It’s been widely rumored that Apple has been developing an all-new AirPods model, but this time this particular model will feature cameras, but not what you may have imagined. That being said, we may have good news for this unreleased product, as Mark Gurman from Bloomberg published more details in his weekly “Power On” newsletter.
According to Gurman, it turns out that Apple is apparently working on two prototypes with the codenames “B790” and “B798,” with the former claimed to be closer to production. This has apparently been the norm for Apple to “create competing versions of the same product internally.” As a matter of fact, there are even references to that codename (B790) that were discovered by developer Sam Henri Gold in the second iOS 27 developer beta last month. Gurman doesn’t elaborate on what the product differentiation between the B790 model and the more advanced B798 model will be, so it’s really up in the air on whether Apple will ship both models.
Going back to the cameras, as previous reports may imply, those cameras will not be your usual ones to take pictures or videos, but they’ll rather use infrared technology to detect objects around the user. They will utilize Visual Intelligence and particularly the upcoming Siri AI. Again, these upcoming AirPods will not be branded as “AirPods Pro 4,” as the AirPods Pro was last updated back in September with the third-generation model, but they will rather be an entirely new model that will sit on top of the existing AirPods Pro 3, and thus, it will be priced higher. Gurman previously said Apple was weighing branding the future model as “AirPods Ultra,” so that name would sound reasonable.
It’s more likely that the B790 model could be announced next month alongside the next iPhone models, which would be even more ideal timing considering that Apple has had both the updated Apple TV and HomePod mini ready. This would be a great opportunity for Apple to showcase a range of “smart” products by marketing its improved Siri AI, which will be heavily promoted across those products. Furthermore, the more advanced B798 model could be announced late in the new year.
