'These things aren't meant to take pictures.' As a fresh clip of camera-equipped AirPods leaks, people appear to have already made their minds up — whatever the experts say

We've heard countless rumors about camera-toting AirPods Now, a leaked video reportedly from MacOS build shows how they'd work Public opinion on this kind of tech is poor, and getting worse We've been hearing countless rumors that Apple is working on AirPods with cameras — last news was that they co

<![CDATA[ <article> <ul><li><strong>We've heard countless rumors about camera-toting AirPods</strong></li><li><strong>Now, a leaked video reportedly from MacOS build shows how they'd work</strong></li><li><strong>Public opinion on this kind of tech is poor, and getting worse</strong></li></ul><p>We've been hearing countless rumors that Apple is working on AirPods with cameras — <a href="https://www.techradar.com/audio/earbuds-airpods/new-airpods-set-to-arrive-before-the-end-of-the-year-but-dont-hold-your-breath-on-cameras-in-apple-earbuds-just-yet">last news was that they could come in 2027</a> — and now we have an idea as to how they could work.</p><p>Website <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2026/08/17/camera-equipped-airpods-macos-26-7/" target="_blank">MacRumors </a>has uncovered a video found in pre-release code for MacOS Tahoe 26.7, an upcoming update to Macs' operating system. </p><p>The video shows an AirPods-wearing man pick up a book and look at it, while a female voice says: "With visual intelligence, your world becomes saveable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later."</p><div class="see-more see-more--clipped"><figure><blockquote class="twitter-tweet hawk-ignore" data-lang="en" cite="https://twitter.com/cantworkitout/status/2089522745184760112"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">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<a href="https://twitter.com/cantworkitout/status/2089522745184760112">August 18, 2026</a></p></blockquote></figure><div class="see-more__filter"></div></div><p><em>Finally</em>, we have a way to remember things! How has humanity got to this point without that...</p><p>Visual Intelligence is an Apple feature, which uses an iPhone camera to see what's going on around you. And apparently, it's coming to AirPods, when they get cameras. </p><p>This video doesn't look like leaked marketing material for the new AirPods; the production value doesn't match other Apple material. It looks like it was shot on an iPhone, with exposure that's all over the place. But it <em>could</em> be a placeholder, or perhaps an internal video.</p><p>It's also unlikely that the AirPods used in the video are the new camera-toting ones; again, these are probably just placeholder buds. Instead, this news shows us what <em>Apple </em>thinks these new buds will do: act as extensions of AI tools like Visual Intelligence. And that might be their downfall.</p><h2 id="a-bad-time-for-all-seeing-tech">A bad time for all-seeing tech</h2><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:4032px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.25%;"><img id="5L3692bUNwi4pSjkPDsrXE" name="PXL_20230922_124543038.jpg" alt="A blue pair of the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses Collection on a wooden table in front of their charging case" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/5L3692bUNwi4pSjkPDsrXE.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="4032" height="2268" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: Future)</span></figcaption></figure><p>Some journalists have written that always-watching smart tech, especially smart glasses, are facing a reckoning. That's no longer quite true: they've faced said reckoning, <a href="https://www.techradar.com/audio/earbuds-airpods/the-great-privacy-revolt-people-are-pushing-back-against-the-glasses-that-record-the-earbuds-that-eavesdrop-and-the-tvs-watching-our-lives-heres-what-we-can-do-about-it-according-to-an-ai-research-ceo-and-a-digital-rights-advocate">the great privacy revolt has reached its conclusion</a>, and opinion now couldn't be sourer on this kind of surveillance gadget.</p><p>In the UK, smart glasses have been banned from courts, restaurants, theaters, and even the pub chain Wetherspoons (there's nowhere lower to go than being kicked out of a 'Spoons'). Their disparaging moniker, "pervert glasses", is now used more commonly than their actual name, and they're frowned upon even more in the court of social opinion than in actual courts.</p><div class="see-more see-more--clipped"><figure><blockquote class="twitter-tweet hawk-ignore" data-lang="en" cite="https://twitter.com/cantworkitout/status/2089538404522303839"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Okay I hate to be that guy but… who’s asking for this<a href="https://twitter.com/cantworkitout/status/2089538404522303839">August 18, 2026</a></p></blockquote></figure><div class="see-more__filter"></div></div><p>The reason for this low public opinion — well, one of many — is smart glasses' use of cameras. Since the user could be recording video or taking pictures, without anyone else knowing, they're a privacy nightmare. And since legislation can take an age to come into effect, it's easier just to socially ostracise people who might be recording you without your knowledge.</p><p>And so, AirPods coming with cameras would be a truly awful look, as it'd get them lumped in with smart glasses. Even if the buds don't actually let you capture footage, and only use their cameras for object recognition, the very presence of visible cameras will get them lumped in with smart glasses: "pervert earbuds".</p><p>And that's notwithstanding the real chance — as has been demonstrated with those glasses — of Apple's earbuds being appropriated by tech-savvy individuals, to somehow get the cameras working (despite the buds' presumed low-res quality that Apple doesn't <em>mean</em> for video capture). </p><div class="see-more see-more--clipped"><figure><blockquote class="twitter-tweet hawk-ignore" data-lang="en" cite="https://twitter.com/cantworkitout/status/2089558927835058504"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As I've written in the past, these things aren't designed to take pictures. They are for analyzing your surroundings. https://t.co/r7IFNmsoE4 https://t.co/tjmS7w8tlJ<a href="https://twitter.com/cantworkitout/status/2089558927835058504">August 18, 2026</a></p></blockquote></figure><div class="see-more__filter"></div></div><p>Disregarding the scant use cases of camera-toting smart glasses, camera-toting AirPods would launch amid a storm of negative attitudes to this kind of tech. It's a risk and could even be seen as a potential lose-lose situation for Apple: either release a product that's dead on arrival, or one that <em>is</em> popular but helps to distribute and normalize "pervert" tech. </p><p>Maybe the sentiment one X user posted, "I hate to be that guy but… who's asking for this?" sums it up nicely. It could be that at this point, we don't need these AirPods, guys. And perhaps Apple could instead put its R&D efforts towards earbuds with a competitive battery life…</p> </article> ]]>