Forget AirPods Pro — 'AirPods Ultra' are rumored to get these 2 big upgrades

As reports of the demise of the Apple Vision Pro began circulating in the last two days, conflicting stories have popped up over what the leftovers will contribute to other Apple devices.

In a social media post, Mark Gurman pushed back on rumored gesture controls on Apple Glasses and reiterated that Apple is developing new AirPods that will feature cameras meant "for Siri." It harkens back to reports from March when Gurman said Apple has a set of "AirPods Ultra" in the works.

Rumors about a version of AirPods featuring infrared cameras first popped up in July 2024 from supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. At the time, Kuo said the cameras would detect environmental changes and possibly enable "in-air gesture control to enhance human-device interaction."

Gurman, on the other hand, doesn't believe the technology for camera-based gesture controls exists. "The technology to do this reliably with a single camera, no neural band and no eye-scanning doesn’t exist today as far as I know," he said in a different post.

He's previously reported that the cameras would work by "feed[ing] visual intelligence data to Siri." In essence, this would be similar to how the camera is used in the Face ID system on iPhones.

Another link in the Ultra chain

In recent weeks, several rumors have suggested Apple is pursuing "Ultra" branding across several of its most popular devices. Currently, Apple sells one Ultra-branded device, its Apple Watch Ultra 3.

Later this year, alongside the AirPods Ultra, we could also get the foldable iPhone, rumored to be labeled the iPhone Ultra, and the long-rumored touchscreen MacBook Ultra.

All of these Ultra models would supersede the Pro moniker that currently denotes Apple's highest-end devices. Though we have been hearing rumors about an alleged iPhone Ultra for years now, usually centered on rebranding the Pro Max.

Regarding all three devices, we likely won't see them debut until September at the earliest, when Apple holds its annual iPhone event. The AirPods would probably be announced then as well.

The MacBook Ultra will most likely launch in the usual October window when Apple typically debuts its MacBook Pros. If not in October, then possibly in early 2027, as Apple did with the M5 Pro and Ultra versions this year.

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