As usual, Jason Snell has a great breakdown of Apple’s quarterly results. These results are bonkers, even for Apple.

Live Text is the feature that lets users copy text out of pictures was announced as an Apple silicon-only addition to macOS, but it seems that Apple has changed its tune:

macOS Monterey Beta 4 includes Live Text for Intel Macs 🎉

Sounds like Apple prioritized it based on demand, but it was made much easier by the lack of real-time requirements for a camera system

(So instead of kicking it to the ANE, it’ll just process opportunistically) pic.twitter.com/vM5Nd7TGh8

— Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) July 27, 2021

It seems that because the Mac doesn’t need to do this live with a camera like an iPhone or iPad does, Apple could make it work on Intel processors after all, in the background on stored images. Moreover, this is supported on all Intel Macs that can run Monterey, not just those with a T1 or T2 chip inside.

Jason Snell has more:

My understanding is that on Intel Macs, Apple is using GPU-based processing power to do the analysis of the images. Unlike iPhones and iPads, which are commonly used to take pictures which might immediately need to be analyzed for Live Text, on the Mac there’s a little more leeway for slightly less-than-instantaneous processing of text.

That said, my understanding is that Live Text—on M1 or Intel—is never intended to present any sign that you need to wait while text is being processed. The feature should be identical on both architectures.

It seems likely that this feature was original targeted for both architectures, and then disabled on Intel Macs in early betas because it just wasn’t good enough to release. Its appearance in this beta is perhaps a positive sign that Apple isn’t rushing Intel Macs into obsolescense.

For years, Mac users have wanted Apple to ship an external display that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

Filipe Espósito at 9to5 Mac has some good news on that front:

The new display is being developed under the codename J327, but at this point, details about technical specifications are unclear. According to sources, this display will have an Apple-made SoC, which right now is the A13 Bionic chip — the same one used in the iPhone 11 lineup.

Having an Apple silicon SoC inside the display is interesting. Espósito goes on to say that it will be used to speed up machine learning tasks and even act as an external GPU for the connected Mac:

Today’s report from 9to5Mac’s sources suggests that Apple has not given up on its plans to launch an external display with some sort of SoC, at least internally. Having a CPU/GPU built into the external display could help Macs deliver high-resolution graphics without using all the resources of the computer’s internal chip.

Apple could also combine the power of the display SoC with the Mac’s SoC to provide even more performance for running intensive graphic tasks. Another possibility is to use this SoC to add some smart features to the Pro Display XDR, such as AirPlay.

That gets this new display dangerously near Duo Dock territory, which would surprise me.

It’s possible that this A13 could just be the brains of the display, especially if it can be used as a hub for accessories. After all, the old Thunderbolt Display had a tiny computer inside, as does the Pro Display XDR.

This theory makes more sense to me than the former, especially when considering the longevity of external displays. At some point, the extra oomph something like the A13 or even M1 could add to a connected Mac would be eclipsed by the natural evolution of Mac hardware.