A demo video buried inside a recent macOS Tahoe release candidate appears to show Apple’s rumored camera-equipped AirPods actually working, and this time it’s not coming from a random leaker, it looks like Apple’s own footage that just wasn’t supposed to be there yet. The roughly 13-second clip shows someone wearing the earbuds, looking at a book, and asking Siri to interact with what the cameras are seeing, all tied to Apple’s Visual Intelligence feature.
Here’s the important distinction: these aren’t meant to be regular cameras for taking photos. Earlier reporting says they’re likely tiny infrared sensors, similar in concept to what powers Face ID, designed purely to feed visual context to Siri and Apple’s AI systems rather than shoot pictures or video. In the leaked demo, the voiceover describes your surroundings becoming “savable,” basically looking at something, asking Siri to remember it, pull it back up later. That’s a meaningfully different pitch than a camera-first product.
Design-wise, the earbuds in the video look close to the current AirPods Pro 3, just with slightly thicker stems, presumably to fit the extra hardware. Apple’s internal identifier for the project is reportedly B790, distinct from the B788 tag associated with the current AirPods Pro. The “AirPods Ultra” name you might see floating around isn’t confirmed by Apple anywhere, it’s speculation based on rumored premium pricing above the current Pro lineup.
There’s also a real privacy question here that isn’t fully answered yet. Earlier reports mentioned Apple planning an indicator light to show when the cameras are actively sending data, but the leaked video doesn’t clearly show one, so how Apple handles that in the final product is still unclear.
Timing’s genuinely up in the air too. One report earlier this year claimed development had been paused entirely, while separate reporting placed a launch as far out as late 2027. This leak doesn’t settle that, it just confirms Apple’s built a working version and has an actual demo for it, which is more concrete evidence than this story’s had before now.
M Adnan Akram is the founder and lead writer at Phoonomo, covering mobile technology with a primary focus on Apple and the broader smartphone industry, alongside emerging developments in AI. He follows product launches, spec leaks, and industry trends closely to keep readers informed with timely updates.
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