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Google’s Pixel Buds have supported live translations for years.
Google’s Pixel Buds have supported live translations for years.
Mar 13, 2025, 9:05 PM UTC
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Emma Roth is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.
Apple is planning to bring live translation to AirPods, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The feature, which will let users translate conversations in real time, will be “tied” to the forthcoming iOS 19, Gurman says.
Apple is a little behind others in adding live translation to the AirPods, as Google brought the feature to its very first pair of Pixel Buds in 2017, and later expanded it to the Pixel Buds Pro in 2022. Other companies, like Meta and Humane, have attempted live translation with their wearables as well, though the results proved pretty inconsistent.
As noted by Gurman, the feature can help translate a conversation from, for example, Spanish to English by playing a translated version of the speech into the English-speaker’s AirPods. When the English speaker responds, their iPhone will then play the Spanish translation from its speakers. Apple didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
Last week, Apple announced that it’s delaying its AI-upgraded Siri, saying, “It’s going to take longer than we thought to deliver on these features.” The company is also planning to overhaul the design of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS this year, according to Gurman.
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