Comment on AirPods with Camera: Apple, does this have to be?
Apple will likely release earbuds with “Visual Intelligence” later this year. An unnecessary privacy nightmare or actually useful?
Comment on AirPods with Camera: Is Apple Going Too Far?
(Image: Apple / Bearbeitung heise medien)
Apple leaks itself again and again – and it is quite astonishing what is likely to come our way in the fall: On Tuesday, it became known that the iPhone manufacturer is working on the imminent release of a new AirPods Pro series, which is said to be equipped with an integrated camera for the very first time ever. Rumors about this have been circulating for months, but many observers didn’t quite believe it, as this hardware could trigger debates that would run counter to Apple’s well-cultivated image as a guardian of data protection and privacy.
AirPods with Camera Store the Environment
What is already known: The company is combining the enormously popular ANC earbuds – from which one would not expect them to capture the visual environment – with an imaging AI system. According to a set-up video and further information found with some effort in the release candidate version of macOS 26.7, this new AirPods Pro generation allows users to utilize the Visual Intelligence function and possibly Siri AI (initially not available in the EU).
A book that you can look at and then “save” on command serves as an example. It is also conceivable that in the future you will be able to ask your AirPods about your surroundings, as is known from Visual Intelligence via the iPhone camera. “What is this building called?” or “How do I wash this sweater?” would be possible examples. I wonder if Apple has really thought about what camera technology in AirPods means. It may be convenient to be able to quickly remember things in your surroundings. However, the fear that this could cause among your fellow human beings does not outweigh the convenience for the individual.
Even if Apple allegedly does not intend to expand the camera function to real photography or real filming but only to implement AI services, it is creepy to imagine that every person with AirPods also carries a mini-camera with them while they are looking at their surroundings. Has the company, which has built a successful business model out of privacy protection, learned nothing from other IT companies? Is it not afraid of jeopardizing long-acquired trust should the function contain a security vulnerability through which real data is leaked?
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Meta’s Hardware Side Business Fits the Image
Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses with integrated camera are selling well according to manufacturer data, and the motives of the buyers are not always kosher. There is a big trend on Instagram and TikTok to film other people without their knowledge to produce shock content. Stalkers and other criminals use methods to prevent the filming indicator so that the devices look as harmless as completely analog glasses. It is also easily conceivable that Meta will one day implement facial recognition, which is technically easily feasible, with which virtually no one would be anonymous to a glasses wearer.
With all these things, one can say: Yes, that fits – it’s Meta, the data company, which repeatedly causes privacy scandals. The US company lives off our information and sells it to the highest bidder to the advertising industry; the hardware business is pure side business. With Apple, it’s completely different: devices and services are the main business there, while advertising is becoming a – albeit growing – additional business. All the more absurd is that Apple is now entering the business with camera wearables. And AirPods with cameras are even harder to recognize than Meta’s glasses, which one can still somehow avoid. Will Apple also face criminal charges for data protection violations soon?
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