Apple’s AirPods with cameras for AI are apparently close to production

Apple’s rumored AirPods with cameras are nearing a stage where the company will test early mass production, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports. Currently, Apple testers are “actively using” prototypes that are in the design validation test stage, which is one step before the production validation test stage.

The AirPods’ cameras “aren’t designed” to snap photos or video but instead can take in “visual information in low resolution” that users can query Siri about, like asking the AI assistant what they should cook with the ingredients they have in front of them, according to Gurman. They may also use the cameras to help with things like turn-by-turn directions.

These new AirPods will look like the AirPods Pro 3 but have longer stems due to the camera technology, Gurman says. The AirPods will have a “small” LED light to indicate when “visual data is being fed into the cloud.” Apple apparently wanted to launch the new AirPods as early as sometime in the first half of 2026, but that was pushed following delays to its upgraded Siri. Gurman says the improved Siri is “on track” to hit in September — perhaps these new AirPods will launch around that same timeframe. (The AirPods Pro 3 were announced and released in September 2025.)

Apple’s push into AI-infused gadgets will put it in competition with Meta, which has had success with its smart glasses, and might give the company a leg up on OpenAI, which is reportedly making a phone. Apple is also developing smart glasses and an AI pendant that could launch as soon as early 2027, according to Gurman.