Apple May Add a Camera to Apple Watch Amid AI Wearables Push: Report

Apple is reportedly considering adding cameras and associated Visual Intelligence features to upcoming Apple Watch models.

This news comes via Bloomberg‘s reliable Apple analyst Mark Gurman. “The company is working on new versions of the Apple Watch that include cameras,” Gurman writes in his latest Power On newsletter. “As with the future AirPods, this would help the device see the outside world and use AI to deliver relevant information. These models are likely still at least generations away from hitting the market, but they are on the road map.”

This builds upon what Gurman characterizes as Apple’s broader AI-powered wearables ambitions. Apple’s iPhone 16 family already has Visual Intelligence, which enables users to have onboard AI analyze what the smartphone’s cameras see, but the feature has not yet been widely adopted. With this feature, iPhone 16 users can take a picture of something and analyze it using ChatGPT or Google Search. The function can also summarize or translate visible text, identify particular objects and landmarks, and ID some animals.

Moving this type of AI from a smartphone to a wearable device makes sense for Apple, as it is a growing focus for some of its competitors. Meta’s Ray-Ban Smart Glasses are quite popular, for example, and becoming more powerful all the time.

Not all AI wearables have been a home run, though. Perhaps most famously, the Humane AI Pin was an unmitigated disaster and is now dead less than a year after its launch.

Apple would understandably want an AI wearable that is more like the Meta smart glasses and much less like the Humane AI Pin. Apple is already in a strong market position with its popular Apple Watch family, so it seems reasonable to leverage its smart watch’s popularity with improved AI features.

Given that Apple has already explored the idea of adding a camera to the Apple Watch a few times already, as shown in patent filings in 2023 and 2022, it is not a big leap to expect future Apple Watch models to finally realize these ideas.

“As part of this plan, Apple is considering adding cameras to both its standard Series watches and Ultra models,” Gurman writes, adding that the Apple Watch Series could sport a camera inside its display. In contrast, the Apple Watch Ultra may instead opt for a camera lens on the watch’s side, near the crown and button. The Apple Watch Ultra is thicker than the standard Apple Watch, so it offers more real estate for a larger camera system.

Gurman notes that Apple has also explored camera-equipped AirPods and smart glasses. As for when, or if, any of these Apple products could arrive on the market, time will tell. Gurman speculates an Apple Watch with a camera could come in 2027 alongside camera-equipped AirPods, giving Apple a couple more years to iron out its plans for a significantly improved AI wearables experience.

Image credits: Apple