Way back in 2024, when rumors of AirPods with cameras on them first surfaced, the whole thing sounded a little outlandish—cameras? For what? Who would even use a device like that? A lot has changed in that time, and what seemed like a long shot of a product is starting to feel more like an inevitability. Looks like those camera pods might actually be on their way, and maybe sooner than you thought.
According to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, AirPods with cameras on them are now in their “late stages of development” and have a “near-final design and capabilities.” The way Gurman tells it, AirPods with cameras are in their last stage before mass production, though problems with Apple’s next-gen Siri and other AI features could delay their release. He says they should look like AirPods Pro 3, but with longer stems to fit the cameras.
Unlike other camera-equipped Apple devices, AirPods will be focused on computer vision, or as Apple calls it, “Visual Intelligence,” as opposed to photography. With the ability to see your surroundings, AirPods can reportedly answer questions about your environment, à la Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, but may also add some new tricks to the computer vision fold, like providing landmark-based navigation. On top of that, Apple is apparently working on a feature that can surface reminders based on geographic cues.
If your privacy alarm bells are ringing over features that potentially vacuum all sorts of incidental visual information in your surroundings, Apple appears to be on the same page. According to Bloomberg, Apple will include a small LED on the wireless earbuds that lights up when visual information is being captured. It sounds similar to the privacy lights included on smart glasses like the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses, which turn green when video or photos are being taken.
The choice not to imbue AirPods with photography capabilities feels like a pointed one. It’s an obvious departure from categories like smart glasses, many of which can take high-res photos and videos discreetly, sometimes with icky results. Clearly, Apple isn’t ready to tread into that territory quite yet, but it is reportedly working on its own pair of smart glasses that will have to confront the issue at some point.
For now, though, AirPods with cameras sound like a far less intrusive type of head-worn AI gadget, especially if Apple upholds its longstanding reputation for caring about user data.
