- Not for taking pictures or video: it’s an extra input to the AI
- Meta is reportedly unhappy with the progress so far
- Samsung’s plans are still largely secret
Apple isn’t the only company considering sticking cameras into your earbuds, though it’s probably closer than most: As we reported last year, Apple has been experimenting with IR cameras in AirPods and apparently plans to use them to help inform AI and provide the audio equivalent of smart glasses.
A new report says that Apple isn’t the only company that wants to be an eye-to-ear pioneer. Meta and Samsung are also apparently looking into people’s ears, but the road to in-ear cameras has proven to be a bit tricky.
Ear we go, ear we go, ear we go
The report, by Bloomberg, details the efforts of Apple’s earphone rivals. Meta’s system appears to have the same goals as Apple’s — not to take photos or record video, but to analyze the world around you and provide input to AI assistants — and “would let users look at an object and ask the earphones to analyze the item “, just like Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses do. However, such devices are at least a few years away.
Meta has encountered several problems that Apple has probably encountered as well. The report says there have been issues with people who have long hair, and Meta is apparently unhappy with the camera angles on the devices, which are currently called “Camera Buds.”
As for Samsung, the legendary leakers “people with knowledge of the matter” say the company is also considering a version of the earphones with cameras inside. But there are no details yet on how advanced the project is or if it has even begun.
Cameras on earphones make a lot of sense as an alternative to the idea of smart AR glasses, because there will be a big hurdle to get people who don’t normally wear glasses to put them on. But so many of us wear a pair of the best earphones on the go that they might be a better answer to the question of what kind of camera people would actually wear. But as mentioned above, they bring their own problems, from hair to hats.
Is there an option to simply not have cameras to feed information to your phone’s AI? It appears to be Plan Z…
