AIRPODS may soon have a new feature that will come in especially handy on your next holiday.
Apple has already come up with a tool to turn the popular earbuds into hearing aids.
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But now the tech giant is reportedly planning to make AirPods serve as a useful translator directly in your ear.
The feature will be able to translate voices in real-time, according to Bloomberg.
Apple fans have welcomed the possible development – though others have noted that rivals including Google have already been doing this on their audio products for years.
“That would be pretty cool,” one person wrote on Reddit.
“I have wanted this for such a long time…” another commented.
“I have no idea why “breaking the language barrier” wasn’t something far more important to them.
“It is so much more appealing than AI. Communication is so powerful.”
But not everyone is convinced it’s a good idea.
“Honestly hearing two different voices talking to me at once in different languages sounds painful and overwhelming,” a third user added.
It’s reported that the feature will land later this year and tied to the next iOS 19 update.
The rumour comes after Apple announced some of its big AI upgrades for Siri are delayed.
Siri is supposed to become more personalised with more awareness of personal context.
But Apple said it’s “going to take longer than we thought to deliver on these features”.
iPhone tricks to try today
Here are some of the best…
- Typing cursor – When typing, hold down the space bar to turn your keyboard into a trackpad, letting you move around words and sentences more easily
- Close all Safari tabs – To do this in one go, simply hold the overlapped squares in the bottom right-hand corner, and press close all tabs
- Delete lots of photos quickly – Hold down on a photo and then drag your finger diagonally in Photos to select lots of images at once, then hit delete
- Convert currency quickly – Swipe down from the top of your Home screen (or swipe left to right on an iPhone X or later model), then tap in the bar and type a currency (like $200) and it will automatically covert to your local currency
- Check if you’re due a battery upgrade – Batteries inside smartphones degrade over time. Just go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health, and check out the Maximum Capacity reading. Generally a battery is considered worn when you’re down to 80% capacity. If you’re below, you can buy a battery swap from Apple
- Move apps around faster – Hold an app until it starts wiggling, then (while still holding) tap other apps, causing them to stack so you can move them around easier
