Apple's Camera-Equipped AirPods: All the New Rumors

[MacRumors]

Apple is working on AirPods that have cameras for feeding data to Siri. The new earbuds will be Apple's first AI wearable, and they're expected to launch sometime in 2027.

Leaked Video

Apple accidentally left a demo video featuring its rumored camera-equipped AirPods in macOS Tahoe 26.7 in mid-August. In the demo, a man holds up a book so the cameras in the AirPods can see the title. "With Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later," says the voiceover.

 

Here is your first look at AirPods with Cameras in action using Visual Intelligence.

This video file came from macOS 26.7 RC pic.twitter.com/yo7RI4MCeu
— Aaron (@Aaronp613) August 18, 2026


The cameras on the AirPods will feed information to Visual Intelligence, and Siri will be able to answer questions about the wearer's surroundings and log information. There is a direct reference to setting up Visual Intelligence on the AirPods.

If hair is covering the AirPods up, you'll receive an alert. "To get the most accurate information about things in your environment, make sure AirPods are not covered," it says.

Two Versions

Rumors about camera-equipped AirPods have been a little confusing. Most of the rumors about the AirPods with cameras were about a product with the codename B798. In June, Gurman said the camera AirPods had been delayed because of issues with Siri AI, and would not launch until September 2027 alongside the 20th anniversary iPhone.

In early August, Gurman revised his launch timing and said Apple was close to debuting camera AirPods with the codename B790. The B790 AirPods had apparently been progressing alongside the B798 model, and Gurman said the company "famously creates competing versions of the same product internally," with B790 closer to launch than B798. Then in mid-August, multiple references to the B790 version were spotted in macOS Tahoe 26.7. After B790 was discovered, Gurman claimed the AirPods were no longer on Apple's release schedule, and Apple has no plans to release camera-equipped AirPods before 2027.

Gurman said B790 is a version of the AirPods Pro 3 with cameras, while B798 is a future AirPods Pro model with cameras.

Design

The AirPods will look similar to the current AirPods Pro 3, but with cameras embedded in the stem. Apple may include a light that will come on when visual data from the AirPods is being sent to the cloud. The LED will let people around the wearer know the cameras are in use.

Size, design, and fit are expected to remain largely the same for the earbuds and the charging case, with the exception of the changes to the stem.

Features

The cameras in the AirPods will be used for sending data about the wearer's surroundings to Siri, giving Siri more information about where the user is and what's nearby.

Siri will be able to answer questions about objects or whatever the wearer happens to be looking at. The camera-equipped AirPods could be useful for more exact turn-by-turn directions when walking, contextual reminders, 3D mapping, and more.

The iPhone already has Visual Intelligence, which uses AI to identify plants, animals, landmarks, art, books, and more. Camera-equipped AirPods will be able to supply data for Visual Intelligence without the need to use the Camera app.

H3 Chip

Apple is working on an upgraded H3 chip and it could make its first appearance in the camera-equipped AirPods. The H3 chip is expected to bring latency improvements and better audio quality.

Technical Details

Code in macOS Tahoe 26.7 shows how the cameras in the AirPods will work. Of note, there's no mention of an infrared sensor, despite rumors suggesting there would be one.

• Two cameras - There are individual camera sensors in both the left and right earbuds.
• Paired color images - The cameras take synchronized RGB still images of up to 1 megapixel, each with the same frame ID. The cameras give Visual Intelligence a look at the same scene from two angles.
• No video - The cameras can take a series of pictures for Visual Intelligence, but there is no video recording option.
• Resolution - There's an "active" mode that's likely triggered when the wearer activates Siri where the AirPods capture a 640x640 image. In a separate passive mode, they capture a 320x320 image. The sensors are capable of higher-quality images, but Apple appears to be capturing a specific image size.
• Passive image capture - Passive capture mode appears to be for background environmental awareness, triggered by nearby speech, audio changes, posture changes, head rotation, and more.
• Head movement - The cameras in the AirPods have distortion correction to account for head movement, and can reject images that have excessive movement.
• On-device processing - Some content is processed directly on the AirPods, such as person detection.
• Indicator lights - Code suggests the AirPods have a hardware indicator light to let people know when still images are being captured.

Naming

There were rumors suggesting the new AirPods could be called the "AirPods Ultra" instead of the AirPods Pro, but the macOS Tahoe 26.7 file we found that references the new AirPods is labeled "AirPods Pro" and not AirPods Ultra. It's possible that's a placeholder name, so AirPods Ultra isn't entirely out of the question. Apple may have also planned to use AirPods Pro for a version of the camera-equipped AirPods that won't ultimately make it to release.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said in March that Apple was considering several devices with the Ultra name, including the foldable iPhone Ultra, AirPods Ultra, and an OLED MacBook Ultra, but that may or may not be a term we see for the... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: Apple's Camera-Equipped AirPods: All the New Rumors

 

[jz0309]

still hoping its vaporware

 

[Analog Kid]

If hair is covering the AirPods up, you'll receive an alert. "To get the most accurate information about things in your environment, make sure AirPods are not covered," it says.

