A short promotional video showing unreleased AirPods with cameras was found inside the release candidate build of macOS Tahoe 26.7, which Apple distributed itself. In the clip, a person wearing the earbuds asks Siri to remember a book they are holding. Because the file came straight out of an Apple build rather than from an internal document leak, it carries far more weight than the rumors that came before it.
The demo video was buried in a shipping build
The find is a video file included in the release candidate of macOS Tahoe 26.7. Aaron Perris, a contributor to MacRumors, dug the file out and posted it on X on August 18, after which it spread quickly[1].
In the video, a man wearing AirPods holds a book up toward the camera and asks Siri to save it. The voiceover that follows says, in effect, that with Visual Intelligence your world becomes saveable, and that if you see something you like, you can simply ask Siri to save it for later.
The cameras themselves are never visible in the footage. The earbuds closely resemble the current AirPods Pro, with the only apparent difference being a noticeably thicker stem. Judging the hardware as new from appearance alone would be difficult.
The cameras are there to interpret, not to shoot
Inside the same build, code references an unreleased product under the identifier B790. Based on the surrounding descriptions, these cameras are not meant for taking photos or recording video. Their role is narrower: pass low-resolution imagery to Siri so Visual Intelligence can work out what is in front of the wearer.
Visual Intelligence already exists, but until now the entry point has mostly been the iPhone camera and screen. Putting a camera at ear level removes the step of pulling out a phone and pointing it. Asking about an object in view, or telling the assistant to remember something for later, would happen without switching devices.
A warning appears when the cameras are covered
Another detail hints at how carefully the feature has been built. The software detects when the AirPods cameras are blocked and warns the user to keep them uncovered so the device can gather accurate information about the surroundings.
Hair and hats cover ears all the time. The fact that a warning exists at all suggests the design assumes the cameras face outward and stay active during use. Rather than an auxiliary sensor that wakes only on demand, this looks like a function that is treated as always watching while the earbuds are worn.
A September debut, and a second model in 2027
B790 is not a new identifier. In his "Power On" newsletter dated August 2, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that the B790 project had been progressing alongside a second camera-equipped AirPods effort, and suggested the hardware could arrive as early as September[2]. Finding the demo video inside a build distributed just ahead of the September iPhone 18 event strengthens that reading.
Separately, a more advanced product carrying the identifier B798 is said to be in preparation for late 2027. That suggests camera-equipped AirPods are not a one-off, but a line Apple intends to iterate on.
Apple has announced nothing officially about camera-equipped AirPods. Release timing, pricing, hardware design and the image-processing approach all remain undisclosed.
Privacy is the open question
Low resolution or not, the fact remains that an outward-facing camera would sit at ear level at all times. There is also the problem that people around the wearer cannot tell whether the earbuds have cameras. The fact that the cameras were invisible in this video means they would be just as invisible to bystanders.
Gurman has reported that some form of indicator showing when the cameras are active may be included. For a wearable designed to be used in public, that looks like the bare minimum. The distinction between recording and merely interpreting holds up technically, but to the people nearby it looks the same, and closing that gap is the harder problem.
Summary
The release candidate of macOS Tahoe 26.7 contained a demo video for camera-equipped AirPods along with references to the B790 identifier. The cameras are positioned as eyes for Visual Intelligence rather than a capture device, down to a warning that fires when they are covered. A September announcement looks likely, but Apple has confirmed nothing, and the privacy design remains unexplained.
