Instant translation on AirPods, coming to us in December

No sooner had the iPhone iOS 26.1 update been released than Apple sent developers the beta version of 26.2. Among the new features in this version is the instant translation function on AirPods, for Europe. AirPods: European Union's block on instant translation function is scheduled to be lifted. Indeed, this function was available from the launch of iOS 26 in September for the United States and a few other territories, but was blocked by the European Union due to Apple's alleged non-compliance with the continent's anti-competition laws. These problems appear to have been resolved, as instant translation should arrive in December when the iOS 26.2 update is rolled out to iPhones. Instant translation function: which AirPods and iPhone models are compatible? In practical terms, when the function is active, what a speaker says to you in a foreign language is translated in real time and played through your headphones. To use this feature, you must have AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2, or AirPods 4 (with noise cancellation), as well as at least an iPhone 15 Pro with Apple Intelligence, and the Apple Translate app. Instant translation currently works with the following languages: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Japanese, and Korean.