Apple Considering Ads Inside Visual Intelligence, Code Suggests

Apple may be exploring a way to let search providers show sponsored results inside Visual Intelligence, according to code uncovered in iOS 27.

The find comes from MacRumors' Aaron Perris, who said in a post on X that the code points to Apple allowing search providers to insert their own sponsored results into ‌Visual Intelligence‌, rather than Apple selling the ad space itself. He compared it to the sponsored product listings already seen on Amazon and Google. It is not clear whether Apple would take a cut of ad revenue.

The feature would let third party search providers, such as Google, insert items such as sponsored product images alongside the organic results ‌Visual Intelligence‌ already returns when a user points their camera at an item to shop for it. That would set it apart from the advertising pushes Apple has driven directly in its own apps over the past year.

Apple has been steadily expanding its advertising business across the App Store and Maps. The company began showing additional sponsored slots in ‌App Store‌ search results in March, and ads went live in Apple Maps in the United States and Canada last month.

‌Visual Intelligence‌ already routes shopping queries to services like Google Image Search and retailers such as Etsy, Amazon, and Anthropologie, so ad supported results from those partners would build on functionality that already exists in ‌iOS 27‌.