Even better, it can make phone calls as well. Your Mac can send and receive texts from any mobile phone (even non-iPhones). You can start an email on the iPhone and finish it on the computer, view a web page in Safari or a location in Apple Maps on the Mac and hand off to the iPhone, or use the iPhone’s internet on your laptop when you’re in a place without wi-fi.
Modern OS X and iOS make your Mac and iPhone & iPad work better together.