Photo credit: X/@markgurmanApple's camera-equipped AirPods, code-named B798, will arrive in late 2027 a full year past their original 2026 target according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who reports the deadline slipped in part because of Apple's prolonged struggles with artificial intelligence software. They headline a three-device stack landing the same year: the camera AirPods, a second-generation foldable iPhone, and a redesigned model marking the iPhone's 20th anniversary. The building is topped out. The wiring is the holdup.Strip the anniversary gift-wrap and the leak tells a sharper story. Apple has the hardware close to ready prototypes deep in testing, a 2-nanometre A21 chip locked for the high end, the foldable hinge solved after years of grief. What slipped a year is the intelligence. The AirPods moved to 2027 because Siri's visual models still sit in rewrites, and stacking three products onto one anniversary stage hands a delayed AI story a celebration to stand inside.Key TakeawaysApple's camera-equipped AirPods (code-named B798) are scheduled for late 2027, a year after their original 2026 plan, per Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.The cameras serve Siri as visual sensors reporting points to infrared modules, closer to Face ID hardware than a phone lens feeding context about a wearer's surroundings rather than shooting photos or video.The slip traces to Apple's AI software struggles and the work of building visual models that identify objects reliably.The AirPods share their late-2027 window with a second-generation foldable iPhone and a 20th-anniversary iPhone, all tested on iOS 28, the high-end models running the 2-nanometre A21 chip code-named Naxos.Gurman stresses every date here could still shift a hedge worth keeping in view.What Will Camera AirPods Actually Do?Camera AirPods will feed Siri a live read of your surroundings, letting you ask about objects, signs and places while your iPhone stays in your pocket. Picture the demo Apple would run on stage: a wearer glances at a counter of ingredients and asks Siri for a dinner idea; a look at a street sign turns into walking directions. The sensors send information about the wearer's surroundings to Siri, which can answer questions about objects and whatever the wearer is looking at, with contextual reminders and improved turn-by-turn walking directions among the possibilities.One correction to the breathless version doing the rounds. These read more like infrared sensors than the camera on the back of your iPhone. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo flagged as far back as June 2024 that Apple aimed to mass-produce AirPods with infrared camera modules, similar to the Face ID receiver rather than a photographic lens. They capture depth and shape for the AI to parse; photos and video stay off the menu. An included light will tell people around the wearer when the cameras are feeding data to Siri a small privacy tell, glowing when the sensors go live.The Confession Hiding In The CalendarThe delay is the most honest thing in the leak. Apple wanted these AirPods in 2026. The deadline slipped because of the company's prolonged struggles with AI software and the need to develop visual models capable of identifying objects in a user's surroundings. Siri's broader overhaul has run late for two years; the hardware projects hang on its schedule. So the AirPods wait for the software to come out of rewrites.This is the pattern across Apple's AI era. The chassis arrives on cue. The brain runs behind. Camera AirPods are a wearable held to a Siri that keeps missing its marks and the company appears to have made peace with that, syncing the launch to a 2027 line-up large enough to absorb a year's drift. Bloomberg says all three devices are being tested with iOS 28, while cautioning that timing "remains fluid and could change." The candour cuts both ways: it signals Apple would rather ship late than ship a Siri that fumbles what it sees.Apple Greenlit The Sequel Before The Original OpenedApple is committing to a second-generation foldable iPhone in 2027 while the first foldable has yet to reach a single buyer. Reporting across the supply chain points to that first foldable arriving in the autumn 2026 line-up, introduced alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max in September book-style in design, priced north of $2,000, with mass production already slipped from June to August 2026. That phone is still a render and a dummy unit to the public. Apple has already booked its follow-up for the anniversary year.Read it two ways. The generous read: Apple trusts the form factor enough to plan a franchise out of the gate. The sceptical read: the anniversary needs a flagship with a wow, and a second foldable on shared A21 silicon supplies one