Apple appears to be preparing AirPods equipped with cameras that could give Siri and Apple's Visual Intelligence system a persistent view of the wearer's environment, according to code discovered in a macOS release candidate this week.
The B790 device
Developers who examined the release candidate found references to an unreleased device carrying the internal codename B790, alongside a demonstration video showing the system identifying a book held in front of the wearer and saving information about it for later recall. The cameras appear intended for machine perception rather than photography, turning the earbuds into lightweight ambient AI sensors.
Wearables that see
A wearable assistant that can both hear a request and see what its user is looking at could identify products, translate signs, recall objects and answer questions about the surrounding environment without a phone in hand. Similar ambitions are driving Meta's Ray-Ban Display glasses roadmap and a wider wave of AI-native hardware startups, but Apple's install base makes AirPods an unusually high-leverage entry point.
Privacy tradeoffs
Camera-equipped earbuds also introduce new consent questions. Because visual sensors would be less visible than on smart glasses, bystanders may not immediately realise a wearable device is capturing imagery. Apple will have to balance ambient AI capability against expectations around recording, consent and visible indicator lights before shipping the product.
The leak lands as Apple's broader AI strategy pushes further beyond phones, matching moves from Samsung's in-house humanoid prototype and other consumer-facing AI hardware plays. It also fits Apple's pattern of building more ambient, context-aware assistants into its ecosystem alongside Apple Intelligence.
Reporting based on coverage from TechSpot, TechStartups and MacRumors.