Bloomberg reports that Apple is developing a feature that would allow AirPods to translate human-machine conversations from one language to another. The feature will be tied to iOS 19 and will be introduced in an AirPods software update planned for later this year. AirPods will be able to provide a simpler translation process for users who speak different languages, but this process will rely on the translation app on the iPhone.
If an English speaker wearing AirPods is talking to a Spanish speaker, the iPhone will detect the audio, translate the speech, and forward it in English to the person wearing the AirPods. The English speaker can then respond, and the iPhone will translate their response into Spanish and speak it out loud.苹果公司的iPhone翻译应用已经可以用于类似的对话，但在AirPods中加入该功能将简化交流过程。
In order to cooperate with the new features of AirPods, Apple also plans to improve the translation application in iOS19, but there is no detailed information yet.
Apple is developing new AirPods Pro 3 earbuds that will launch in 2025, but it sounds like Apple may be bringing iOS 19's translation capabilities to existing models as well.
In recent years, Apple has tied AirPods updates to iOS updates. For example, in iOS 18, Apple added a set of hearing health features that test for hearing problems and allow AirPods to be used as hearing aids if problems are detected.