Apple is in the late-testing stage for a new set of AirPods, a new report claims, and these earbuds will have a new element: built-in cameras which will work with Apple Intelligence and Siri.
Apple’s First AI Wearable
The earbuds will be “a significant milestone for what will likely be its first wearable device designed for the artificial intelligence era,” Mark Gurman reported at Bloomberg.
The cameras are not designed to take photos or video, they are meant to see what’s around the user and provide information.
“The cameras essentially act as eyes for the Siri digital assistant and aren’t designed to take photos or video. These components — located in both the right and left earbuds — allow the device to capture visual information in low resolution. Other than longer stems to accommodate the cameras, the product will resemble the AirPods Pro 3,” Gurman reported.
Release Date And Siri Integration
The report also said that they had been planned to go on sale in the first half of 2026 but the launch was held back because the new version of Siri was delayed. Gurman said the new Siri is now on track to be released in September with iOS 27.
The product is at the design validation testing stage, it’s reported, which comes just before the production validation test, when early mass-production units are made.
The AirPods with cameras will let users ask what they’re looking at — not dissimilar to a feature in Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses or the Visual Intelligence function on the iPhone.
There’s more. “The device could give the wearer a reminder based on something the camera sees, or it might use external visuals to provide more advanced turn-by-turn directions. The AI could cite a specific landmark ahead when telling users when they should turn,” Gurman said, which seems like a very useful feature if you’re as bad at navigation as I am.
Privacy And Design
An LED light will switch on when the cameras are feeding data to the cloud, to alleviate privacy concerns, though how visible this will be isn’t known.
Though there’s no release date for the new AirPods mentioned, since the new Siri is likely to arrive in September, it seems just as likely that the AirPods with cameras will appear some time in the fall.
