Sepertinya Apple mengikuti jejak footsteps of Samsung dan Google dengan menghadirkan terjemahan langsung ke AirPods mereka melalui iOS 19, yang diperkirakan akan diluncurkan musim gugur ini. Sementara Google sudah memperkenalkan terjemahan langsung di Pixel Buds sejak tahun 2017 dan memperluasnya ke lebih banyak perangkat pada tahun 2018, Apple memakan waktu, lebih fokus pada peningkatan fitur kesehatan pendengaran dan menjelajahi integrasi kamera di earbud mereka. Kini, tampaknya Apple akhirnya mewujudkan Fish Babel dari The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy menjadi kenyataan bagi pengguna AirPods, menawarkan terjemahan bahasa secara real-time untuk memecahkan hambatan komunikasi.

Real-time translation in AirPods: what to expect

The news comes via the well-connected Mark Gurman at Bloomberg (paywall), who says that it'll deliver a "Star Trek-like experience to AirPods users".

According to the report, the feature will make use of your AirPods as well as your iPhone. Your phone will translate the other person's speech and play that translation in your AirPods; it'll then take your speech, translate it and play that to the other person via your iPhone's speaker.

The feature will be tied to iOS 19, which should be widely compatible with iPhones going back several years – though if the feature is billed as being part of Apple Intelligence, it may be limited to only newer devices.

And if it's made available to every model of AirPods, I'll be amazed: I suspect it'll be reserved for Apple's more premium earbuds with active noise cancellation, to make sure you can be focused on people's voices.

But perhaps I'll be wrong and it'll be a nice upgrade for all the best AirPods – after all, the iPhone seems to be doing the heavy lifting.

With AirPods Pro 3 expected later this year, it's possible Apple will decide to make the feature exclusive to its newest buds, though I think that's unlikely.