For years, Apple has been rumoured to be working on AirPods with built-in cameras, but we now have something more concrete. An alleged promo video of the camera-fitted AirPods has surfaced online, demonstrating some of its capabilities.
MacRumors analyst Aaron (@aaronp613) shared a 13-second clip on X showcasing the working of Apple's upcoming camera-equipped AirPods. He claims the video file was found inside the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate, the same one that revealed multiple Apple products' codenames.
The clip itself is short, and it shows a man holding up a book so the camera in the AirPods can see the book cover. The accompanying voiceover pitches the idea of your surroundings becoming savable. The voice says, "See something you like? Simply ask Sirt to save it later".
The mechanics behind this feature look straightforward. The camera will feed what it sees to Apple's Visual Intelligence module of Siri AI. The information is captured so that Siri AI can answer questions about the user's surroundings, and then it saves the logs for later use.
The macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate build also contains a direct reference to setting up Visual Intelligence on the AirPods, pointing to a dedicated onboarding flow.
Moving on, one detail in the code gives a good sense of how the camera-equipped AirPods will actually work. There is an alert warning users when hair is covering the AirPods, telling them to keep the earbuds unobstructed for accurate readings of their environment. This confirms the presence of on-board cameras.
Sadly, the video clip doesn't exactly show what the AirPods with cameras look like up close. From the angle shown in the video, they look similar to the AirPods Pro 3. Aside from that, the obvious question here is privacy.
It is unclear at the moment how the onboard cameras inside the AirPods will work. A camera worn on the ear, which is always positioned to see whatever the wearer is facing, raises serious privacy concerns. There's no detail about how Apple plans to handle indicators or get consent for people around the wearer, and that will likely be a central part of the conversation whenever the product is formally announced.
When Will Camera-equipped AirPods Launch?
The camera-equipped AirPods carry the codename B790, which is the same reference found inside the codename repository unearthed from the latest macOS Tahoe 26.7 RC update. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman had previously suggested that the new AirPods could launch in September 2026.
If true, then the AirPods could be unveiled alongside the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and the foldable iPhone Ultra. However, the interesting part is that the B790 camera-mounted AirPods is not the same one that has been part of the rumour mill for years.
That one bears the B798 codename and are not expected to arrive before 2027. Hence, it could indicate that the B790 is the gen-one version and the B798 is the gen-two model of camera-equipped AirPods.
That said, Apple has not confirmed anything officially, and the video was clearly not meant to be public yet. With the September 2026 event now a few weeks away, we should not have to wait long for clarity. So, stay tuned.
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