William Gallagher
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple is planning to release AirPods with infra-red camera modules that detect when a user turns their head, and so automatically adjust Apple Vision Pro audio output to match.
Apple Vision Pro comes with built-in Audio Pods that provide very good audio output for casual listening. For anything more, you should use AirPods and according to Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is working on making those work better with the Apple Vision Pro.
IRAirPodsApple/ / New IR Camera-Equipped AirPods to Enhance User-Device Interaction and Strengthen Apple's Spatial Audio/Computing Ecosystemhttps://t.co/q2xcNwwtUg
— (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) June 30, 2024
In his full blog post, Kuo says this information comes from his latest supply chain survey. By 2026, Apple's AirPods range will include at least one that has an infra-red (IR) camera, he says.
It will detect when the user's environment changes, typically because they have moved their head. Kuo says this means that the AirPods will be able to relay direction to the Apple Vision Pro, which will then adjust the balance of any playing Spatial Audio.
Specifically, he says that if a user turns their head to look at a certain direction, the Apple Vision Pro can know to emphasize the audio related to what they're looking at.
Since the idea is that this works by an IR camera registering that there has been a change in environment, though, there is the possibility for more. While this is not part of the supply chain report, Kuo believes that users could potentially control their AirPods with gestures.
Kuo says that Foxconn is the new-product introduction (NPI) supplier, meaning Apple has developed these AirPods with the company's involvement. It will then be the first manufacturer to produce the new AirPods, and Kuo says that he believes there will be production capacity for up to 10 million AirPods.
Apple does not have regular release dates for AirPods, but it does for the iPhone. Recent rumors have suggested that Apple will unveil new AirPods around September 2024's iPhone launch, though they will not have the new IR camera system.
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Some crazy speculation for reasons why Apple is putting in IR sensors on AirPod Pros. The rumor is Apple is putting IR sensors in AirPod Pros. For what use? Kuo and Gurman are basically guessing.
The IR image is going to be processed by the AirPod Pros? The IR video stream will be streamed to the AVP or host device through Bluetooth, and the host device will determine head movement with acceptable latency?
The already included accelerometer in AirPod Pros can do the same job, with less energy use. Magnetometers would do the job even better with less energy use than a camera.
Hand and finger gestures seem to be the better application for IR sensors. If the AirPod Pros are augmenting a VP, the additional IR sensors can add the field of view for both hand gestures and proximity to heat objects.
Yeah... no, I'm calling shenanigans on this one. First of all, an IR camera on AirPods could only be side-facing. Not sure what the benefits of that would be, especially in relationship to what you're viewing on the Vision Pro. Also AirPods Pro already have excellent gyroscopic head tracking, so I doubt side-facing IR cameras could add anything to that experience.
The core concept is redundant given the headset can determine exactly what it’s looking at with its existing array of cameras and sensors, which would always be vastly better than anything that’ll ever show up in earbuds. Never gonna happen. Like, ever.
Must have been a slow news day.
No, just no.
The IR sensors could be inward or lateral facing and monitor health parameters such as temperature and pulse. Temperature would likely be more accurate here than at the wrist on a watch. They would only need to assess periodically, not continuously. So energy usage could be very low. I don’t know if there is a role for them to assess the ear canal when the head is turned (prompted by the gyroscopes) to obtain more detailed info. Perhaps they could help to monitor posture in this fashion (again, I’m unsure if this applies).