We may get our first look at Apple’s rumored camera-equipped AirPods, thanks to a video MacRumors found in macOS Tahoe 26.7 Release Candidate. The short video clip shows a man, wearing the new AirPods, holding a book with the cover exposed, so Visual Intelligence can see the book’s title. A Siri voiceover plays over the clip, saying “with Visual Intelligence, your world can be saved. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later.” Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman previously reported that the rumored AirPods with cameras are designed to capture “low-resolution visual information” and act as eyes for Apple’s artificial intelligence features, which could allow Siri to give turn-by-turn directions or answer questions about the user’s environment. The AirPods shown in the new demo clip look like a slightly thicker version of the AirPods Pro 3. That’s what Gurman had predicted, along with longer stems to accommodate the cameras and LED lights that indicate when data is being transmitted. uploaded to the cloud. In the video we only see the AirPods from behind, but no lights are seen from that angle. Given those Visual Intelligence features, the AirPods are set to compete with other camera-equipped AI devices, like Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, although Apple is also reportedly working on its own smart glasses. While the AirPods’ cameras are “not designed” to take photos or videos, the stealth form factor may exacerbate existing privacy concerns around camera-equipped AI products, following the backlash over Meta’s “kink glasses.” For now, details on Apple AirPods with cameras are still scarce. If demo videos are already appearing in beta versions of Apple’s operating system, the new AirPods may launch alongside the improved version of Siri, which is expected to arrive in September alongside the next generation of iPhones.
