Laptop with cellular connectivity a concern? (opens in new tab)

I am looking into getting a used Thinkpad to install Linux on and both models I was leaning towards have a SIM card tray and thus are capable of cellular connectivity. My understand - which could be wrong - is that at least with a cellular phone the baseband processor is a privacy concern because it could at least technically connect to/communicate with a tower independently of the CPU, and without the user ever knowing, even in airplane mode or with cellular turned off. Because of this I am ...