Apple is working on adding cameras to the Apple Watch in order to enable AI features like Visual Intelligence within the next two years, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in today’s Power On Newsletter, The Verge reported.
The cameras will be “inside the display” for the standard Series Watch, while the Apple Watch Ultra would feature it on the side, next to the digital crown and button, according to Gurman. With them, the Apple Watch would be able to “see the outside world and use AI to deliver relevant information,” which he says is also the plan for the camera-equipped AirPods Apple is rumored to be working on.
The Visual Intelligence features that these devices would use debuted on the iPhone 16, where it works with the phone’s camera to do things like add details from an event flyer to your calendar, or look up information about a restaurant.
It’s underpinned by AI models from other companies, but Gurman writes that Apple hopes to power the feature with it’s own in-house models by 2027, when he says the company plans to release these new Apple Watches and AirPods.
Apple is working on adding cameras to future Apple Watch models in order to make them function more like AI wearables, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman on the Power On newsletter, Engadget reported.
Gurman reports that the company “is considering adding cameras to both its standard Series watches and Ultra models,” with plans for a 2027 launch. The move would also the Apple Watch to support AI features like Visual Intelligence, which can provide on-the-spot information about whatever the user points the camera at.
Gurman previously reported that Apple is developing AirPods with a built-in camera for the same purpose, and he notes this week that these are expected to launch around the same time as the camera-equipped Apple Watches. Camera placement would likely vary among the different watch models. According to Gurman, the Series watches could get a camera in the display, while the camera in the Ultra would be on the side of the device.
Gizmodo reported: Despite the general failure of wearable AI devices to win over consumers, and Apple’s own inability to convince people to use its AI tools, the company is apparently going to try to kill two birds with one stone by turning the Apple Watch into an AI-infused wearable.
According to Bloomberg, Apple is workin on a version of its smartwatch that will be equipped with cameras that will facilitate the expansion of the company’s “visual intelligence” features the are currently only available on the latest model of iPhone.
Per Bloomberg, the company is working to shoehorn the lenses into both Series and Ultra models of the Apple Watch, with the Series expected to have a camera inside its display while the Ultra would have a camera on the side of the watch.