Apple’s rumoured security camera will have ‘no video recording’ – so will it be any help if you’re burgled? You Should Know
Apple’s expected entry into the smart home security camera market will come with a rather curious wrinkle for those hoping to guard against thieves and intruders – the devices won’t actually record video.
That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who reiterated and expanded upon his previous assertion that the AI-powered cameras would instead use a sensor that would “analyse the environment in your home” and report back with text-based descriptions of the comings and goings.
Speaking on the new Power On Podcast, the erstwhile Apple watcher claimed: “This is going to be the first mainstream video camera that’s a home video security camera that doesn’t give you any footage.” The idea appears to be to help protect user privacy, and rail against the “very disturbing idea of mass surveillance” Gurman says.
Gurman adds: “It’s a very similar technology to what they’re going to be using for the AirPods with cameras. So that’s going to be pretty cool. And you really need to get these products into the universe for them to get better and improve over time.”
He goes on to say: “This product will have facial recognition to be able to determine and tell the user ‘Mark just walked into the living room’ or ‘Vlad just walked into the kitchen’ or ‘whomever just left the house’, or ‘the dog is in the dining room’, it will be able to do that.”
However, given the purpose of a security camera can be to hand video footage to the cops in the case of a burglary or other incident in the home, it’s not yet understood how it can be reliable in such a situation?
“I’ll be curious to see if this can give you stills at least,” Gurman adds. “But in many cases video is going to be necessary right? If you have a burglary and you catch it on camera, what are you supposed to do with the description? You’re just going to give it to the police? They’re not going to be able to do anything with the description. You need the actual tape. So, it’ll be interesting to see how they market this thing.”
The smart home security camera is expected in the second wave of Apple releases in the smart home sector. Within the next couple of weeks, the company is expected to launch the long-awaited smart home display, complete with Siri AI functionality.
