Apple is targeting late 2027 for AirPods with built-in cameras that feed a revamped Siri visual context about the wearer's surroundings, according to a new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The earbuds will carry cameras mounted in their stems and indicator lights that signal when image data is being uploaded to the cloud — a hardware preview of the smart glasses Apple is eventually building toward.
The timing is specific. Gurman says the camera AirPods are being tested internally against iOS 28, one full release past the iOS 27 beta that developers are pulling down for this fall. That places the consumer launch a year and change after iOS 27 ships, with the software stack and the hardware arriving in lockstep rather than the AirPods piggybacking on an existing OS.
The pitch is that Siri, once it gets the long-promised AI overhaul, needs eyes. A microphone-only assistant can hear the question; a camera-equipped earbud can see the menu, the street sign, or the object the user is pointing at. Apple has been signaling this trajectory for two years, and the late 2027 window puts the camera AirPods in market well ahead of any first-generation Apple smart glasses.
Key facts
- 01Apple's camera-equipped AirPods are on track for a late 2027 launch, per Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
- 02The earbuds are being tested internally against iOS 28, one cycle past the iOS 27 beta shipping this fall.
- 03A second-generation foldable iPhone will follow the first foldable expected this fall.
- 042027 iPhones will move to a 2nm A21 chip, with the A22 Pro slated for 1.4nm production.
- 05Apple is considering Intel alongside TSMC for some chip production under incoming CEO John Ternus.
Hardware-wise, the rest of the 2027 lineup is taking shape too. Gurman points to a second-generation foldable iPhone following the first foldable that is now expected this fall, framing the sequel as Apple's signal that it intends to stay in the category rather than test the water once and retreat. Apple is also planning a so-called 20th anniversary iPhone, internally tracked as V73 and V74, with a nearly edge-to-edge display and curved glass that wraps around the sides.
The foldable arc matters because the category, on Android, has not yet figured itself out.
“I like my Pixel 10 Pro Fold, but between apps that fail to adjust for the bigger screen and a smaller battery than the largest standard Pixel 10, it adds a lot of compromises and a hefty price.”— Richard Lawler, Senior News Editor
Standard iPhone 18 timing is slipping in the other direction. Gurman writes that the non-Pro iPhone 18 may not launch until next year, running an A20-series chip similar to the phones shipping this fall, before the rest of the 2027 line jumps to a 2nm A21. The A22 Pro is slated for 1.4nm, and Apple is considering Intel for some of that production alongside its usual partner TSMC — a notable hedge given Apple's near-total reliance on TSMC for advanced nodes over the past decade.
John Ternus is taking over as Apple CEO during this transition, inheriting a roadmap that bets simultaneously on a new form factor (foldable), a new wearable category (camera AirPods leading to glasses), an unproven node (1.4nm), and a second foundry relationship. Any one of those is a meaningful execution risk; all four at once is the kind of product slate that defines a tenure.
Gurman's track record on Apple roadmap leaks is strong, but late 2027 is far enough out that the details can move. A RAM and component shortage is already hovering over the broader industry, and Apple's own Siri overhaul has slipped repeatedly — the camera AirPods are only useful to the extent the underlying assistant is ready to do something with the image stream. If the AI side misses again, the cameras become a hardware feature in search of software, which is the opposite of how Apple usually sequences a launch.
The strategic read is that Apple is building the smart glasses category in pieces it can actually ship. Camera AirPods are a constrained version of the same visual-AI problem, sold through an existing accessory line with hundreds of millions of users, at a price point well below any glasses product. If Siri's visual context works in earbuds in 2027, the glasses become a packaging exercise rather than a category bet — and Apple gets a two-year head start on training the assistant against real-world image data before the bigger device ever ships.
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