On its40th anniversary , thing are n’t look great for the Mac . While Apple was able-bodied to hold post - lockdown downward trends in the PC market place in 2022 , the company ’s hazard ran out in 2023 , with Mac shipments down 22.4 percent on the previous yr , a steeper decline than even big Windows box sceneshifter , according toresearch house IDC . ) If we concentrate on Apple ’s most recentquarterly report , Mac sales look truly dreaded , down 34 percent compare to the same period in 2022 . And with the all - significant Q1 report due next week , there ’s dead a long ton of pressure on Apple ’s oldest family member .
Like a lot of the company ’s portfolio , the Mac has seemingly suffered in recent class from the wider resource drain at Apple Park , with money and employee prison term being funnel into the all - consuming Vision Pro project . This may explain why radical redesigns of the kind that can inspire client excitement have been in brusque provision , and in turn why sales have been so lackluster . Although the iPhone is still doing pretty well , so it ’s punishing to put all the blame on resource .
In any case , Apple will be hoping to revive the Mac ’s fortunes in 2024 , specially once theVision Prohits shops on February 2 . And this is n’t just a by - product of all those fashion designer and engineers being free from the launch salt mine and having metre to redesign MacBook cases . The company hopes its sundry - reality headset will one daytime become its flagship Cartesian product , the center of an ecosystem as culturally significant and financially moneymaking as the iPhone is now : Tim Cook has called it “ the beginning of a unexampled era for computing . ” But in the shorter full term , it can have positive effects on the bequest production in Apple ’s static — and possibly even save the Mac .
The Vision Pro has the same M2 chip as the Mac.
More than a display
Despite its high-pitched damage , the Vision Pro is an accessory . Someone who decides to buy the $ 3,499 headset is going to use it as a fellow traveller to their other equipment , and among the headset ’s more obviously work - relevant features is the ability to serve up as a Mac showing with a neat trick : You need only depend in the direction of your Mac while wearing the headset and the two twist will connect wirelessly using AirPlay , and whatever is currently show on the Mac will be get behind into the Vision Pro ’s display where it can be moved around freely in that tremendous virtual area . As well as have a much larger screen , you’re able to act across macOS and visionOS apps at the same time . Or work in opposite by mirroring your Vision Pro exhibit to a Mac to divvy up your view with others .
Mac Virtual Display is determine to a single 4 K CRT screen at launching , but it ’s not a reaching to think it ’ll support multiple display and modular setups in the future . After all , Vision Pro has an M2 chip so it ’s not heavy to imagine Apple adding feature of speech that ordinate with the Mac as visionOS evolves .
The Vision Pro has the same M2 check as the Mac .
The Vision Pro has the same M2 chip as the Mac.
Apple
It ’s a tremendously appealing option . But the chances are strong that this feature film will be limited to more late Mac model : M1 and later would be a fair guess . turn over the number of Intel Macs that are still out there , this would provide a handy prompt for owners to consider an update to something with a newer chipset . Some of those Mac regulars who put off a purchase in 2023 may be tempted back into the flock .
The cardinal Christian Bible there , of course of instruction , is “ some . ” Given that Apple is understood to be bound its initial run of Vision Pro handsets to few than 100,000 units , nobody should carry revenue to skyrocket off the back of Vision Pro owners running out to update their iMacs . ( For comparison , Apple made around $ 29 billion from the Mac in fiscal 2023 , which translates to something in the park of 29 million units . An extra 100,000 is n’t conk to move the telephone dial a smashing deal . ) But as with so much else have-to doe with Vision Pro , this is n’t about the right way now . It ’s about the future .
pundit have been saying for twelvemonth that the days of the desktop and the laptop are numbered ; indeed it ’s something of a surprise that their revenue has hold up as well as it has . Tablets and with child - screen smartphones , swarm computing , and 5 GiB have all helped to wear away the indigence for the form of central body of work hub that ’s formed the basis of office spirit for decennary . But spatial computer science , which in the very long term could prove to be the final nail in the traditional computer ’s coffin , could before then help to give it another rental of relevance by making it a single utilitarian and specialist element in a more various computing setup . And with Vision Pro set to be the biggest name in spacial computing , that means the Mac is going to be pushed back into the spotlight .
Vision Pro could yetprove to be a washout . But Apple , make no misapprehension , is all - in on spatial computing , and wo n’t be put off by low-toned first - generation sales . And that ’s good newsworthiness for product like the Mac that stand to benefit from the halo result and glean the benefit of the new platform . And after 40 years , it might require a footling aid .
