Apple's Camera-Equipped AirPods Confirmed: See Them in Action - MacRumors
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Apple's Camera-Equipped AirPods Confirmed: See Them in Action
Monday August 17, 2026 6:21 pm PDT by Juli Clover<br>Apple is working on camera-equipped AirPods that appear to be nearly ready to launch, based on a video MacRumors found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate.
In a short demo, a man holds a book up so the camera in the AirPods can see the title. "With Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later," says the voiceover text.
Here is your first look at AirPods with Cameras in action using Visual Intelligence.<br>This video file came from macOS 26.7 RC pic.twitter.com/yo7RI4MCeu<br>— Aaron (@aaronp613) August 18, 2026
The camera on the AirPods will feed information to ‌Visual Intelligence‌, and Siri will be able to answer questions about the wearer's surroundings and log information. There is a direct reference to setting up ‌Visual Intelligence‌ on the AirPods.
If hair is covering the AirPods up, you'll receive an alert. "To get the most accurate information about things in your environment, make sure AirPods are not covered," it says.
The camera-equipped AirPods have the codename B790, which was also previously mentioned by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman suggested the AirPods could launch as soon as September, so we could see them at the iPhone-centric event where Apple will unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, and foldable iPhone Ultra.
‌macOS Tahoe‌ 26.7 has multiple other mentions of the B790 product, as well as references to a long list of other unreleased Apple products.
Related Roundups: AirPods 4, AirPods Pro 3<br>Buyer's Guide: AirPods (Caution), AirPods Pro (Neutral)<br>Related Forum: AirPods
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Top Rated Comments
turbineseaplane<br>14 minutes ago at 06:31 pm
Oh my ..
So many concerns here.
I hope they don't get Airpods banned in gyms & locker rooms with stuff like this.<br>Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Spock<br>16 minutes ago at 06:29 pm
This will be worse than the Meta Glasses that people are already complaining about, this isn’t a good idea.<br>Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jz0309<br>15 minutes ago at 06:30 pm
So did apple make a big boo-boo with all of these references in tahoe 26.7?
Another one? There was some big boo-boo a few months ago ... it's odd<br>Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jz0309<br>16 minutes ago at 06:29 pm
So, if that camera can read, as this video suggests the title of a book, what is stopping it from recording? The SW? Recording could happen on the iPhone it is paired to ...
Don't know what to make out of this... other than, not for me<br>Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy<br>22 minutes ago at 06:23 pm
So did apple make a big boo-boo with all of these references in tahoe 26.7?<br>Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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macOS Tahoe 26.7 is Full of References to Unreleased Apple Products
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