48 MACWORLD APRIL 2020
iOSCENTRAL WHAT AIRPODS PRO HINT ABOUT APPLE’S AR POLICYWearables, of course,
was the market that was
sharply up in the
company’s most recent
quarterly results, and thus
is clearly a place that
Apple is likely to be
focusing some attention in
the future (go.macworld.
com/fcus). And with rumors
of Apple’s AR goggles/
glasses (go.macworld.com/
arum) starting to coalesce
around next year, the
AirPods Pro might key us into how Apple is
thinking about entering the still nascent (or
perhaps non-existent) market for
augmented reality headsets.
HOLISTIC AREA NETWORK
As I walked up the street the other day,
listening to music on the AirPods Pro, they
alerted me that my iPhone was ringing.
Without breaking my stride, I glanced at
my Apple Watch, saw it was from an
unknown number, and tapped the button
to dismiss the call. All without pulling out
my iPhone.
It’s not the first time I’ve thought of
Apple’s wearable devices as part of a
“personal area network,” but the reality
really hit home in that moment: a wrist-
mounted display and sensor package in
the form of the Apple Watch marries
strikingly with the AirPods Pro, which
deliver not only audio for entertainment
purposes, but notifications as well.
An augmented reality heads-up display
would seem to enhance this even further,
helping complete this constellation of
devices that provides a variety of ways to
interact with your technology. By treating
this device more like an external display
rather than a piece of self-sufficient
hardware, à la Microsoft’s HoloLens, it
frees up the company to design a much
lighter, simpler gadget—and if there’s one
thing that we can all agree that Apple
likes, it’s light, thin hardware.TALK TO ME, SIRI
With iOS 13.2, Apple enabled a feature for
AirPods that feels distinctly like an
augmented reality capability: namely, theApple AR goggles could take its cues from Microsoft HoloLens.