When it announced the launch of the iPhones 17, 17 Pro and Air in September, Apple also introduced the new AirPods Pro to the market, with improved sound, greater clarity in speakerphone calls and noise cancellation, according to a review by The Country. However, it will only be next month (December) that the most anticipated feature will arrive in Portugal and the rest of Europe: instant translation.
The option allows two people who do not share the same language to communicate face to face while listening to the translation in real time on their headphones. Initially, however, it was blocked in the European Union by the Digital Markets Law, which regulates the conditions of digital competition in the European market.
The ban, now lifted, resulted from an imposition of European Commission to Apple, which required iPhone functions to be interoperable with competing cell phones.
According to Apple, the instant translation system works using computer audio technology to offer translations that follow the tone and rhythm of each interlocutor and will be available on AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods Pro 4.
It is by connecting the headphones to the Apple Intelligencethe artificial intelligence system developed by the company, which works the translations. If both parties have AirPods, the conversation is translated in real time. If only one has them, the translation transcript will be shown on the screen.
This function is available in nine languages, including English (United Kingdom and United States), French (France), German (Germany), Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish (Spain), so Chinese (Mandarin, Simplified and Traditional), Japanese, Korean and Italian should be added later this year.
The instant translation function also works within the Messages application, in FaceTime (video calling application) and voice calls.
Text written by André Sousa and edited by Mafalda Ganhão