Qualcomm is preparing camera-equipped earbuds that let AI watch the world around you, apparently because microphones weren’t intrusive enough.
According to The Indian Express, audio outfit Cleer demonstrated the concept at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit in Maui. The earbuds use cameras as sensors to give an AI assistant visual context about the wearer’s surroundings.
The cameras are not intended for taking photographs or recording video, but are used to map the environment so multimodal AI can combine what it hears with what it sees.
Qualcomm reckons the technology could support real-time translation, context-aware assistants and more personalised listening. The Fruity Cargo Cult Apple is reportedly exploring camera-equipped AirPods along similar lines.
Cleer’s prototype runs on Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 platform, introduced during the second day of Snapdragon Summit. It targets earbuds, headphones, audio glasses and other AI wearables.
The platform is up to 30 per cent smaller than its predecessor, provides twice the AI capability and consumes up to 40 per cent less power. Qualcomm specifies 128 GOPS of AI acceleration, driven by its eNPU 6. The platform combines AI processing, audio, connectivity and sensor workloads in one package.
Perhaps the more interesting addition is integrated low-power Wi-Fi 6E. This lets earbuds and similar gadgets reach cloud AI services directly, rather than relying on a smartphone as a middleman.
Qualcomm calls the surrounding ecosystem Snapdragon Sound Apps & Agents. It is intended to support AI assistants, translation, transcription and other services that can run through audio wearables. The silicon retains the less creepy business of playing music. It supports aptX Lossless, Qualcomm XPAN, fifth-generation Adaptive ANC and AI-assisted microphone processing for clearer speech and voice commands.
XPAN can move audio beyond normal Bluetooth range using Wi-Fi, with Qualcomm claiming support for lossless music streaming at up to 192 kHz. Its camera support extends the platform from clever headphones to devices that can continuously understand their surroundings. (
Neither Qualcomm nor Cleer has said whether the camera earbuds will become a commercial product. For now they remain a prototype demonstrating what happens when the AI industry spots the last few square centimetres of your body without a camera attached.
