Apple macOS may have opened up to VR, but we likely won’t see Rift join HTC Vive for a while.
Alongside details on iOS 11 and the HomePod speaker, one of the more surprising (and exciting) announcements from Monday’s WWDC 2017 keynote was Apple opening macOS to virtual reality development. iOS 11 HomePod WWDC 2017 virtual reality development
While this paves the way for HTC Vive support on Apple machines, you may not want to hold your breath waiting for competitor Oculus Rift to follow suit. HTC Vive Oculus Rift
Despite Apple’s upcoming Metal 2 graphics API being optimized to handle virtual reality on the Mac, Oculus still isn’t ready to make the leap to the platform.
« We’re committed to bringing PC VR to as many people as possible, but no news on MacOS support at this time, » a company spokesperson told Road to VR. Road to VR
This isn’t the first time Oculus has kept its distance from Macs, with company co-founder Nate Mitchell saying a few months back the idea isn’t out of the question, but that support won’t be implemented in the near future. won’t be implemented in the near future
Last year, Oculus’ other founder Palmer Luckey ruled out Oculus Rift support on macOS until « they ever release a good computer. » Luckey, who left Oculus in March this year, was referring to a lack of graphical power needed to run VR on Apple computers at the time. who left Oculus
It’s unclear if Apple’s reinvigorated iMac lineup (especially the high-power iMac Pro) will be on par with what Oculus needs before changing its tune. iMac Pro
However, should VR take off on Apple computers, Oculus would be remiss to bench the Rift while HTC’s headset soaks up all the glory (and customers) . 7 things you might’ve missed during Apple’s WWDC 2017 keynote 7 things you might’ve missed during Apple’s WWDC 2017 keynote
