(Credit: Eric Zeman/PCMag)
Apple has reportedly entered the final stage of testing for its camera-equipped AirPods.
The product has been rumored for a while and is part of Apple’s push for AI-centric hardware, which also includes a rival to the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses. The upcoming AirPods, however, will likely be Apple's first AI wearable, reports Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
The AirPods will have a camera on both earbuds. They aren’t meant to snap pictures or record videos, like Meta’s glasses do. Instead, they are designed to “act as eyes” for Siri, which will respond to questions the wearer may have about what is around them.
For example, the wearer could show Siri the ingredients on their table, and Siri would recommend dishes they can make with them. It’s like uploading visuals to Gemini and ChatGPT, Gurman says.
We first heard about the product in 2024. It is now being tested internally in a stage known as design validation testing, according to sources. From here, the product will move to the production validation test, which is where Apple kicks off early mass production. At first glance, the prototypes resemble the AirPods Pro 3, but they’ll have longer stems to house the cameras, Gurman notes.
While the hardware is being prepared for production, Apple’s biggest challenge lies with the voice assistant at its center. The company needs an upgraded Siri to run AirPods’ visual intelligence features, but the upgrade has been delayed for so long that Apple this week settled a related lawsuit for $250 million.
In the interim, Apple signed a deal with Google to use Gemini models to upgrade its AI offerings. Once it obtained the models, Apple reportedly fixed Siri’s underlying architecture and is now readying the AI assistant for a September release, Gurman says.
We expect to hear more about this development during the WWDC keynote on June 8. The Siri delay had reportedly been holding up the next Apple TV 4K and HomePod as well. If Siri lands the way Apple expects, we may see a few more product launches this year.
As far as the camera-equipped AirPods are concerned, there isn’t an approximate timeline yet. However, Gurman says, it is in more advanced stages than the AI smart glasses and AI pendant, which were projected for a 2027 release.