Apple appears to have leaked its camera-equipped AirPods
Developing story first seen 6 hours ago
Apple appears to have accidentally revealed its camera-equipped AirPods through a demo video embedded in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate, according to MacRumors. The earbuds would use an onboard camera to feed low-resolution imagery to Siri, powering a new "Visual Intelligence" feature that can identify and remember objects a wearer looks at, marking a significant expansion of the AirPods' capabilities beyond audio.
In the leaked clip, a man wearing the AirPods asks Siri to remember a book he is browsing, with Siri responding that "your world becomes saveable." The devices resemble current AirPods Pro but with a slightly thicker stem, and the cameras themselves are not visible. First reported by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in May, the earbuds are codenamed B790 and are expected to be unveiled at Apple's iPhone 18 event next month, ahead of a separate camera-equipped model (B798) tipped for 2027. Given the surveillance implications of a camera worn in public, Gurman suggests Apple may include an indicator to show when the camera is active.
- Apple accidentally leaked camera-equipped AirPods in a macOS 26.7 demo video
- New "Visual Intelligence" feature lets Siri identify and save what wearers see
- Expected launch at Apple's iPhone 18 event next month
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Apple's AirPods are wireless earbuds, and Siri is the voice assistant built into Apple's devices. Reports suggest Apple is developing a new version of AirPods that includes a small onboard camera, allowing Siri to see what the wearer is looking at and respond accordingly, a feature Apple calls "Visual Intelligence". This would be a major shift for AirPods, which have so far been purely audio devices.
The evidence comes from a demo video that appears to have been included accidentally in a test version of Apple's Mac software, macOS Tahoe 26.7, and spotted by the website MacRumors. It builds on earlier reporting from Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, who said in May that Apple was working on camera-equipped earbuds under the internal codename B790, with a further model expected in 2027.
The story matters partly because of what the product could do, letting a voice assistant recognise and "remember" objects a person looks at, and partly because of the questions this raises around privacy, since a hidden camera worn in public could record people without their knowledge. Apple has not confirmed any of this, though the earbuds are expected to be shown publicly at an Apple event next month.
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