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We asked, you told us: Real-time translation is the feature you want most in earbuds
June 24, 2025
While we all use wireless earbuds to listen to music, there are many features on the way that I think will make these devices more essential than the smartphone in your pocket. Everything from AI companions to advanced health tracking and even monitoring your brain activity will be achieved right in your ears. However, when we asked over 300 readers which features of future wireless earbuds excited them the most, real-time language translation won a huge majority of the vote.
It’s not hard to see why translation topped the poll. Our cities are more multicultural than ever, international travel is booming again post-pandemic, and apps like Duolingo have made language learning mainstream, proving people want to connect across language barriers. Whether you’re navigating a foreign country, trying to chat with your neighbor who speaks a different language, or just want to understand what’s being said in that foreign film without subtitles, real-time translation solves real problems that affect millions of people daily.
Sure, there are many translation-specific models on the market right now, but the problem is that they don’t sound very good or perform well. Just like Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 will soon be implementing Hearing Aid functionality, people want premium earbuds that can translate, not translation earbuds that happen to play music. This is the playbook for how earbuds evolve: take established, high-performing devices and add novel features rather than building gimmicky hardware from scratch.
Right now, Samsung’s Galaxy Buds3 Pro are really the only game in town for flagship wireless earbuds with translation features. That’s great for those in the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem, but leaves others lost in translation. But the good news is that things are moving fast. For instance, the EarFun AirPro4+ is adding AI translation to its upcoming budget buds. This is exactly what needs to happen. More brands and price points focused on nailing the basics (great audio) while adding translation as a soon-to-become essential feature.
Which brand do you think will be the next to add real-time translation — Apple, Sony, Bose? What languages are you hoping to see supported first? And here’s the big question: if earbuds can instantly translate any conversation, does that make learning new languages obsolete, or does it just remove the barriers to actually practicing them? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.