Space Black R1 / 002
Silver — pick a finish
$199 USD · Single SKU · Silver + Space Black

$199. Reserve yours.

No payment today. We'll reach out when shipping begins.

Reservation only. No charge until shipping. FCC authorization pending. Ships Q2–Q3 2027.

§ 07 — Questions

Frequently asked.

How does it work without drivers?
Relay enumerates as a standard CDC-ECM ethernet adapter. macOS has shipped that driver natively since Catalina 10.15 (2019). Your Mac sees a wired ethernet connection and routes traffic accordingly — no third-party kext, no permissions dialog, no carrier app.
Which carriers work with Relay?
Any nano-SIM. Relay targets compatibility with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon in the US, and any standard GSM/5G NR network internationally. A full carrier/band compatibility chart will be published before shipping. eSIM is targeted for V2.
Does it work with my MacBook?
Every MacBook with a USB-C port: MacBook Air M1, M2, M3, M4, M5; MacBook Pro 14″ and 16″ on M1 through M5; and MacBook Neo. macOS Catalina 10.15 or newer is required for the built-in driver.
Does it drain my battery?
Relay draws ≤ 4.5 W from the USB-C bus — less than charging a pair of AirPods. There's no internal battery to discharge or swell. Power on, plug in, that's it.
When does it ship?
We're targeting Q2–Q3 2027, after FCC and PTCRB certification. Your reservation gets you in line and the right to back out at any time before we charge — which we won't do until your unit is in the queue to ship.
What's included?
The Relay module and a nano-SIM tray. Data plan is your responsibility — use the carrier you already have, pick up a prepaid SIM, or buy one when you travel.