AirPods Ultra rumored to feature a significant upgrade that doesn’t make any sense

Claims that Apple is working on a higher-end AirPods with built-in cameras have been circulating for quite some time. It was never clear what those cameras may be used for, but a new rumor may have made things feel even more confusing.

AirPods Ultra cameras may be used for only one thing

Apple’s plan to add cameras to the AirPods may end up being deeply related to its AI ambitions. According to a recent social media post by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the cameras are meant to be used “for Siri.”

Without going into any further detail, Gurman claims that the cameras inside the higher-end earbuds, which may be called the AirPods Ultra, are not meant to enable hand gestures controls. Instead, they would improve the new version of Siri, which is expected to launch later this year with iOS 27.



Earlier reports claimed that the AirPods Ultra will feature infrared cameras similar to the once used in Face ID on the iPhone instead of the typical cameras for shooting photos and video. Their main goal would be to somehow enhance the Visual Intelligence features of Apple Intelligence.

None of this makes any sense

At a glance, expanding the abilities of the AirPods Pro 3 with cameras could sound impressive. However, it takes just a few seconds to start questioning why would anyone put any kind of camera on a pair of earbuds.

The most obvious answer would be to enable some sort of hand gestures. Instead of pinching the buds or sliding over them, you could just wave around your head to control them. I wouldn’t use such features, but I can imagine situations where they’d be genuinely useful.

However, Mark Gurman says that Apple won’t do anything like that, which leaves very little meaningful alternatives. I’ll spare you from the several absurd ideas I have about how to utilize those cameras, but I’m still unsure what the added value could be.

Keep it simple, Apple

Regardless of the features, adding Ultra to their name and boasting about a combo of cameras and artificial intelligence would be the perfect excuse to put a hefty price tag on the rumored AirPods. That won’t address any of the things people actually want from their earbuds.

One such thing is improved audio quality and maybe even lossless audio support. Another idea is improving the fit of the AirPods Pro so more users could use them without worrying about losing them. What about better mics, so conversations sound better?

The success of the original AirPods was all about the simplicity. You could start enjoying your music after a simple pairing process and you didn’t have to bother with tangling cables anymore.

The AirPods Ultra sound like Apple’s losing the plot and overcomplicating something that’s supposed to be simple and easy to use.

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