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.
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.