And just like that, Apple ended sideburns...

 

[danmaldesign]

The Flock Camera backlash is going to be epic ...

 

[Astuces iOS]

Not buying them, they say the point of that is AI… I don’t need this AI ! Why do I have a brain?

 

[agsystems]

This should be interesting. The same crowd screaming that Apple hasn't innovated in years will be first in line to torch them if a risky new feature stumbles. This has "problem" written all over it. And for what, exactly? 😕😕

 

[ifxf]

And just like that, Apple ended sideburns...

They won’t work because the LEDs will be hidden and people won’t know they are being recorded.

 

[fatTribble]

I’d rather have a Borg Ocular Implant

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

First the Airpods Pro 3 and now this. Apple working hard to fumble those Airpods sales

 

[GridMeister]

It seems like the “camera” may not save pictures in any recognizable form or at least not accessible in the camera roll. It extracts some visual information and data that is used in response to a specific question or purpose that the wearer requests. Will be interesting to see the use cases.

 

[iMac The Knife]

This should be interesting. The same crowd screaming that Apple hasn't innovated in years will be first in line to torch them if a risky new feature stumbles. This has "problem" written all over it. And for what, exactly? 😕😕

A few companies already make earbuds with cameras built into them, so by definition Apple isn’t innovating here.

 

[CookItOff]

First: This isn't going to be a product.

Second: I don't want the sacrifices that will be required from the audio devices that go into my ear to house a cameras for non audio reasons.

If i want AI to tell me what a book is I'll hold my iPhone to the book and not the book up to my Airpods.

 

[cocacolakid]

Apple has lost touch with consumers. Nobody wants or needs this. Worried you won’t remember something later, take a pic with the phone you already have. Spying on people has reached its zenith. People are tired of this ****. Many US states have biometric laws that will make this product illegal. In my state, I cannot go around taking pictures or video (I know this claims not to do video) of anyone without their prior permission. This is a gigantic class- action lawsuit waiting to happen. Apple has jumped the shark.

 

[svish]

Think it might launch only along with the 20th anniversary iPhone. Could be useful. Will be interesting to see whether the cameras and Visual Intelligence can provide useful information in low light environments.

 

[CWallace]

If these do ship, I hope Apple visually differentiates them in some way from "standard" AirPods Pro because I do not want to have to deal with people assuming that because I have AirPods Pro on in public, I am surreptitiously recording them.

 

[DrRadon]

I don’t hate the general benefits of this but there is no way this is ever going to be save enough to not be creepy.

 

[Student of Life]

Im still trying to figure out the level of resolution these alleged cameras would even have to make this feasible. To get the detail from a book cover and make it actually usable we are taking pretty about a pretty advance camera, which in turn would eat up battery life.

 

[DavidWhittSEA]

Apple is working on AirPods that have cameras for feeding data to Siri. The new earbuds will be Apple's first AI wearable, and they're expected to launch sometime in 2027.

Leaked Video

Apple accidentally left a demo video featuring its rumored camera-equipped AirPods in macOS Tahoe 26.7 in mid-August. In the demo, a man holds up a book so the cameras in the AirPods can see the title. "With Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later," says the voiceover.

 

Here is your first look at AirPods with Cameras in action using Visual Intelligence.

This video file came from macOS 26.7 RC pic.twitter.com/yo7RI4MCeu
— Aaron (@Aaronp613) August 18, 2026


The cameras on the AirPods will feed information to Visual Intelligence, and Siri will be able to answer questions about the wearer's surroundings and log information. There is a direct reference to setting up Visual Intelligence on the AirPods.

If hair is covering the AirPods up, you'll receive an alert. "To get the most accurate information about things in your environment, make sure AirPods are not covered," it says.

Two Versions

Rumors about camera-equipped AirPods have been a little confusing. Most of the rumors about the AirPods with cameras were about a product with the codename B798. In June, Gurman said the camera AirPods had been delayed because of issues with Siri AI, and would not launch until September 2027 alongside the 20th anniversary iPhone.

In early August, Gurman revised his launch timing and said Apple was close to debuting camera AirPods with the codename B790. The B790 AirPods had apparently been progressing alongside the B798 model, and Gurman said the company "famously creates competing versions of the same product internally," with B790 closer to launch than B798. Then in mid-August, multiple references to the B790 version were spotted in macOS Tahoe 26.7. After B790 was discovered, Gurman claimed the AirPods were no longer on Apple's release schedule, and Apple has no plans to release camera-equipped AirPods before 2027.

