Apple Watch Devices Could Get Cameras, But Not For What You Think

The Apple Watch is one of the most popular wearables on the market right now. But it has also gotten a bit boring. Apart from the introduction of the Apple Watch Ultra series, Apple hasn’t really made any groundbreaking changes or improvements in the last few years. That could change in the future. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, future Apple Watch models could come with built-in cameras.

If you’re thinking that this is part of Apple’s plan to let you take photos with your smartwatch, think again. Sure, photo-taking could be a potential feature, but Apple is looking beyond that. Gurman’s newsletter claims that the inclusion of a camera in the Apple Watch is more about AI rather than just photos.

This means that Apple wants the cameras in the Apple Watch to act as a sensor of the world around it. For example, cameras could allow the wearable to recognize objects around it. It could recognize street signs or signboards so that instead of just relying on GPS. The sensors could also analyze signage and surrounding landmarks to provide users with better and more accurate directions.

According to Gurman, Apple plans to integrate cameras into other products as well, like the AirPods. “Apple’s ultimate plan for Visual Intelligence goes far beyond the iPhone. The company wants to put the feature at the core of future devices, including the camera-equipped AirPods that I’ve been writing about for several months. Along the way, Apple also wants to shift Visual Intelligence toward its own AI models, rather than those from OpenAI and Google.”

Apple Intelligence has been a bum so far

Apple, like many other tech companies, has been pushing AI. Unfortunately, Apple’s start in the AI race isn’t going so well. The company debuted Apple Intelligence last year, but many of its features fell short. The company also made a lot of promises for upcoming features and changes that haven’t arrived yet.

For example, Apple promised that it would launch a new and improved version of Siri powered by AI. There have been numerous delays since its supposed release. Now we have no idea if it will launch. This is a bad look for the company, especially since it stubbornly wanted to build its own AI instead of relying on others, which is what other Android OEMs have done when they turned to Google’s Gemini. Apple is now facing a lawsuit over false advertising for Apple Intelligence.

So as much as it would be interesting to see how the Apple Watch can be used with AI, Apple needs to get its foundation right. Otherwise, it’s not going to matter one bit.