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A leaked official demo video had everyone convinced that camera-equipped AirPods were weeks away. The latest word? They wonʼt ship this year. The video is real and the product hasnʼt been cancelled — Apple simply pulled it back at the last minute. So what is the camera on these 2027 AirPods actually for?
First, the video. MacRumors dug a demo clip out of the system files in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate: a man holds up a book so the camera on his earbuds can read out the title, with the voiceover “With Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable” — see something you like and Siri will note it down for you. The system even hides a prompt advising you to keep the AirPods unobstructed for the most accurate environmental information — it warns you when your hair is covering the lens.
What Is the AirPods Camera For? An Infrared Sensor, Not a Photo Lens
Hearing “earbuds with a camera”, the first reaction is understandably covert photos. According to Bloombergʼs Mark Gurman and multiple leakers, the sensor is actually a low-resolution infrared camera, similar in nature to the receiver inside Face ID — it canʼt take photos or record video. Its only job is to continuously feed visual context about your surroundings to Siriʼs AI models, powering Appleʼs Visual Intelligence: recognising objects in front of you, reading out book titles, answering questions about the environment. In other words, itʼs Siriʼs eyes — not your camera.
The AirPods Pro 3 on sale today (launched September 2025, US$249) has no camera, relying on the H2 chip for active noise cancellation and heart-rate sensing. The camera version is viewed as the next-generation upgrade path, one Apple has reportedly been walking for around four years. If you want to see whatʼs actually available in Hong Kong right now, check out our 2026 TWS earbuds buying guide.
Will Camera AirPods Launch This Year? A Leaked Video, a 2027 Debut
The timeline itself has been absurdly back-and-forth. In May, Gurman said the camera AirPods Pro had entered an “advanced” testing stage; in June, he pushed the launch to late 2027; in early August, he said they could arrive as soon as September, launching alongside the iPhone 18 Pro; on 17 August, MacRumors unearthed the official video and the market all but took the launch as imminent. Two days later, Gurman changed course again: no 2026 launch.
The reason: Apple has been running two versions in parallel. B790 is an AirPods Pro 3 with a camera added — still on the 2026 roadmap until recently, now cancelled. B798 is the true next-generation AirPods Pro for 2027, camera included. According to Gurman, the delay comes down to supply-chain and software challenges. If all goes well, these earbuds will arrive in autumn 2027, possibly debuting alongside the 20th-anniversary iPhone.
On naming, the macOS 26.7 files label the new earbuds “AirPods Pro”, though that may be a placeholder; Gurman has said Apple considered “AirPods Ultra”. Taiwanʼs People News, citing supply-chain sources, reports that pricing could be US$249 as a replacement for the current model or US$299 sold alongside it — all still rumour.
After the video leaked, overseas forums quickly turned to privacy: will gyms and changing rooms start refusing entry to people wearing AirPods? So far, the word is that the camera doesnʼt record video — which hasnʼt exactly settled the doubts. If noise cancellation and sound matter more to you, see our Consumer Council 2026 Bluetooth earbuds ANC test.
Next time you see someone holding a book up to their earbuds saying “note this down”, donʼt be surprised — but that scene wonʼt hit the streets until 2027. Until then, every name, price and release date surrounding the camera AirPods is just a long trailer.
📌 Sources: MacRumors · MacRumors (2027 delay) · MacRumors (naming) · MacRumors (suspended development) · People News (pricing)