Gurman said B790 is a version of the AirPods Pro 3 with cameras, while B798 is a future AirPods Pro model with cameras.

Design

The AirPods will look similar to the current AirPods Pro 3, but with cameras embedded in the stem. Apple may include a light that will come on when visual data from the AirPods is being sent to the cloud. The LED will let people around the wearer know the cameras are in use.

Size, design, and fit are expected to remain largely the same for the earbuds and the charging case, with the exception of the changes to the stem.

Features

The cameras in the AirPods will be used for sending data about the wearer's surroundings to Siri, giving Siri more information about where the user is and what's nearby.

Siri will be able to answer questions about objects or whatever the wearer happens to be looking at. The camera-equipped AirPods could be useful for more exact turn-by-turn directions when walking, contextual reminders, 3D mapping, and more.

The iPhone already has Visual Intelligence, which uses AI to identify plants, animals, landmarks, art, books, and more. Camera-equipped AirPods will be able to supply data for Visual Intelligence without the need to use the Camera app.

H3 Chip

Apple is working on an upgraded H3 chip and it could make its first appearance in the camera-equipped AirPods. The H3 chip is expected to bring latency improvements and better audio quality.

Technical Details

Code in macOS Tahoe 26.7 shows how the cameras in the AirPods will work. Of note, there's no mention of an infrared sensor, despite rumors suggesting there would be one.

• Two cameras - There are individual camera sensors in both the left and right earbuds.
• Paired color images - The cameras take synchronized RGB still images of up to 1 megapixel, each with the same frame ID. The cameras give Visual Intelligence a look at the same scene from two angles.
• No video - The cameras can take a series of pictures for Visual Intelligence, but there is no video recording option.
• Resolution - There's an "active" mode that's likely triggered when the wearer activates Siri where the AirPods capture a 640x640 image. In a separate passive mode, they capture a 320x320 image. The sensors are capable of higher-quality images, but Apple appears to be capturing a specific image size.
• Passive image capture - Passive capture mode appears to be for background environmental awareness, triggered by nearby speech, audio changes, posture changes, head rotation, and more.
• Head movement - The cameras in the AirPods have distortion correction to account for head movement, and can reject images that have excessive movement.
• On-device processing - Some content is processed directly on the AirPods, such as person detection.
• Indicator lights - Code suggests the AirPods have a hardware indicator light to let people know when still images are being captured.

Naming

There were rumors suggesting the new AirPods could be called the "AirPods Ultra" instead of the AirPods Pro, but the macOS Tahoe 26.7 file we found that references the new AirPods is labeled "AirPods Pro" and not AirPods Ultra. It's possible that's a placeholder name, so AirPods Ultra isn't entirely out of the question. Apple may have also planned to use AirPods Pro for a version of the camera-equipped AirPods that won't ultimately make it to release.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said in March that Apple was considering several devices with the Ultra name, including the foldable iPhone Ultra, AirPods Ultra, and an OLED MacBook Ultra, but that may or may not be a term we see for the... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: Apple's Camera-Equipped AirPods: All the New Rumors

I can’t imagine a scenario where this goes well.

On the one hand, as someone with prosopagnosia, the benefit for me would be great. Being able to know who someone is before I hear their voice or some other clue would be life-changing. But I can’t fathom how Apple would overcome the privacy concerns.

Maybe if images were never stored (or even viewable by end-users), and it was all on-device, and use cases like facial recognition were limited in scope to contacts I have already identified in my phone… maybe? If there were any company I’d trust to limit the scope, Apple would be the one but still...

I wear my AirPods a lot. Wearing them during a workout and then walking into the locker room where folks are in various states of undress? Yeah. Creepy. People just aren’t going to trust the device and services to not infringe on their privacy.

 

[citysnaps]

Unsubstantiated rumors about the cameras' purpose is to surreptitiously take and store photos of strangers really gets people worked up.

 

[Macalway]

You could tune it so careless people don't do damage, just like CarPlay.

Siri would know if you are invasive. Siri could also suggest you calm down and grow up.

 

[Flight Plan]

The Flock Camera backlash is going to be epic ...

Not really. We've had them for a few years now and haven't received even a single complaint. And we've caught at least a dozen vehicles that caused accidents, landscaping damage, and in one case, we solved a property damage case that the homeowner was able to resolve with the company that caused the damage.

Some of what we've been able to catch/solve:

• We found the driver of a car who caused over a thousand dollars of damage to a common area. We're talking trees, sod, and electrical. That stuff is expensive to replace! In a few cases, we were able to send a repair bill to the owner of the car.
• The state trooper who was driving his patrol car when he had an accident in the community...IN HIS PATROL CAR...and then fled the community. Yes, he left without filing an accident report or contacting the owner of the property he damaged.
• The driver of a FedEx truck who caused a few thousand dollars of irrigation damage when he drove up on somebody's grass. A witness knew the color of the vehicle and the time of the incident, so we were able to narrow down the candidates from 5 or 6 FedEx trucks that day....down to a SINGLE specific truck and an exact date/time they entered and exited the area.

