Leaked macOS video shows AirPods that appear to have cameras

In short: A leaked video inside a test version of macOS appears to show Apple AirPods with built-in cameras.

What happened

A short video clip found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 Release Candidate (a near-final test build of the Mac operating system) appears to show a new kind of AirPods with cameras. The clip was spotted by MacRumors and reported by The Verge.

In the video, a person wearing the AirPods holds up a book so Apple’s “Visual Intelligence” can read the title. Visual Intelligence is Apple software that uses what a camera sees to help you do things, a bit like pointing your phone at something and asking, “What is this?” A Siri voice says, “See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later.”

Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has previously said Apple is working on AirPods with cameras that take in “visual information in low resolution.” That could let Siri answer questions about what you are looking at, or help with turn-by-turn directions.

The AirPods shown in the clip look like a thicker version of AirPods Pro 3. Earlier reporting also mentioned possible LED lights to show when data is being uploaded to the cloud (sent to online servers, like sending a file to a remote computer). No lights are visible in this specific video angle.

Why it matters

Cameras in earbuds could make voice assistants more helpful in daily life, but they also raise privacy concerns. Small, hard-to-notice cameras can make people worry about being recorded, even if Apple says the cameras are not meant for taking photos or videos.

Source: The Verge AI