Apple's ambition to embed visual intelligence into the most intimate of wearables — the earbud — has met the quiet resistance that complex technology so often offers: the gap between a working prototype and a product ready for millions of hands. The camera-equipped AirPods, designed not to record the world but to read it for Siri's benefit, will arrive in 2027 rather than 2026, delayed by supply chain friction and unresolved software. A leaked developer video briefly stirred speculation of an earlier return, but Apple's timeline holds — a reminder that the distance between a compelling idea an