Apple is reportedly integrating cameras into AirPods, ear hair be damned.
The $3 trillion company plans to mass-produce redesigned headphones with built-in infrared cameras by 2026, according to a report. new report from analyst and longtime Apple insider Ming-Chi Kuo. The cameras could help Apple bolster its current and future augmented reality headsets with enhanced spatial audio features, the analyst wrote.
Citing a supply chain study, Kuo said pairing these improved headphones with the Vision Pro glasses could make Apple’s spatial computing experience more realistic. For example, “if users turn their heads to look in a specific direction, the sound source in that direction can be accentuated,” the analyst said.
For people who don’t want to drop thousands of them on an Apple headset, infrared cameras could offer other benefits, including the ability to make “in-air” gestures on AirPods, Kuo said. The IR module could be similar to the receiver that powers Apple’s facial recognition feature, FaceID.
The analyst’s report follows a previous story from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who noted that Apple is exploring the idea of camera-powered AirPods.
If Apple does indeed integrate cameras into its headphones, it would continue a long-standing trend for the tech giant. After turning its minimalist white earbuds into a status symbol in the iPod era, Apple has gradually made them smarter over the years, adding features like wireless connectivity, noise cancellation, head tracking, touch controls and voice commands.
We also talked about AirPods with health tracking featuresbut Apple has yet to release such a feature. Perhaps that was for the best; Amazfit, for example, fall flat when it integrated fitness tracking into its Powerbuds Pro in 2021. Even specialist fitness brands, such as Fitbit and Garmin, have held back from inserting advanced health tracking technology into users’ ears .
News Source : gizmodo.com
Gn tech