while the engineers buy a year on the headline redesign. Both can hold at once. A second-generation foldable landing in 2027 the 20th anniversary of the original iPhone suggests Apple sees foldables as a long-term part of the line-up rather than a one-off experiment.Three Devices, One 2-Nanometre BetThe 2027 trio shares a backbone. The anniversary models, code-named V73 and V74, succeed the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, and both the anniversary and second-generation foldable run a 2-nanometre A21 chip internally called Naxos.Device (late 2027)Code nameWhat's newSiliconCamera AirPodsB798Infrared sensors feeding Siri visual contextOn-device, paired to iPhoneFoldable iPhone (2nd-gen)—Sequel to the 2026 foldable, same anniversary stageA21 "Naxos", 2nm20th-anniversary iPhoneV73 / V74Redesign succeeding iPhone 18 Pro / Pro MaxA21 "Naxos", 2nmThe stack stretches wider than three. Gurman points to Apple smart glasses that could come as early as the tail end of 2027, with a tiny camera also reaching the Apple Watch that year. The AirPods, on this reading, are a stepping stone — the first Apple wearable taught to see, clearing the path for the glasses everyone expects Cupertino to build to take on Meta.The Naming SnagA 2027 camera model creates a naming headache, because Apple's AirPods Pro 3 ship this year and a Pro 4 would arrive early on the usual cadence. AirPods Pro run on a roughly three-year cycle the first generation from 2019 to 2022, the second from 2022 which makes a 2027 camera flagship sit oddly as a Pro 4. That points to a fresh premium tier an AirPods Ultra, to borrow the label Apple already hangs on its dearest Watch and Mac silicon. Tech press including TechRadar has floated exactly that possibility, alongside an AirPods Max successor. Apple keeps its own counsel for now.What India Pays For A 2027 AppleFor Indian buyers, the 2027 line shapes up as Apple's costliest stack yet a foldable already pegged north of $2,000 globally, with a premium anniversary iPhone and camera AirPods layered on top. A global tag past $2,000 lands far heavier here once duty and Apple's India markup compound, and the anniversary phone plus camera AirPods push the 2027 basket to the steepest Apple has asked of this market. (I will hold off on a rupee figure until Apple sets one anything now is a guess, and the conversion moves with duty. )The second India question is the intelligence, and it matters more than the price. Camera AirPods earn their keep only when Siri reads the world fluently and Apple Intelligence has reached Indian languages slower than English-first markets. A wearable that sees is worth less in Delhi if Siri still stumbles over Hindi-English code-switching at the kirana counter. The 2027 hardware is the easy part for India. The language model is the open question.The Shell Is Ready; The Wiring Is PendingApple's 2027 looks, on paper, like the biggest year since 2007 three device categories converging, the iPhone redesigned on its anniversary, the first Apple wearable that sees. Walk the site, though, and the structure tells the truer tale. It stands. The glass is in. The lifts run and the A21 silicon hums in the basement. What the building waits on is the part that makes it liveable: the intelligence threaded through every room, switched on and dependable.Gurman's own caution earns the last word the timing remains fluid and could change. Hold these dates loosely. The hardware will likely keep its appointments. Whether Siri keeps hers decides if 2027 becomes the anniversary Apple wants, or the year the world finally sees how far the intelligence still has to climb.FAQsWhen will Apple's camera AirPods launch?Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports a late-2027 window, a year after the original 2026 plan. He stresses the timing could still move.Do the camera AirPods take photos?The sensors feed Siri visual context about a wearer's surroundings rather than capturing photos or video. Reporting points to infrared modules, closer to Face ID hardware than a phone camera.Why did Apple delay the camera AirPods?Gurman attributes the slip to Apple's struggles with AI software and the work of building visual models that identify objects reliably. Siri's wider overhaul has run behind for roughly two years, and the hardware launch hangs on that schedule.What else is Apple planning for late 2027?A second-generation foldable iPhone and a redesigned 20th-anniversary iPhone share the window, the high-end models running the 2-nanometre A21 chip. Smart glasses and an Apple Watch with a camera may follow the same year.When does Apple's first foldable iPhone arrive?Supply-chain reporting points to autumn 2026, as part of the iPhone 18 line-up, priced north of $2,000. Mass production reportedly slipped from June to August 2026.end of article