Apple amplifying the call experience on iPhones with new features packaged in iOS 26. I have already explored how the new call screen works on iOS 26, by the way in the way Pixel 9 Pro does with Android 16.
But now it is time to test another of its new appeal features: live translation.
It is not only for telephone calls, because live translation works in other applications such as messages and FaceTime. In fact, this is one of Apple Intelligence’s few new features that the company announced during its Keynote WWDC 2025 for iOS 26 – allowing users to translate telephone calls in real time.
Although it is one of these features that serves a specific use, you could find it at hand when this opportunity arises. Meanwhile, Samsung in fact offered its version entitled Live Translate as part of its Galaxy AI suite from the Galaxy S24 series.
For this comparison, I will decompose the way these competing services work and tell you who is the most reliable.
Translate Live iOS 26 against Galaxy AI: Caited languages
In order to test these live translation features for telephone calls, I use an iPhone 16 Pro Max performing the beta iOS 26 version against a Galaxy Z Flip 7 running an IU 8 above Android 16.
One important thing to know is the amount of languages that each service takes care of to translate into English.
In its current iteration, the live translation function live with iOS 26 only takes care of a total of four languages: Spanish, Portuguese, German and French. You are limited with the options, but I hope Apple deploys more languages in the coming months.
Samsung offers much more. There are more than 25 languages supported by the live translated function of Galaxy Ai, and for this reason, it is much more versatile.
Winner: Galaxy Ai
Live translate iOS 26 against Galaxy AI: Spanish translation
For these real tests to see to what extent they behave, I generated stories using Google Gemini – which I then put in Google Translate to translate and speak for me. Using a phone as a calling for speaking in the other language with the other phone translating, I had the two phones translating the following in real time:
“The air was thick and salty, a hot blanket that wrapped around me when I left the car. My feet found the sand soft and warm, and I expired, feeling the last of my daily stress melt. Tree, the rustling leaves like soft paper, looking at the sun plung into the horizon, painting the sky into fiery nuances of orange and pink.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max with iOS 26 offers the best experience here because of the way he speaks the translation after a few sentences. What is happening too is that the appellant’s audio is softened to allow the translation in English to play on them – a bit like the way an interpreter would do.
With Galaxy AI, he indicates to the other person on the line that the functionality is active, but it has greatly delayed the translation. Although he manages to translate history with precision into English, he seems less of a natural conversation because of the way he expects so long to do so.
Winner: iOS 26
Live translate iOS 26 against Galaxy AI: French translation
Then I asked Gemini to generate a story explaining what entropy is in a concise summary. Here is what I used to test live translate with iOS 26 against Galaxy AI:
“Entropy in action. It is not a punishment; it is a fundamental rule of the universe. This plaque, all its molecules in a perfect arrangement, was a state of low entropy – the labor disorder. Now, broke on the ground, it is in a state of high entropy. The universe tends to this chaos.
Live Translate on iOS 26 has tripped several times with the translation, but the general point of entropy has crossed. Just as before, he also announces that the translation is active after activating it – with the real translation starting after a few sentences.
On my iPhone 16 Pro Max, I really like the way it breaks down it in Imessage style cat bubbles. What makes it more pleasant is how live translate on iOS 26 makes it more like a natural conversation by superimposing the speech translation on the voice of the speaker.
Not only Galaxy has waited until the appellant finished speaking before he begins to speak and show me the translation, but I find it boring that I cannot scroll the translation on my Galaxy Z Flip 7. Unlike the iPhone, he manages to translate the conversation more precisely – including the parts where the iPhone was spoiled. But despite this, I still like how iOS 26 works overall.
Winner: iOS 26
Translate IOS 26 live against Galaxy AI: German translation
Finally, I asked Gemini to create a story on someone who explains his day at the office in a more relaxed way. Here is the complete ventilation:
My day? It was a meeting marathon that could have been emails and a battle with a printer that seems to hate me personally. I have been looking at the same spreadsheet for two hours, looking for a typing fault which must be a single figure, and I am almost sure that my eyes are going through. The hamsters on the small wheel in my head have abandoned and are now sitting in the corner of drinking tiny glasses of water. I struck the ability of the maximum brain of the day, and now I’m just sitting here, pretending to be productive until it is a socially acceptable moment to escape this fluorescent purgatory.
The end result with this German translation is no different from the others, because iOS 26 manages it more naturally with the way in which they superimpose the translated conversation while the person is actively speaks. This happens after a few sentences and continues to keep the same pace throughout the rest of the conversation. He tripped only once at the end.
At that time, I expected the same exercise as before with Galaxy Ai. More specifically, he waited again that the whole conversation was finished to start the translation – which makes it a little embarrassing. Yes, the translation was exact everywhere, but I still don’t like the long break.
This is why I tried it a second time, calling it stopping for a longer period, two sentences. Although this is the only way to be able to ensure that Galaxy AI begins to translate earlier, it spoils the flow of back and forth conversation. For this reason, I give it to iOS 26.
Winner: iOS 26
Live translate iOS 26 against Galaxy AI: what you need to know
Beyond their ability to translate telephone conversations in real time, some of the quirks I have found should be mentioned by testing these live translation features. None of the two services allows me to save transcriptions while the functionality is active, which is boring because it would be practical to record them on a note or something.
Second, the live translation with Galaxy AI does not allow me to scroll through the transcription while I am actively on the call. I do not understand why you cannot do this, but it would be useful to return to the translated conversation to refer to something that I may miss – or want to follow.
Translate Live iOS 26 against Galaxy Ai: Verdict
Even if Galaxy Ai was almost perfect with the translation and offers more supported languages, it is the way it executes the translation which does not make it so intuitive. At the end of the day, I would prefer to have a more relaxed experience to talk to someone to talk about a foreign language – instead of having to wait for these long and clumsy breaks.
I can forgive iOS 26 for having botched a few things in my tests, but Apple absolutely offers the more practical experience. Not only does it start to translate much earlier than Galaxy Ai, but the way it overlaps the audio makes it much more practical. In addition, I like the way I can scroll through my iPhone. I hope that Apple makes the necessary adjustments and additions to make it even better for the final release of iOS 26 later this fall.
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