New research suggests AirPods with cameras can't happen — unless Apple makes a few major changes

AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation earbuds held in a man's hand.

• Researchers at the University of Washington designed cameras for earbuds
• Design limitations made the 2019-issue Sony WF-1000XM3 the perfect pair
• ...and the report suggests AirPods Pro can't last long enough

We've been hearing a surprising number of leaks to suggest that future AirPods could come with built-in cameras, perhaps as soon as 2027, despite its ongoing failures in the niche vision-tech market. And some new research may point to more problems.

Researchers for the University of Washington have written a paper about the VueBuds, earbuds they've created which have a built-in camera. This can see and recognize what you're looking at, much like how smart glasses work, except without needing big frames.

The paper describes how they sit slightly apart from XR headsets, smart glasses and body-worn cameras, with the main advantage being that earbuds are far, far more popular than any of those other categories.

The earbuds weren't designed from the ground up, with the researchers choosing 2019's Sony WF-1000XM3s for the task. Hey, we gave them 5 stars in our review: can't blame the researchers for wanting to hear some pretty good tunes while they work.

But their great noise cancellation and sound quality wasn't what drew the researchers to the Sonys. The real reason points to why AirPods with cameras will be a big challenge.

How long do they last?

(Image credit: Steve May)

The VueBuds were designed as an additional module, so they needed to be installed on existing earbuds. So why not use the most popular earbuds on the planet — AirPods Pro — rather than a 2019 option?

In the paper, the researchers explained: "We selected the Sony WF-1000XM3 platform based on accessibility for disassembly and battery integration, enabling a maintainable research scope without requiring a complete earbud redesign from the ground up."

That is to say, they could get into the Sonys, with AirPods being harder to break down. Back in 2024, we reported that Apple was looking into removable batteries that could be used across various iOS devices, but two years on they've yet to make it to market.

Back to the University of Washington's findings though, and later on in the paper it's mentioned that the AirPods Pro 2 were also tested (with a line suggesting that the AirPods Pro 3 were only released during the VueBuds testing process, so came out too late).

This is largely detailed in the 'Power Analysis' section, with test stats suggesting that the AirPods offered a lower battery life with VueBuds attached than the Sonys did. It seems that in all cases, the usual battery life of earbuds was roughly halved when cameras were brought into the mix, to just above three hours in the case of the AirPods Pro 2.

It's no big secret that Apple's earbuds have below-average battery lives when pitted against direct contemporary rivals (albeit with exceptional ANC and features that trounce most of those), and a quoted stamina of three hours when cameras are brought into the mix simply wouldn't cut it in today's congested market.

With each new generation of AirPods, Apple inches closer to an acceptable battery life (slightly slower than our definition of 'acceptable' raises), and maybe the AirPods 5 will last long enough for cameras to be feasible. But right now, it sounds like the buds just don't have a big enough battery to allow for vision tools to be brought into the mix.