As the calendar flips to 2024, Apple is the tech company to keep a close eye on over the next 12 months. From expanding its gaming efforts to launching its first new major hardware category since 2015, here’s what to expect from Apple in the next year. Expanding on its Gaming Ambitions While Apple hasn’t always been the biggest name in the gaming market outside of its endeavors in mobile gaming, in recent years, it has made some huge strides to improve its presence beyond that of its subscription service, Apple Arcade, even if the gaming subscription service continues to be a hidden gem for those embedded in the Apple ecosystem. Apple has also been making similar strides with macOS. Ports of No Man’s Sky and Resident Evil Village were good starting points and at WWDC this year, Hideo Kojima took the stage to announce his studio is “actively working to bring its future titles to Apple platforms.” While Apple has already established relationships with developers like Capcom and Kojima Productions, the tech giant also wants to streamline the process of porting games already available on Windows operating systems, which is exactly what its Game Porting Toolkit promises to do. While we are still years away from macOS rivaling Windows in terms of gaming platform supremacy, 2023 was a big year for Apple in terms of changing the perception of macOS not being a serious platform for gaming. However, the biggest twist for Apple’s hardware in 2023 was its iPhone 15 Pro line-up, its first phone to be powered by a processor capable of delivering console-quality games, with Resident Evil Village and Death Stranding: Director’s Cut released exclusively for Apple’s current flagship smartphone. Indeed, Apple has touted the iPhone 15 Pro as the best game console, promising console-quality triple-A games, not watered-down versions. Sure, these ports have so far come with growing pains – right now, they are not quite at the level of being a perfect alternative for those who cannot justify buying a games console, but there’s a lot of promise there and Apple will undoubtedly continue to improve as smartphone technology continues to get better year after year.Yet, with the rise in gaming handhelds – particularly those that are essentially computers you can fit in the palm of your hands like the Steam Deck – the A17 Pro chip is entering at an awkward time. Steam Deck can not only play fully-fledged PC games natively, it can do other functional computer things too. There is an argument to be made that Apple is establishing its own submarket much like the Nintendo SwitchThere is an argument to be made that Apple is establishing its own submarket much like the Nintendo Switch, but the investment can still be somewhat pricier than the alternatives on the market. For one thing, a Pro-variant iPhone will set you back around $1,000. Admittedly you might be in the market for a new phone anyway, but it’s certainly a premium price tag. If you want the best gaming experience, you’re likely going to have to drop money on an expensive controller too, because touch controls take up too much screen real estate. That’s not even factoring in the price of the games, which cost around the same as the PC and Console versions, plus cloud services like Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming are readily available on most portable devices already. There are a lot of challenges Apple faces as it enters this new submarket. Nevertheless, what we have seen so far is a good starting point for the company: if it continues to build on its processing technology and solidifies its focus on gaming, I have no doubt there are better things to come. Apple Enters the Mixed Reality MarketThe most anticipated product coming from Apple is the Vision Pro, a new mixed-reality headset the company announced at WWDC 2023. Not only is it the company’s first headset of its type but it also marks the first major hardware category introduced since 2015 with the release of the Apple Watch.Touted as a “spatial computer”, not much else is known about the Vision Pro apart from it running its own operating system, visionOS. This is based on the iOS operating system and allows it to run virtual, augmented, and mixed reality-based applications. But only if you splash out a hefty $3,499 for the headset. Apple’s mixed-reality headset has a disadvantage because it launches into a market Meta has dominated for the last several years. While its retail price makes it significantly more expensive than any of its competitors, the Vision Pro has a distinct advantage over competition like the Quest. The most obvious is the support for Apple Arcade, with 100 games confirmed to be available at launch. Although that might not be the most appealing thing to some, it at least means there’s a base of games to keep players busy – something PSVR 2 lacked. It also supports Bluetooth game controllers, which I think is a big bonus. Furthermore, if Apple continues to strengthen its relationships with game developers, it certainly has the clout – and financial resources – to get big names on more of its hardware. Could GTA 6 come out on Vision Pro? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet, but certainly expect to hear more as we creep nearer to its release date.Ultimately, 2024 is going to be a big year for Apple beyond just hardware refreshes and annual software updates. It’s clear it wants to be more appealing to gamers and it’s finally taking those ambitions more seriously with things like the A17 Pro chip and streamlining the Windows porting process from Windows to macOS. And while its expensive headset remains a mystery, if it can continue to bring console-quality games to devices most of us already have in our pockets, the next couple of years could be very interesting indeed.Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
