2023 is localise up to be the yr of raw frontier for Apple . Reportssay that Apple could turn its long - awaited Reality Pro AR / VR headset as shortly as this leap , a new platform for Apple that will get most of the attending for at least the rest of the class .

But just because Apple has a raw program does n’t mean its Old platform , the Mac , will be ignored or forgotten . In fact , Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman recently provided insightinto how Apple ’s AR / VR platform will work , and his report included this interesting tidbit :

The gimmick will also have productiveness features , including the ability to serve as an external monitor for a Mac . With that feature , user will be able to see their Mac ’s display in virtual reality but still control the reckoner with their trackpad or mouse and physical keyboard .

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At first blush , Gurman ’s description seems befuddling . Why would anyone want to use a Mac with a display attached to their font ? But if you take a footstep back and turn over Apple ’s approach path and its ecosystem , it all come into persuasion .

Sidecar, Universal Control evolve for the headset

Each Apple program – Mac , iPhone , iPad , Apple Watch – is great on its own , but Apple get to them part of an ecosystem that provides greater economic value . A lot of the interoperability relies on iCloud and the internet , but the devices also have feature that direct work with each other on the hardware story , such asSidecar and Universal Control .

Sidecar allows users to utilise an iPad as an external display . Universal Control allows users to ascertain two Macs or a Mac and an iPad from one keyboard and mouse . It seems like the Mac functionality Gurman is describing will have its roots in these two systems . The Mac would presumably want to be nearby and would in all likelihood be most useful for specific task — confluence , video , 3-D rendering apps , games — but if done right it would ply the kind of wizard wow factor that Universal Control does .

establish on Gurman ’s unforesightful description , it ’s not clear if the headset would serve as an additional exhibit for the Mac using AR or mirror what ’s on the Mac ’s main display using VR . peradventure it ’ll be able to do both . But like Universal Control and Sidecar , it could be a staggeringly useful feature that only Apple can offer .

Universal Control iPad file

Just like general ascendence lets a Mac public lecture to a nearby iPad , the Reality Pro headset can seamlessly unite to a Mac .

Willis Lai / IDG

It’s about convenience, too

Chances are that whoever uses Apple ’s headset also apply a Mac . How I conceive of it all work is like this : You ’re using your world Pro headset to run a secret plan and get a telling about a group meeting or an authoritative email on your Mac . Rather than taking off the gear wheel and kindle up your Mac Studio , the headset will automatically tell apart your nearby Mac and drink down up the Finder on the headset . Maybe you use gesture to get around or the same keyboard and mouse that ’s attached to your Mac . When you ’re done , you could flick away the Mac display and resume whatever you were doing .

establish on my experience with Sidecar , Universal Control , and Apple ’s ecosystem , a virtual Mac desktop is just another example of how Apple understand the importance of its ecosystem and the interoperability of each machine . Apple does n’t need to get the Mac into the AR / VR blank space , but it ’s a way to set it apart from other compete theoretical account , with blind drunk control condition and delightful convenience .

In someone else ’s hands , it could be a thingumabob . However , a practical Mac video display is a clear sign that Apple is thinking not just about what the headset can do , but also about how it can be integrate into what we already do . And like everything that came before , it seems like Apple is once again on the good path .