iOS 26 might bring real-time translation to AirPods 4 and Pro 2

Apple might be hiding a potentially very useful new AirPods feature.

9to5Mac spotted some imagery in the latest iOS 26 beta build which strongly suggests that real-time language translation during in-person conversations will be possible with the second-gen AirPods Pro and the fourth-gen AirPods. It appears that you activate translation mode by pinching the stems on both AirPods at the same time. In the imagery 9to5Mac found, four languages can be seen: English, French, German, and Portuguese.

Apple has already explicitly shown translation features for apps like FaceTime, but has been mum on its applications in real-world settings so far. 9to5Mac reasonably speculates that the feature might be exclusive to the iPhone 17 lineup, likely due to the processing power required to do this without serious latency. That would potentially explain why Apple hasn't officially announced this feature yet.

If that's the case, we'll probably hear more in September when the new iPhones are announced.