- Researchers at the University of Washington designed cameras for headphones
- Design limitations made the 2019 Sony WF-1000XM3 the perfect pair
- …and report suggests AirPods Pro may not last long enough
We’ve heard a surprising number of leaks suggesting that future AirPods could come with built-in cameras, perhaps as early as 2027, despite their continued failures in the niche vision technology market. And some new research may point to more problems.
Researchers at the University of Washington have written an article about VueBuds, headphones they created that have a built-in camera. This can see and recognize what you’re looking at, much like how smart glasses work, except they don’t need large frames.
The document describes how they are slightly separated from XR headsets, smart glasses, and body cameras, with the main advantage being that headsets are much, much more popular than any of those other categories.
Article continues below.
The headphones weren’t designed from scratch, and the researchers chose the 2019 Sony WF-1000XM3 for the task. Hey, we gave them 5 stars in our review – we can’t blame the researchers for wanting to listen to some pretty good tunes while they work.
But its excellent noise cancellation and sound quality wasn’t what attracted researchers to the Sony. The real reason points to why AirPods with cameras will be a big challenge.
How long do they last?
The VueBuds were designed as an add-on module, so they needed to be installed into existing headphones. So why not use the most popular headphones on the planet, the AirPods Pro, instead of a 2019 option?
In the article, the researchers explained: “We selected the Sony WF-1000XM3 platform based on accessibility for battery disassembly and integration, allowing for a maintainable scope of research without requiring a complete redesign of the headphones from scratch.”
That is, they could reach the Sony, with the AirPods being more difficult to damage. In 2024, we reported that Apple was researching removable batteries that could be used in various iOS devices, but two years later they have yet to hit the market.
However, back to the University of Washington findings, and later in the document it is mentioned that the AirPods Pro 2 were also tested (with a line suggesting that the AirPods Pro 3 were only released during the VueBuds testing process, so it came out too late).
This is largely detailed in the “Power Analysis” section, with test statistics suggesting that the AirPods offered lower battery life with the VueBuds connected than the Sony ones. It seems that in all cases, the typical battery life of the headphones was cut by about half when the cameras were added, to just over three hours in the case of the AirPods Pro 2.
It’s no big secret that Apple’s headphones have below-average battery life when compared to direct contemporary rivals (albeit with exceptional ANC and features that outperform most of them), and a quoted three-hour endurance when cameras are thrown into the mix simply wouldn’t cut it in today’s congested market.
With each new generation of AirPods, Apple is getting closer to acceptable battery life (a little slower than our definition of “acceptable” boosts), and perhaps the AirPods 5 will last long enough to make cameras feasible. But right now, it looks like the headphones simply don’t have a big enough battery to allow vision tools to be brought into the mix.
The best wireless headphones for every budget
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course, you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and tiktok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
