According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is “actively developing” a version of AirPods with built-in cameras. While this feature is unlikely to debut with the upcoming AirPods Pro 3, expected later this year, it’s in the works for future models. Apple is looking to enhance AirPods with capabilities that allow them to better understand your environment—so why is this important?
Visual Intelligence Integration
With the iPhone 16 lineup, Apple introduced Camera Control, a new feature that allows users to adjust camera settings and take photos. But more notably, it also enabled the introduction of Visual Intelligence, a powerful tool that helps users learn more about the world around them. With this feature, users can take actions based on their environment, such as adding an event flyer to their calendar or using tools like ChatGPT or Google to get more information about something they don’t understand.
Gurman reports that Apple wants to bring this kind of functionality to AirPods. The goal is to bolster the company’s position in the AI race by integrating external cameras and artificial intelligence to understand the outside world and provide real-time information to users. Essentially, this could be Apple’s approach to smart glasses—without the glasses.
With this integration, you could ask Siri about your surroundings without needing to pull out your iPhone.
Enhanced Spatial Audio
Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has also suggested that these new AirPods could serve as a bridge to improve integration with other Apple products. Specifically, they could be used to enhance spatial awareness while listening to audio on devices like the Apple Vision Pro.
Kuo expects the new AirPods to work seamlessly with Vision Pro and future Apple headsets to improve the spatial audio experience and strengthen Apple’s spatial computing ecosystem. For example, if you’re watching a video with Vision Pro while wearing the new AirPods, turning your head in a specific direction could cause the sound to shift and emphasize the audio coming from that direction, enhancing the overall spatial computing experience.