They can tell the viewer what they’re seeing via a new function called Visual Intelligence.
Apple appears to have accidentally leaked its camera-equipped AirPods in a video tucked into the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate, MacRumors reported. The new AirPods are said to have a camera that can feed low-res imagery to Apple’s long-delayed AI Siri assistant, which can then tell the viewer what they’re seeing via a new function called Visual Intelligence. They were first tipped by Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman back in May.
In the video (also revealed by X user @aaronp613), a man wearing AirPods asks Siri to remember the book he’s currently checking out. In response, Siri’s voiceover states: “With Visual Intelligence, your world becomes saveable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later.” The cameras aren’t visible, though, and the AirPods he’s wearing resemble the current AirPods Pro, other than a thicker stem.
Here is your first look at AirPods with Cameras in action using Visual Intelligence.
This video file came from macOS 26.7 RC pic.twitter.com/yo7RI4MCeu
— Aaron (@aaronp613) August 18, 2026
There are some privacy concerns. Though the new AirPods will have a low-resolution view of the world, they’re still technically a surveillance device, which may turn off some users. Gurman reports they may have some sort of indicator of when the cameras are active, which would be the minimum for such a wearable.
Given the demo video’s presence in macOS 26.7, it looks likely that these camera AirPods will be announced at Apple’s iPhone 18 event, expected to be held next month. The new models, codenamed B790 according to Tahoe 26.7 references, could be different from another camera-equipped AirPod model (B798) expected in 2027, leaked in another Bloomberg report from Gurman.