Lil Katz / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Apple is reportedly planning to bring live translation functionality to its AirPods.
- This feature would be available on AirPods via a software update.
- Google’s Pixel Buds have offered live translation features for several years now.
Apple’s AirPods are among the most popular wireless earbuds on the market, but rivals also offer their own compelling features. Now, it looks like Apple could copy one of these features for its AirPods.
Bloomberg reports that Apple is working to bring live translation capabilities to its AirPods, citing people familiar with the development. This would give you real-time translations during a conversation.
The good news is that the feature is set to arrive as part of an AirPods software update associated with iOS 19. That means you won’t necessarily need to buy a new pair of AirPods to take advantage of this capability.
Apple would, however, be following in Google’s footsteps with this feature. Google’s Pixel Buds have offered live translation functionality for several years now, and it currently lets users translate between 40 languages. In addition to this conversation mode for live translation, the Pixel Buds also have a transcribe mode that continuously translates spoken language in your ear while displaying a transcript on your phone.
This news also comes after the outlet reported that Apple would deliver a major software overhaul across iPhones, iPads, and Macs. The changes are tipped to arrive on iOS 19, iPadOS 19, and MacOS 16.
