The Apple Watch May Get a Camera — But for AI, Not FaceTime
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Apple may finally be putting a camera on an Apple Watch, but if you were hoping this means you’ll someday be to make Dick Tracy-style FaceTime calls, you may want to temper your expectations.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who reported this from his sources over the weekend, Apple’s goal here is not traditional video communications or even photography. Instead, it wants to drive support for more Apple Intelligence capabilities.
Reports of Apple adding a camera to its wearable have circulated for years. There’s long been evidence that Apple is at least considering it; the company has filed patents, and we’ve heard the occasional murmurings about it out of Apple Park. However, there’s never been any indication that this even moved into a concept stage, much less any prototyping.
Things heated up a bit when rumors surfaced that Facebook was building a camera-equipped smartwatch that would include cameras for photo and video capture and even mobile communications. That product never saw the light of day, and it’s unclear what became of it. Some analysts believe that Meta pivoted and used the research and development to build its smart glasses, while others have suggested that the camera-equipped watch wasn’t feasible for various reasons.
While there are a few niche smartwatches with cameras, the closest the Apple Watch has ever gotten is the Wristcam, a watch band and companion app that provides some limited photo and video capabilities. When I reviewed this in 2022, it worked as advertised for anyone who really needs what it can do, but it’s also pricey and cumbersome — and about the same price as a much more practical and versatile GoPro Hero.
That might also explain why Apple never seriously considered adding a camera to the Apple Watch. There’s only so much you can do in a wrist-sized device, and whatever Apple could manage would likely be subpar and needlessly increase the price of its wearable — all for a feature that most Apple Watch users probably wouldn’t care about.
However, it seems like Apple Intelligence has changed the equation. According to Gurman’s sources, Apple is looking at a wrist-worn camera not for shooting photos and videos or conducting FaceTime calls, but to allow the device to “see the outside world and use AI to deliver relevant information.” In other words, this appears to be about bringing Visual Intelligence to your wrist.
The camera placement is also telling. While the standard Apple Watch might get an under-display camera, the Apple Watch Ultra could end up with it on the side, letting you shoot from your wrist, Spiderman-style.
As part of this plan, Apple is considering adding cameras to both its standard Series watches and Ultra models. The current idea is to put the camera inside the display of the Series version, like the front-facing lens on the iPhone. The Ultra will take a different approach, with the camera lens sitting on the side of the watch near the crown and button.
Since the purpose of the camera would be to identify real-world objects and feed information into Apple Intelligence, that would make it much more useful on the Apple Watch Ultra, as folks wouldn’t have to contort their wrists into awkward angles to capture something.
Although a front-facing camera would seemingly be useful for FaceTime, Gurman says “that’s probably a far-fetched idea” as Apple isn’t interested in compromising the user experience by trying to present FaceTime calls on a smaller screen while folks hold up their wrists to chat. Still, it wouldn’t be technically challenging for Apple to add this once the camera hardware is there.
Whatever Apple is up to, don’t expect it on this year’s Apple Watch Series 11 or even next year’s Series 12. “These models are likely still at least generations away from hitting the market,” Gurman says, “but they are on the road map.”
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
