Why might Apple put cameras in the upcoming AirPods?

If I were For the sake of getting Apple’s privacy credentials in one go, you could do worse than triggering your AirPods with cameras. Whether they come to market or not, Apple’s ubiquitous earbuds will become a question mark for everyone in their vicinity: Are they recording me now?

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple designed the AirPods with a camera to allow Siri to “see” the wearer’s surroundings. They’re in the final stages of testing with Apple employees as part of its “AI device push.”

However, a source who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about the matter told WIRED that Apple will likely delay the AirPods camera launch. While the hardware is ready, Siri’s visual intelligence is not up to par. Apple executives are also concerned that the company is introducing a significant privacy risk with earbud cameras without compelling use cases. Apple did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

This brings us to the main question: What advantages will Apple seek by adding cameras to its AirPods — especially at a time when consumer privacy concerns are growing about casual surveillance through smart glasses cameras, doorbell cameras, and even phone cameras?

Navigate, shop, and smarter Siri

According to Bloomberg, these AirPods have larger stems to house lower-resolution cameras, serving as Siri’s eyes as visual context for spoken requests. They are not designed to take photos and video, like smart glasses. Some of the use cases mentioned in the report include landmark-based navigation and food identification to help with grocery shopping.

“Vision-based positioning is the most obvious,” says Anshil Saj, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. “It should be a very passive experience, which is why I think using location-based accuracy, to correct GPS, makes sense.” Google is also using cameras in its upcoming smart glasses to understand user directions when using walking navigation with Google Maps.

Other potential features will be familiar to anyone familiar with smart glasses. Peter Richardson, vice president of Counterpoint Research, liked the idea of ​​standing in front of the refrigerator and asking an AI assistant what to make for dinner, as an example where data from multiple devices could work together.

“This is something that requires visual information,” Richardson says. “There’s a lot of context: Is it the middle of the week? Do I have a workout in the morning? Is it a Friday when I want to have a glass of wine? Are my friends finished?” Likewise, when combined with the Apple Watch, visual data can make Siri more intuitive. “If I’m at Paddington station and I’m running, I might be late for the train, so maybe don’t call me,” he says.

As with many niche wearables, there are also some interesting accessibility applications. 9to5mac points out that an all-seeing Siri via AirPods, perhaps with infrared capabilities in the mix, could enhance the capabilities of Apple’s Image Explorer and Voice Over features for visually impaired users. In all of these scenarios, one key piece of information we don’t yet have is whether the cameras will be facing forward or facing the world. Gorman notes that a “little LED light” will turn on when visual data is fed into the cloud.

Visual data for artificial intelligence

At first glance, the logic here might be clear: grab real-world data. As AI modelers and startups look beyond large, text-based language models to photography, mapping and robotics, Apple’s popular and affordable accessories could be turned into the equivalent of Google Street View cars in 2026.

“Having information, whether visual or even audio, is new information that has never been used to train AI,” Richardson says. “But it is only useful if it can be used to train it.”