AirPods with cameras and smart specs. Big tech is keen, but are we?

August 27, 2026 — 2:13pm

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For years, the debate over wearable cameras has been dominated by the polarising rise of smart glasses, a category recently bogged down by public unease and controversy over cheap, invasive knock-offs. But a leak buried in Apple’s own software this week – featuring an instructional video for upcoming camera-equipped AirPods – proves this technology is evolving beyond novelty eyewear.

While Apple’s staunch track record on user privacy suggests these earbuds will not be designed for secret recording, their eventual release will thrust the famously cautious tech giant directly into the centre of our growing cultural clash over whether, and to what degree, face-mounted cameras should be tolerated in public.

The state of smart specs

Like Google, Samsung and others, Apple is tipped to be working towards smart glasses that contain speakers, cameras, microphones and the ability to connect wirelessly to a smartphone. Meta has been first to truly enter this space, with its Ray-Ban models proving very successful since launch in 2023.

The glasses have always come with a degree of distrust and scrutiny, given their ability to take photos and record video. Even though every person carries a smartphone that can record at a moment’s notice, the new and unfamiliar format challenges concepts of public and private places, and emboldens creeps who want to film people surreptitiously.

Still, given their luxury branding and high price, the Meta glasses have avoided full-blown backlash. In Australia, it wasn’t until a cheap pair arrived at Kmart for $89 earlier this month that people really took notice.

Petitions emerged to ban the product category entirely, receiving tens of........

© The Sydney Morning Herald