A reference to what is "almost certainly" a new pair of AirPods has been spotted in the code for Apple's iOS 27 beta 2 by developer Sam Henri Gold — which when you line up the features with recent leaks, it matches up with the much rumored AirPods Ultra.
The code includes a mention of a system prompt for a product codenamed B790 to work with Visual Intelligence. While Henri Gold initially assumed this was referring to Apple's long-rumored smart glasses, the team at MacRumors pointed out the AirPods Pro 3 were codenamed B788. So, he revised his finding, saying that "B790 is almost certainly the new AirPods and not glasses."
/System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_UAF_IF_PlannerOverrides/purpose_auto/9aaa6a204118137235983cc3f1eecae8a125c550.asset/AssetData/PCC/system_prompt_metadata/system_prompt.json seems to hint at some smart glasses codenamed B790 pic.twitter.com/IEmbfleth4July 3, 2026
Why a pair of AirPods would need access to Visual Intelligence is down to another persistent rumor we've been hearing for some time: the next AirPods may have integrated cameras. These won't be designed for taking pictures or video like the Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses, but instead they'll act as visual input for Siri.
The new earbuds, dubbed AirPods Ultra, are believed to be dropping in 2027 according to an earlier report from Bloomberg. In practice, users wearing them will be able to ask Siri about their surroundings without having to use their iPhone camera to provide context. Reportedly, the design will remain the same as the current AirPods Pro apart from small LEDs that display when the earbuds are capturing information from the outside world.
The timeline makes sense. Apple revealed the AI-powered Siri this spring at WWDC and aims to follow up with the iPhone Fold / Ultra in September. Next year, the company celebrates the 20th anniversary of the iPhone and is believed to be planning an ecosystem of AI products to accompany it.
But is development actually happening?
From that above snippet of news and the previous reports from the last few months, you'd assume the AirPods Ultra to be a done deal. However, over the weekend one particular leaker claimed development has been put on ice.
A leaker known as 'Kosutami' has taken to X with a blunt post saying the AirPods with cameras have been "suspended." We don't get any reasoning or proof of this, but the tweet has done enough to get mentioned in a variety of news posts — including this one.
*Suspended. https://t.co/n8g9NwdxVnJuly 3, 2026
I, for one, find it tough to imagine Apple would abandon a project like this. The company will be all too aware of discomfort from some consumers about cameras on wearables.
But if Apple sticks to its privacy-centric messaging and is able to meaningfully improve Siri's capabilities with this add-on, it would seem a logical next step. We already know AirPods are one of Apple's best-selling and most popular products, so using them to leverage Siri's abilities is a no-brainer providing the public gets on board with it.
Of course, all this is very early speculation since we're still around nine months out from spring 2027 and 14 away from next year's iPhone 20 September event. That's a long time to wait for the arrival of the AirPods Ultra and more than long enough for Apple's engineering team to get ahead of any problems or roadblocks. Like how are the cameras supposed to work for people with long hair?
At any rate, "suspended" and "cancelled" are two entirely different things. But let me know below if you think AI cameras in AirPods are a good idea. And in the meantime, you can actually get the non-camera equipped AirPods Pro 3 at a slight discount at Amazon right now.
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Subscribe to Tom's Guide on YouTube and follow us on TikTok. Finally, you can visit our dedicated Tom's Guide Savings Squad hub for expert help on getting the best products for less.
More from Tom's Guide
- Android 17 officially rolls out to Pixel devices with new features — screen reactions, bubbles, gaming mode, and more
- I just tested the phone everybody thinks is a preview of the iPhone Fold — God, I hope they’re wrong
- Apple finally brings built-in drawing tools to iOS 27 Messages — here's how to try it
