When it comes to virtual reality (VR), for the most part you would need to own a Windows-based PC if you’d like to use the headsets that are available today. However could it be that in the future Apple could eventually support the technology in terms of both hardware and software? Recent comments have suggested that this might be the case.In a report from TechCrunch, they quoted Apple software chief Craig Federighi as saying, “There are heavy 3D graphics [applications] or graphics and compute mixed loads. Those can be in VR, those can be in certain kinds of high-end cinema production tasks where most of the software out there that’s been written to target those doesn’t know how to balance itself well across multiple GPUs but can scale across a single large GPU.”
Federighi’s comments were made with regards to questions regarding the GPUs in the Mac Pro. For those who might have missed the news earlier, Apple announced that they would be rethinking the Mac Pro lineup, and it is possible that the future iteration of the Mac Pro could come with specs powerful enough to support VR platforms.
As it stands, neither the HTC Vive nor the Oculus Rift support Apple’s platform. In fact earlier this year the company confirmed that there would not be Mac support anytime soon, although last year the company did state that they were waiting for the “right machine” to come along first, which for all we know could be Apple’s future Mac Pros.
None of this is a guarantee, by the way, so take it with a grain of salt, but for Mac users looking forward to VR support, this could offer up the slightest glimmer of hope.
Filed in . Read more about Mac Pro, macOS and Virtual Reality (VR).