Apple recently announced that the AirPods Real-Time Translation feature will officially launch in the European Union in December. This groundbreaking feature allows users to hear translations almost in real-time through their AirPods during cross-language conversations.
The feature was initially announced in September with the AirPods Pro 3, but was not available to EU users at the time. Apple explained that the delay was due to "the need for additional engineering work to ensure compliance with the Digital Markets Act."
The Real-Time Translation feature is not supported on all AirPods models. Users need AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2, or AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation, and an iPhone equipped with Apple Intelligence. For iPhones, an iPhone 15 Pro or later is required, and it must be running iOS 26.2. This system requirement means that users of older iPhones will not be able to enjoy this feature, even if they have compatible AirPods.
Apple's official information shows that the Real-Time Translation feature supports multiple languages, including English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian.
According to CNMO, the real-time translation feature utilizes Apple Intelligence and advanced computational audio technology to process translation tasks on the device. This method ensures user privacy because the conversation content is not sent to external servers. When both parties in the conversation are using AirPods that support real-time translation, active noise cancellation reduces the volume of the other party's original speech, allowing users to focus more on the translated content while maintaining a natural and fluent conversation. If the other party does not have AirPods, users can view the real-time transcribed text of the other party's language on their iPhone.
