A slew of new Apple products have been unexpectedly leaked, including camera-equipped AirPods and more.

Recently, Apple released the latest beta version of macOS Tahoe 26.7. While disassembling the system's internal files, developers unearthed a built-in demo video as well as dozens of internal hardware code names, leading to the leak of a large number of product clues that have not yet been made public.

The most widely noticed content among these is the demo video of AirPods codenamed B790 equipped with a camera. This short video demonstrates how users can use AirPods to save real-life scenes with Apple's visual intelligence technology without taking out their phones throughout the process.

Image source: Screenshot from the AirPods demo video

In the video, Siri's voiceover says: "With Visual Intelligence, your world is savable. See something you like? Just tell me, and I can help you save it to check later." In addition, the system will actively remind: "To get the most accurate information about objects in your surroundings, please make sure your AirPods are not blocked."

It is worth noting that the sensor module on this pair of headphones is not positioned to take photos or record videos, but to act as the "eyes" of Siri, collect low-resolution environmental visual data, and hand it over to the AI assistant for scene understanding. It does not generate photo or video files that users can view at all.

After the video was exposed, Mark Gurman, a technology journalist who has long tracked Apple's industrial chain, posted on social platforms: "This is the camera-equipped AirPods." In May this year, he disclosed that Apple's prototype AirPods with built-in cameras had entered the Design Verification Test (DVT) stage, testers had already tested the actual products, and the hardware design and functions were close to finalization. The R&D process of electronic products usually includes EVT (Engineering Verification Test), DVT (Design Verification Test), PVT (Production Process Verification Test) and MP (Mass Production) stages.

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Multiple sources show that this test version of AirPods has built-in camera components on both the left and right earpieces. To accommodate the sensors and lenses, the stem of the earphone is longer than that of AirPods Pro 3, while the overall appearance retains the family design language, with only minor adjustments to adapt to the hardware upgrade. Users can directly ask for information about items in front of them through voice commands, for example, querying cooking recipes when facing ingredients, realizing hands-free real-scene interaction. The overall experience is benchmarked against AI visual question-answering services, but focuses more on portability and non-perceptual interaction.

In addition, Apple has equipped the product with a privacy protection design: a small built-in LED indicator that automatically lights up when visual data is uploaded to the cloud, to remind users of the working status of the camera.

Gurman mentioned that Apple is currently advancing two camera-equipped AirPods projects in parallel. Among them, the camera-equipped AirPods codenamed B798 has been postponed to 2027 for release, but the other version of camera-equipped AirPods codenamed B790 seems to be progressing faster. Relevant information about this product has appeared in the code of iOS 27, and it has been included in Apple's internal roadmap, which may be released as early as this year.

A large number of hardware code names are also hidden in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 system resources, most of which only have internal codes without public product names. In terms of the headphone product line, relevant markers for the 4th-generation AirPods Pro and two Beats headphones have appeared in the system, which means that Apple's next-generation audio hardware matrix has completed adaptation and pre-embedding at the software level.

On the mobile side, the code names of iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, the long-rumored foldable model iPhone Ultra, standard iPhone 18 and iPhone Air 2 all appear in the system files, which matches the records unearthed from iOS 27 beta 5 earlier.

Clues for home hardware are also abundant: the new Home Hub home central hardware, the homeOS system running on it codenamed "Pebble", the new HomePod mini, a home security device, and the rumored desktop robot product all leave traces of system references. Even the new Apple TV remote control, two iPad mini models suspected to support waterproofing, and the new generation Vision Pro headset have been found with corresponding internal markers by developers in system resources.

The beta code also points to two new iMacs and four new MacBook Pros. The market generally believes that these include the rumored high-end MacBook Pro with OLED screen, as well as an entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro model equipped with M6 chip. There are also dozens of unknown code names in this beta system that cannot be matched with existing leaks, indicating that many new projects that have not yet been guessed by the outside world are under development.

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This is not the first time Apple has suffered a large-scale new product exposure this year. At the end of June this year, the hacker ransomware group World Leaks hacked into the server of Tata Electronics in India, stole a total of 630GB of more than 200,000 internal confidential files, and spread the materials on the dark web, which is one of the most influential supply chain leakage incidents of Apple in recent years.

The leaked materials include iPhone 18 Pro motherboard schematics, A20 Pro chip documents, self-developed C2 baseband materials, component procurement prices, supplier lists, and actual factory drop test videos, making a large amount of underlying hardware supply chain information public. The Indian government later launched an investigation into this cybersecurity incident, and Apple also launched a supply chain security inspection internally, but has never made a public statement on this incident.

There are only a few weeks left before Apple's September autumn launch event, and the market generally expects that this event will become Apple's most important hardware stage this year. The iPhone 18 Pro series and the foldable iPhone Ultra are expected to debut, while the standard iPhone 18 is highly likely to be postponed to the spring of 2027 for release.

This article is from the WeChat official account "JIEMIAN NEWS", written by Song Jiannan, and authorized for release by 36Kr.