From 2027, photography won't be the main use of cameras any more – and Apple will show us the way

We've covered the prospect of camera-like sensors built into Apple AirPods before, used to build up an image of the room around them for all kinds of AI goodness. This tech requires sight, and (artificial) sight requires cameras. So that's the pieces in place but, until this week, it all seemed like something in the dim, distant future.

Now, however, those in the know – including Mark Gurman – are starting to put dates on the possible devices that don't sound completely out of reach.

And in my area of expertise, of course – which is camera drones, for those not obsessively following my career – there are already plenty of options that use camera tech to 'see' the world, and this technology is used for collision avoidance systems more than anything else.

Interestingly, the tech is so 'old hat' in drones – at least three years old, now – that the latest thing is now the addition of additional cameras that can see beyond the usual optical range (tech like LiDAR), meaning collision avoidance can happen in lower light.

However it's done, lenses and optics on AirPods could enable headphones to build a picture of the space around them and feed that back to a computing device (for example, an iPhone sat in a pocket) – and this, now, might be how AI gets to grips with the world around you.

This comes at the same time Apple might be junking, or at least shelving, the idea of a Vision Air goggles system.

Looking closely at the successes of Meta, it is likely apparent to Apple that glasses and augmented reality is more likely to be a mainstream hit than ski goggles. And while the new M5 Vision Pro might keep the system in contention for a little longer for high-end users, it doesn't have the kind of breakthrough pricing that is going to see Apple's goggles in every home.

A system that involves glasses would also need to garner information about the world around it, like the Vision Pro, but ideally would have no more bulk than the kind of thing you might see adorning Buddy Holly.

Whether Apple has really got the right idea, expecting you to buy and carry AirPods, Buddy Holly-augmented reality glasses (iVision?) and perhaps a phone to get the full experience of the tech is another matter.

Instead, this might just be a pivot point like the original iPad – but one in which Apple cedes ground to another company. Meta, after all, has been working on the glasses idea for some time already.

Oh, and I've not even begun to cover the possible privacy and security implications of people having cameras hidden about their person that aren't really cameras but provide cover for people that have actual cameras discreetly tucked in their ears…

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