(Image credit: Tom's Guide)
A reference to what is "almost certainly" a new pair of AirPods has been spotted in the code for Apple's iOS 27 beta 2 by developer Sam Henri Gold — which when you line up the features with recent leaks, it matches up with the much rumored AirPods Ultra.The code includes a mention of a system prompt for a product codenamed B790 to work with Visual Intelligence. While Henri Gold initially assumed this was referring to Apple's long-rumored smart glasses, the team at MacRumors pointed out the AirPods Pro 3 were codenamed B788. So, he revised his finding, saying that "B790 is almost certainly the new AirPods and not glasses."/System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_UAF_IF_PlannerOverrides/purpose_auto/9aaa6a204118137235983cc3f1eecae8a125c550.asset/AssetData/PCC/system_prompt_metadata/system_prompt.json seems to hint at some smart glasses codenamed B790 pic.twitter.com/IEmbfleth4July 3, 2026Why a pair of AirPods would need access to Visual Intelligence is down to another persistent rumor we've been hearing for some time: the next AirPods may have integrated cameras. These won't be designed for taking pictures or video like the Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses, but instead they'll act as visual input for Siri.The new earbuds, dubbed AirPods Ultra, are believed to be dropping in 2027 according to an earlier report from Bloomberg. In practice, users wearing them will be able to ask Siri about their surroundings without having to use their iPhone camera to provide context. Reportedly, the design will remain the same as the current AirPods Pro apart from small LEDs that display when the earbuds are capturing information from the outside world.The timeline makes sense. Apple revealed the AI-powered Siri this spring at WWDC and aims to follow up with the iPhone Fold / Ultra in September. Next year, the company celebrates the 20th anniversary of the iPhone and is believed to be planning an ecosystem of AI products to accompany it.But is development actually happening?