Anybody who has access (and the number is few) has to provide a reason for looking up the data. And indeed, a cop was recently caught for looking up data without justifiable cause. He was tracking certain people, and he didn't have a legitimate reason for doing so.

Most times, the report starts with a witness reporting that they saw a car do this-or-that, along with a date and approximate time of the damage.

Flock only records vehicle make, model, color, and license plate state and number. It only knows that your vehicle passed a specific camera on a date/time, and it doesn't know who you are, has no idea where you live or work, or where you're going. It's just data. Data is not knowledge. And by itself, data is not an investigation.

This should be interesting. The same crowd screaming that Apple hasn't innovated in years will be first in line to torch them if a risky new feature stumbles. This has "problem" written all over it. And for what, exactly? 😕😕

I can't tell if you're pro or con on this topic. You gave two potentially conflicting opinions without stating detail of what is "problem". Are you mad at people screaming at Apple or are you mad that Apple is going to have a problem? Can you clarify?

I’d rather have a Borg Ocular Implant

Well, as coincidence would have it, your implant surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday. Don't worry, you don't have to go anywhere or do anything. The Borg will find you, because that's what they do. Say it with me...resistance is futile.

First: This isn't going to be a product.

Second: I don't want the sacrifices that will be required from the audio devices that go into my ear to house a cameras for non audio reasons.

If i want AI to tell me what a book is I'll hold my iPhone to the book and not the book up to my Airpods.

I've been using AI lately, and have been getting some excellent results. You just have to be willing to iterate over and over again, and call out the bot when it gives you conflicting information. You can't just be a passive participant with AI.

Apple has lost touch with consumers. Nobody wants or needs this.

BS. Don't speak for me.

Worried you won’t remember something later, take a pic with the phone you already have. Spying on people has reached its zenith.

People have been spying on you for 25 years already. It's just easier now.

People are tired of this ****.

Again, you're speaking for people who are not you.

Many US states have biometric laws that will make this product illegal. In my state, I cannot go around taking pictures or video (I know this claims not to do video) of anyone without their prior permission.

Assuming you're in the US and you and they are in public, neither of you has the expectation of privacy. No picture taker needs your "permission".

This is a gigantic class- action lawsuit waiting to happen. Apple has jumped the shark.

Probably not.

My car has dashcams all around. Tesla vehicles have cameras built into the vehicle. Cops have body-cams and dashcams.

No class action lawsuits have magically appeared as yet.

Think it might launch only along with the 20th anniversary iPhone. Could be useful. Will be interesting to see whether the cameras and Visual Intelligence can provide useful information in low light environments.

I also think it may be useful. The airpods can help you with your hearing, soon will be able to help you with your vision, and who knows...maybe by 2030, can smell what's cooking since you can't since that day you got covid back in 2021.

Shades of "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "The Bionic Woman", right?

 

[TestedLion]

Not buying them, they say the point of that is AI… I don’t need this AI ! Why do I have a brain?

So.... let's say, as a use case.. You're travelling in a foreign country. All the signage, menus, directions, etc. are in a foreign language.

This allows you to hear or see (on screen) a useful and accurate translation... You have a brain, of course, but you don't know the language(s) being translated.

 

[Flight Plan]

Unsubstantiated rumors about the cameras' purpose is to surreptitiously take and store photos of strangers really gets people worked up.

95% of the Internet's purpose is to get people worked up.

You could tune it so careless people don't do damage, just like CarPlay.

Siri would know if you are invasive. Siri could also suggest you calm down and grow up.

LOL, that's pretty funny. But whether intentional or accidental, humor isn't a new thing in these assistants. My 2004 Prius had a built-in assistant before Siri was a thing. For grins and giggles, I asked her where the closes str!p club was, and she told me "Turning down the temperature." The 2004 version of "grow up!"

Oh, and yep, she DID turn the AC down a few degrees!

Hahahahahaha, I still laugh at that! And that was 4 years before Jarvis told Tony Stark that Red and Gold wouldn't be too outlandish! 🤣

 

[turbineseaplane]

So.... let's say, as a use case.. You're travelling in a foreign country. All the signage, menus, directions, etc. are in a foreign language.

This allows you to hear or see (on screen) a useful and accurate translation... You have a brain, of course, but you don't know the language(s) being translated.

Careful which foreign country.
This type of stuff is often much more restricted than in the US.

 

[ResolutionNZ]

This sort of thing needs to stay in phones that people can easily see and stay out of wearable tech.