Apple’s camera-equipped AirPods appear in leaked video

We may have our first glimpse of Apple’s rumored camera-equipped AirPods, thanks to a video that MacRumors found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 Release Candidate. The short video clip features a man — who is wearing the new AirPods — holding up a book with the cover displayed, so that Visual Intelligence can see the book title.

A Siri voice-over plays over the clip, saying “with Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later.” Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has previously reported that the rumored AirPods with cameras are designed to take in “visual information in low resolution” and act as eyes for Apple’s AI features, potentially allowing Siri to give turn-by-turn directions or answer questions about the wearer’s surroundings.

The AirPods shown in the new demo clip look like a slightly thicker version of the AirPods Pro 3. That’s what Gurman had predicted, along with longer stems to accommodate the cameras, and LED lights that indicate when data is being uploaded to the cloud. We only get a look at the AirPods from the back in the video, but no lights can be seen on them from that angle.

Given those Visual Intelligence features, the AirPods are poised to compete with other camera-equipped AI gadgets like Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, though Apple is also reportedly working on its own smart glasses too. While the AirPods’ cameras “aren’t designed” to snap photos or videos, the stealthy form factor may exacerbate the existing privacy concerns surrounding camera-equipped AI products, following Meta’s “pervert glasses” backlash.

For now, details about Apple’s AirPods with cameras are still slim. If demo videos are already making their way into Apple’s OS betas, the new AirPods may launch alongside the improved version of Siri, which is expected to arrive in September together with the next generation of iPhones.