Mark Gurman writes in the latest issue of Bloomberg's Power On newsletter that Apple is working on how to add a camera to its AirPods, which could eliminate the need for separate smart glasses products.
The project, codenamed B798, was launched last year with the goal of finding a way to fit a low-resolution camera sensor into AirPods headphones, Gurman said. This will be the first time a major brand has experimented with putting a camera sensor into a wireless headset.
The goal of smart glasses and camera-enabled AirPods is to bring AI and health features to users, and in Apple's case, the visual data collected from the camera sensor will be used in health-related facilities. Glasses or headphones are equipped with cameras that capture the outside world** and help users in their daily lives with multimodal voice and image AI systems. For example, AI can answer questions about the object the user is viewing. A few months ago, Meta Ray-Ban glasses had already made initial use of this feature.
Theoretically, smart wearables with cameras could also be combined with health features such as fall detection, opening up new avenues for data collection and more accurate workout tracking.
However, plans to add a camera to AirPods are still in the exploratory stage, and it is uncertain whether such a device will be commercialized.
Previously, it was reported that Apple is also discussing a smart ring project, with the goal of expanding its wearable portfolio by offering different forms of health technology to compete with products such as the Galaxy Ring and Oura Ring.
At the same time, Apple is also exploring a smart glasses that lean towards a version that fits the second-generation smart glasses offered by Amazon and Meta. According to Gurman, Apple has discussed making glasses that will be worn as an alternative to AirPods and have larger batteries, additional sensors and more artificial intelligence features that users can wear and stay connected to Apple's interface all day long, and that these glasses will certainly be priced lower than the Vision Pro.