A short video discovered in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate appears to show Apple’s rumored camera-equipped AirPods using Visual Intelligence to help Siri understand what a wearer is looking at.

MacRumors found the clip, which shows a man wearing the unreleased AirPods while holding up a book. A voiceover can be heard explaining that Visual Intelligence can save something he sees for later.

The video is making its rounds on social media, but Apple hasn’t announced the product yet. Bloomberg reported in May that the cameras in one version of Apple’s camera-equipped AirPods are designed to act as Siri’s “eyes,” capturing visual information in low resolution instead of taking standard photos or videos.

In June, Bloomberg added that the model, code-named B798, would use computer-vision cameras to help Siri interpret the wearer’s surroundings. MacRumors reports that Apple has also been developing a separate version code-named B790, which it says is the model shown in the newly discovered video. It’s not yet clear how the two versions differ.

What stands out about the reporting is that Apple has been developing AirPods with low-resolution cameras, which sounds like an odd limitation for a premium product. But if the cameras are meant to help AI understand the wearer’s surroundings, not produce images for people to view, it makes sense that image quality wouldn’t be the top priority.

And low resolution also doesn’t necessarily mean limited capability. Research into camera-equipped earbuds suggests that all it may take is a little visual information for AI to identify objects, read text, and understand what’s around the wearer.

Low-Resolution Cameras Can Still Give AI Enough Visual Context

Researchers at the University of Washington recently tested a prototype called VueBuds to see whether low-resolution cameras in earbuds could capture enough visual information for AI to perform useful tasks.

The cameras used in the research took low-resolution black-and-white still images and sent them via Bluetooth to a nearby device, where a vision-language model processed them.

That type of setup is needed because it’s hard to put cameras into something as small as earbuds. Higher-resolution images require more power and generate more data, while the VueBuds cameras consume less than 5 mW.

Even with those limitations, the earbuds were able to perform useful visual tasks. In an online study involving 74 participants, researchers compared answers generated by VueBuds and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses across 17 visual question-answering tasks. Participants rated the answers from both devices similarly.

Another 16 participants tested VueBuds directly. The system was 83% to 84% accurate in translation and basic object identification tasks, and 93% accurate in identifying a book’s title and author.

The earbuds had limitations, including an inability to distinguish between colors and a blind spot for objects held extremely close to the wearer.

While that research doesn’t tell us exactly how Apple’s hardware will work, it does explain why judging these AirPods by normal camera standards could miss the point.

A camera made for taking pictures needs enough detail to produce a good image.  A visual sensor feeding an AI model only needs enough information for the software to identify what is relevant.

Camera-Equipped AirPods Could Make Visual Intelligence Hands-Free

You can already use Apple’s Visual Intelligence on compatible iPhones. The technology allows you to point the camera at something to work with text, identify objects, search for similar items, or ask questions about what you see.

Right now, you still need your iPhone to use Visual Intelligence. You have to activate it and point the camera at whatever you want analyzed.

Camera-equipped AirPods could remove that step. Bloomberg reports that Apple wants the AirPods to let you look at something and ask Siri about it, with the cameras giving the assistant information about your surroundings. For example, you could look at the ingredients you have on hand and ask Siri what you can make for dinner.

Apple has also explored contextual reminders based on what the cameras see and turn-by-turn walking directions that reference nearby landmarks.

None of those tasks requires a camera that can produce the type of high-quality images you’d want to save. The sensor just needs to capture enough information for Siri to understand what you’re looking at.

The biggest change from using Visual Intelligence on an iPhone to using it on AirPods is how naturally it could fit into everyday use. Instead of stopping to pull out your phone and point the camera at something, you could look at it and ask Siri a question.

Low-Resolution AirPods Cameras Still Raise Privacy Questions

If you think low resolution means these cameras don’t come with privacy risks, think again.

That’s because a sensor that can identify a book, interpret ingredients, read text, or recognize a landmark is still collecting meaningful data about things in its immediate vicinity. People nearby may not even realize the AirPods are equipped with cameras, let alone know what those cameras can see or analyze.

Apple has spent years building its reputation around privacy, so putting tiny cameras in AirPods could make some people question that commitment.

There are some important differences between these AirPods and camera-equipped smart glasses. Bloomberg says the cameras in Apple’s upcoming smart glasses are more advanced and can take photos and video, while the AirPods cameras aren’t designed to do either. That means the AirPods shouldn’t automatically be treated as hidden versions of smart glasses.

And Apple seems to recognize the public’s privacy concerns about this technology. Bloomberg reported that the B798 version would have external lights designed to let people nearby know when visual data is being sent to the cloud for processing.

The challenge Apple faces is making sure the public understands those limits. A bystander may know that the AirPods have cameras without knowing how much they can see or exactly where that information goes.

While the low resolution of the cameras may make them less concerning, that doesn’t mean the privacy questions go away. However, if Apple can find a way to make the camera-equipped AirPods useful without collecting more information than Siri needs, that limitation could turn out to be one of the product’s biggest strengths.  

Originally published by Techopedia on August 19, 2026.