The best accessory for Apple AI is AirPods

If we talk about the most regrettable products launched by Apple in recent years, Vision Pro definitely ranks in the top three. Apart from issues like high price and imperfect ecosystem, the excessive weight of the device is also a core hard nut that Apple engineers have long failed to crack.

Then, what if the core functions of Vision Pro can be condensed into a form factor as compact as AirPods? Will it win more favor from consumers? This is probably the core design idea behind Apple's new "camera-equipped" AirPods.

AirPods Ultra Leaked

Using mature wireless earbuds to replace Vision Pro and undertake the entry-level functions of spatial computing hardware, with the advantages of light weight, affordable pricing and high market recognition, greatly lowers the popularization threshold of spatial computing hardware, and its promotion difficulty is far lower than that of the high-end positioned Vision Pro.

In the internal demo video of macOS Tahoe 26.7 RC version, this brand-new AirPods equipped with visual perception functions finally unveiled its mystery. This new product, most likely named AirPods Ultra, features a core upgrade that an infrared perception sensor is built into the earbud stem.

From the leaked demo video, users only need to hold a book, and the sensor of AirPods can quickly identify the information of the book.

Combined with Apple's Visual Intelligence function, Siri can directly answer users' question of "what book is this", and can also record book information according to instructions to facilitate users' subsequent purchase. The whole interaction process does not require users to manually take out their phones, and only voice commands are needed throughout the process. The earbuds are responsible for visual perception, and the AI is responsible for intelligent analysis, making the operation extremely simple and efficient.

Except for the lack of a built-in screen, the core experience of this interaction logic is actually highly close to the ambient intelligence capability of Vision Pro.

Many people mistakenly believe that the presence of the sensor means AirPods can take photos, but in fact, what AirPods Ultra is equipped with is not a traditional visible light camera, but a low-resolution infrared sensor, whose technical principle is highly similar to that of the Face ID module on iPhone.

It will not generate photo or video files, nor capture color information. It only accurately collects the depth data, contour shape and motion trajectory of surrounding objects by emitting and receiving infrared light.

Simply put, this "visual sensor" is essentially an exclusive input interface specially built for AI interaction, and AirPods Ultra has become a complete portable wearable AI terminal.

Therefore, compared with the H2 chip equipped on AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Ultra will be fully upgraded to the new generation H3 chip. The brand-new chip can independently undertake the end-side AI inference task of visual data, and the overall computing power requirement is one order of magnitude higher than that of the previous generation, which is sufficient to support the brand-new visual intelligent interaction functions.

Officially Entering the Ambient Intelligence Era

The real value of AirPods Ultra lies in the fact that it completely breaks the limitation of screen interaction, and brings Apple's AI interaction from the touch screen era into the ambient intelligence era.

Before that, Apple's Visual Intelligence function was only implemented on iPhone 15 Pro and subsequent new models. Users had to manually open the camera, aim at the target object, and actively wake up Siri to trigger the corresponding intelligent service, which was a cumbersome and passive operation process. However, the new AirPods Ultra can capture surrounding visual information in real time through the sensor, the AI continuously processes environmental data in the background, and users can ask questions via voice at any time.

This all-weather perception, instant response interaction experience is exactly what the industry recognizes as "ambient intelligence".

In addition to the book recognition scenario in the demo, this pair of earbuds can also realize more daily intelligent scenarios: it can automatically record the books you are interested in when you walk into a bookstore, you can query store information via voice when passing by shops, it can translate road sign texts in real time when you travel abroad, and you can directly search for purchase channels when you see daily items. Although these functions can be realized through mobile phones, users only need to wear AirPods Ultra to complete all these operations.

Not just AirPods Ultra, according to the scoop from Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, Apple is also simultaneously developing smart glasses with the code name N50 and a portable AI pendant as small as an AirTag inside the company. The core logic of these three products is very similar: they do not replace the core functions of iPhone, but only serve as extended terminals of iPhone to fill the gap of full-scenario AI interaction.

Core Obstacles to the Implementation of AI Hardware

Before AirPods Ultra is officially released, privacy compliance issues are the biggest obstacle to its implementation, which is easily subject to strict restrictions from EU privacy regulations. At present, the EU GDPR, ePrivacy Directive and EU AI Act have formed a complete three-level regulatory system. The most fatal one is the latest judgment issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union at the end of 2025: biometric perception data of passers-by collected by wearable devices will be deemed as "collecting information directly from data subjects", and device users must fulfill the obligation of immediate notification.

Simply put, when a user wears this AirPods with visual perception function into a public place, theoretically, he needs to inform every passer-by that may be captured by the sensor one by one, which is almost impossible to implement in real scenarios.

Previously, Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses were once mired in similar compliance disputes: the Irish regulator explicitly ruled that the LED indicator light on its device was too small to play an effective role in notifying data collection. Apple's situation is far more passive than Meta's, because "privacy and security" is Apple's core brand label that it has cultivated for decades, and once it violates the regulations, the cost to its brand reputation will be extremely high.

This is also the core reason why this new product has been leaked many times, but has never been officially announced by Apple.

Before a mature and systematic compliance solution is formed, the risk of releasing this product is far greater than the market benefit.

Conclusion

Equipping AirPods with visual perception hardware essentially means that Apple has opened up an entry point for AI to connect to the real world. This upgrade not only marks that Apple's AI strategy has officially shifted from pure software empowerment to implementation on hardware terminals, but also promotes human-computer interaction to fully enter a new stage of ambient perception from the traditional touch screen mode.

However, technical feasibility does not mean commercial implementation feasibility. The strict privacy supervision of the EU, the acceptance of ordinary users, and the ethical boundaries of public scenarios are all thresholds that intelligent AI hardware must cross to move from the laboratory to the mass consumer market.

This article is from the WeChat Official Account "Miket", author: Miket, published by 36Kr with authorization.