Apple’s camera-equipped AirPods appear in leaked video

A leaked video found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 Release Candidate by MacRumors shows Apple's rumored camera-equipped AirPods, which appear as a slightly thicker version of the AirPods Pro 3 with longer stems, using Visual Intelligence to identify a book cover via Siri. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously reported the AirPods would capture low-resolution visual information to serve as eyes for Apple's AI features, potentially enabling Siri to provide directions or answer questions about the wearer's surroundings. The AirPods are expected to compete with Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses and may launch alongside an improved Siri in September.

We may have our first glimpse of Apple’s rumored camera-equipped AirPods, thanks to a video that MacRumors https://www.macrumors.com/2026/08/17/camera-equipped-airpods-macos-26-7/ found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 Release Candidate. The short video clip features a man — who is wearing the new AirPods — holding up a book with the cover displayed, so that Visual Intelligence can see the book title. Apple’s camera-equipped AirPods appear in leaked video A short clip found in the latest macOS beta demos the AirPods using visual intelligence. A short clip found in the latest macOS beta demos the AirPods using visual intelligence. A Siri voice-over plays over the clip, saying “with Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later.” Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman has previously reported that the rumored AirPods with cameras /tech/926376/apple-airpods-cameras-ai-production are designed to take in “visual information in low resolution” and act as eyes for Apple’s AI features, potentially allowing Siri to give turn-by-turn directions or answer questions about the wearer’s surroundings. The AirPods shown in the new demo clip look like a slightly thicker version of the AirPods Pro 3 /headphone-review/777798/airpods-pro-3-review-active-noise-cancelling-live-translation-headphones . That’s what Gurman had predicted, along with longer stems to accommodate the cameras, and LED lights /tech/950826/apple-airpod-camera-ai-foldable-iphone-rumor that indicate when data is being uploaded to the cloud. We only get a look at the AirPods from the back in the video, but no lights can be seen on them from that angle. Given those Visual Intelligence features, the AirPods are poised to compete with other camera-equipped AI gadgets like Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses /tech/787680/ray-ban-meta-gen-2-review-smart-glasses , though Apple is also reportedly working on its own smart glasses /tech/971101/apple-smart-glasses-privacy too. While the AirPods’ cameras “aren’t designed” to snap photos or videos, the stealthy form factor may exacerbate the existing privacy concerns surrounding camera-equipped AI products, following Meta’s “ pervert glasses /report/970901/instagram-meta-glasses-prank-harassment-ban ” backlash. For now, details about Apple’s AirPods with cameras are still slim. If demo videos are already making their way into Apple’s OS betas, the new AirPods may launch alongside the improved version of Siri /tech/944245/apple-wwdc-2026-ai-siri-gemini , which is expected to arrive in September together with the next generation of iPhones. Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.