Apple appears to be preparing new AirPods with built-in cameras, according to a leaked video found in the latest macOS update.
The video, spotted by MacRumors in the macOS 26.7 release candidate, shows a man holding up a book while speaking to Siri. The demonstration uses visual information from the scene to answer questions about what he is seeing.
The video also highlights Apple’s Visual Intelligence feature. Its voiceover tells users they can save things they see and ask Siri to remember them for later.
MacRumors reports that the new AirPods could use a camera to examine objects in front of the wearer and answer questions about them. The publication also found a reference in Apple’s software that could warn users when something, such as hair, blocks the camera.
The discovery follows a Bloomberg report from May that Apple had reached an advanced stage of testing camera-equipped AirPods. The report said the earbuds would resemble the AirPods Pro 3, but could feature a longer stem and an LED indicator to show when data is being sent to the cloud.
The idea would give Apple’s existing earbuds a form of visual awareness without requiring users to wear a separate camera or smart-glasses device. The cameras could help Siri understand objects and scenes around the wearer and provide more contextual answers.
Apple would not be entering an empty market. Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses already use cameras to understand what users are looking at, while other companies are developing similar wearable devices.
The move could also give Apple another route into AI-powered wearables as it works toward products beyond the iPhone. Bloomberg previously reported that Apple had planned to launch the camera-equipped AirPods earlier, but the timeline has since shifted.
The company could now introduce the AirPods alongside its upcoming software updates and the new Siri, which Apple plans to roll out in September. That would put the camera-equipped earbuds alongside Apple’s broader push to make Siri more capable of understanding the world around the user.
