Your next set of Apple AirPods could come with a new set of cameras that can act like ‘eyes’ while you’re out and about in the world.
The very first Apple AirPods were launched back in 2016, alongside the iPhone 7, and have been steadily improving and updating ever since.
Just last year, Apple announced a live-translation feature, powered by its Apple Intelligence, would be coming to its AirPods.
Now, the tech giant is working on another exciting update, and it could be here sooner than you think.
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Apple is reportedly working on AirPods with ‘enhanced AI capabilities’
As Apple leans more heavily into AI-integrated tech, a new report has suggested that it is working on AirPods fitted with a set of cameras, which can act a bit like AI ‘eyes’ to ‘see’ the world around the wearer.
Interestingly, it was first reported that Apple was considering adding cameras to its AirPods back in July 2024.
The report, from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, claimed Apple wanted to add infrared camera modules, similar to the ones used for the Face ID feature, so the AirPods could work more cohesively with the Vision Pro.
It went on to say the cameras would ‘enhance the user experience of spatial audio and strengthen the spatial computing ecosystem’.
At the time of that report, it was claimed these new more advanced Apple AirPods would go into mass-production in 2026.
Which brings us neatly on to this week, when Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple is working on several new AI wearables, including ‘AirPods with expanded AI capabilities’.
The AirPods will come with low-resolution cameras, which are designed to help AI work better, rather than being used for taking photos.
The report goes on to say that, as the Apple AirPods have been in development since 2024, we could see them launched as early as next year, so the original timeline could still fit.
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What other AI-integrated products is Apple planning?
As well as the camera-equipped AirPods, the Bloomberg report also claims that Apple is working on a pair of smart glasses, which could provide some serious competition for the Meta Ray-Bans.
The AI glasses will reportedly have a high-tech camera system, with high-resolution cameras to capture video and images and a lower-resolution one to provide visual information to Siri.
Unlike Meta’s smart glasses, Apple’s will not feature a display on the lens and will be built around a voice-based interface.
They could go into production as soon as the end of this year and launch in 2027.
The report also claims that Apple is working on a wearable AI pin, a little like the Friend necklace, that left some folks feeling uncomfortable.
The pin would be fitted with an always-on camera that records the wearer’s environment, and has an inbuilt microphone connected to Siri.
Timeline of Apple’s breakthrough technology highlights
1984 – Macintosh: Graphical User Interface (GUI): Brought windows, icons, and a mouse to the mass market
2001 – iPod: 1,000 songs in your pocket: Reinvented portable music with a compact hard drive and click wheel
2007 – iPhone: Multi-touch display: Eliminated physical keyboards and redefined smartphones
2010 – iPad: Tablet computing at scale: Popularized touch-first computing beyond phones
2013 – iPhone 5s: Touch ID fingerprint sensor: Secure biometric authentication for consumers
2014 – Apple Watch: Wrist-based health tech: Mainstream ECG, heart-rate monitoring, and wearable computing
2020 – Apple M1: ARM-based chips delivering massive performance-per-watt gains over Intel Macs
2023 – Apple Vision Pro: Spatial computing: Mixed reality headset blending digital content with the real world
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