Apple Watch Smartwatches Will Be Equipped with Cameras for Interacting with AI

Apple wants its signature Apple Watch smartwatch to be positioned as wearable devices with artificial intelligence in the future. To this end, the company is developing several new models of smartwatches with cameras that will allow them to “see” the world around them. This was stated by Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman.

Image Source: Apple

The advancement of AI algorithms will go hand in hand with Apple’s existing Visual Intelligence technology, which the company wants to implement in its AirPods headphones in the future. As a reminder, this feature allows for a quick search for data on objects captured by the camera lens. It currently relies heavily on neural networks developed by OpenAI and Google.

According to Gurman, Apple intends to reduce Visual Intelligence’s reliance on third-party neural networks in the future. “Ultimately, Apple’s plans for Visual Intelligence extend far beyond the iPhone. The company wants to make this feature a core part of future devices, including the camera-equipped AirPods I’ve been writing about for months. At the same time, Apple wants to shift Visual Intelligence toward its own AI models, rather than those of OpenAI and Google,” Gurman said in a statement.

Regarding the Apple Watch equipped with a camera, the journalist wrote that the company is developing such devices, and this applies to the basic and flagship models of the watch. In the standard Apple Watch, the camera will be integrated into the screen, but it is unclear whether this will require a hole in the display or whether the sensor will be placed under it. In the case of the Watch Ultra, the camera will be placed on the side of the case, next to the physical button. Due to this, it will be easier for users to scan surrounding objects with the camera.

According to Gurman, Apple Watch equipped with cameras will not appear on the market until at least 2027. AirPods with a camera should not appear earlier either. The journalist notes that the timing of the launch of new products will largely depend on how successfully Apple develops its own AI algorithms.