Europeans won’t be able to enjoy a shiny new feature Apple presented at this week’s unveiling of a set of new iPhones and AirPods.
Apple introduced new AirPods on Tuesday, featuring real-time translation directly through the earbuds. It stated that the feature works with earbuds paired to phones that have Apple Intelligence — Apple’s version of AI.
But it doesn’t work for users in Europe.
“Live translation with AirPods is not available if you are in the EU and your Apple account country or region is also in the EU,” an Apple support page reads.
Apple is blocking the functionality due to its interpretation of its obligations under the EU’s Digital Markets Act, specifically a European Commission decision from March. The decision states that the iPhone maker is required to make certain functions interoperable with competitor devices.
Apple executives have previously threatened to block the rollout of services like Apple Intelligence due to its European regulatory obligations.
The languages currently supported for live translation through AirPods are English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish, with Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese to follow by the end of the year.
POLITICO approached the European Commission with a request for comment.
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