Camera-Equipped AirPods Pro Development 'Suspended,' Leaker Claims

[haruhiko]

“Leaker”: Apple is going to release new AirPods without speakers!
MacRumors: APPLE IS DEFINITELY RELEASING AIRPODS WITHOUT SOUND
“Leaker”: Oh sorry Apple suspended the plan. AirPods will have speakers in it after all.
MacRumors: APPLE SCRAPPED THEIR PLAN FOR MAKING AIRPODS WITHOUT SOUND

Reality: Nothing happened. Apple is going to release new AirPods that is normal.

 

[Plutonius]

It's obvious that Apple couldn't overcome the technical hurdle of ear wax 🙂.

 

[syklee26]

This was a stupid idea to begin with. Any AI weables need to have at least 8 hour battery life to be effective.

 

[cjsuk]

Yeah because it’s a dumb idea.

 

[bookcase]

Cameras on AirPods are ridiculous IMO. Aside from being unnecessary, they sit in people's ears differently.

 

[jchap]

I hope that this product is suspended permanently. It’s a privacy nightmare just waiting to happen.

 

[Mr_Ed]

So…I thought that about things like Meta glasses until recently when I learned of a fantastic use case. I recently attended a meeting with a guest speaker from a local company that does work with the blind. Meta glasses are becoming popular with blind people to give them increased independence. One example was sitting at a restaurant, holding up a menu and asking the glasses to read the list of appetizers. Another was to supplement the work of a guide dog, with the glasses providing an audio map of where the person is headed real time. So, sure, for a large swath of the population I could see this being a waste of money. But there are definitely solid use cases for tech like this.

This is indeed an example of a great use case for the technology. As always, the issue isn’t the tech but rather, how it is used. There is a difference between building an assistive device for those who need it and a mass market product.

The “Metas” of the world don’t have to deal with individual privacy violations if they can get a bunch of people to willingly do it for them. I mean, get people to pay money for a product AND use it to collect data to feed and expand the AI back end at the expense of everyone’s privacy? BONUS!

 

[CouldBeWorse]

Assuming this is true, I wonder whether this was done because of the silicon shortage. Might be more worthwhile to use the hardware for other less experimental products.

 

[anakin44011]

Looking forward to next week's contradicting article doubling down on production going ahead smoothly.

I hear that they suspended development for the ENTIRE HOLIDAY WEEKEND...but it may pick back up sometime next week.

Wow...It seems I have missed my calling in producing copious Apple Rumors content. I think I'll give my employer my two-week notice...MacRumors, are you hiring?

 

[erkanasu]

thank god, would have been another mis-fire

 

[1ppl3]

Only in Gurman we trust, respectfully

 

[Nyx1]

Some employee wake up today and say this was bad idea.

 

[Astuces iOS]

Well thanks god, Apple is not a spy gadget company

 

[Entilzha]

Good.

Who the heck WANTED this in the first place?

 

[Unami]

I was wondering about battery life anyway... Those cameras would have to survey your surrounding constantly (although not at a high frame rate) to be useful. Making it slow like visual intelligence, where you first have to "snap" a photo and then have it analyzed probably wouldn'd be a great product. otoh, better to wear the camera than to have to fish out your iphone.

btw. where's temperature sensing in cameras and smartwatches? Like a built in infrared thermometer that you can point at things? I can see that they probably won't install chemical sensors in the intermediate future (although, something that warns of CO and other hazardous gasses could save lifes), but knowing the temperature of an object is something I'd need quite often. More often than measuring my VO2-level or taking an ECG.

 

[TonyC28]

This one always seemed strange. Maybe an internal leak test?

 

[ace8cjc]

Hope so. It’s creepy and weird to secretly record someone without their knowledge. People wear AirPods everywhere, and you’d never know who is recording and who is not.

 

[VulchR]

So…I thought that about things like Meta glasses until recently when I learned of a fantastic use case. I recently attended a meeting with a guest speaker from a local company that does work with the blind. Meta glasses are becoming popular with blind people to give them increased independence. One example was sitting at a restaurant, holding up a menu and asking the glasses to read the list of appetizers. Another was to supplement the work of a guide dog, with the glasses providing an audio map of where the person is headed real time. So, sure, for a large swath of the population I could see this being a waste of money. But there are definitely solid use cases for tech like this.

There are already devices that do this - e.g., myEye (see https://www.orcam.com/en-us/orcam-myeye-3-pro). Still, in practice, such products are a bit awkward to use. You wind up looking like a Borg with a camera clipped to your glasses and people mistrust the purpose of the camera. Still a lot of work to do to get society to accept it.

 

[turbineseaplane]

So…I thought that about things like Meta glasses until recently when I learned of a fantastic use case. I recently attended a meeting with a guest speaker from a local company that does work with the blind. Meta glasses are becoming popular with blind people to give them increased independence. One example was sitting at a restaurant, holding up a menu and asking the glasses to read the list of appetizers. Another was to supplement the work of a guide dog, with the glasses providing an audio map of where the person is headed real time. So, sure, for a large swath of the population I could see this being a waste of money. But there are definitely solid use cases for tech like this.

Absolutely are use cases.

Perhaps the tech should be restricted and prescribed and in the same area as things like handicapped parking passes?

 

[gummybear2026]

Apple's legal team is breathing a sigh of relief at this point.

 

[Mousse]

After the outcry over the Meta specs you can guarantee that a company that has had built its rep on privacy won’t be releasing anything equipped with impersonal cameras any time soon.

Yar. Anyone in my circle of friends start wearing Meta Glasses around us, will get pervert shamed into not wearing them around us. What happens in our friends group stays in our friends group. We don't want that 💩 appearing on Facebutt.🫤

 

[Taq'aix]

Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, around 10 months before the iPhone 16 Pro launched, they correctly revealed that it would feature a metal-enclosed battery.

They also provided an early look at an Apple Watch band made from Apple's controversial FineWoven material. However, Kosutami incorrectly claimed that AirPods Pro 3 were imminent in August 2024.


They never say this about “the leaker known as Mark Gurman”. They never call him out. Only Asian people.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

“After checking in with Chauncey, I was informed that, for some strange reason, they’re no longer employed! This comes as a complete shock to me, of course! As a result, I don’t think the information they provided me has any basis in fact! If they’re no trustworthy enough to keep their job, how could I trust them on anything else!”

Assuming it wasn’t just made up, which passes for leaks these days as Apple’s ship is pretty tight. I mean, releasing new AirPods Max with no leaks beforehand when there were surely boxes and boxes of them manufactured and prepped for shipping tells you all you need to know about how much information they’re ACTUALLY getting from the supply chain.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Good riddance literally no one asked for more expensive air buds. Apple needs to quit focusing on nickel and diming us. Even if they do come out I hope they overprice them to $300 and they flop.

They can only nickel and dime those who give them their nickels and dimes, though.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I understand that for glasses.

But, if that person is using Meta glasses, they’re looking at the menu, the glasses are looking at and capturing data on everything around them for Meta to use.