Live Translate

Why It Exists

Users need to communicate across language barriers during phone calls and message exchanges without hiring interpreters or using bulky translation devices.

How It Works

Galaxy Live Translate uses Samsung's on-device NPU and cloud services to translate phone calls in real-time. The system captures audio, identifies the language pair, and translates speech as it happens. Translation can be displayed as text overlay during calls or as a full transcript afterward. The AI models learn from usage patterns to improve accuracy and support contextual translation.

Everyday Use Cases

• Phone call translation
• Message translation
• Real-time conversation
• Multilingual family communication
• International business calls
• Travel communication

User Workflow

• User enables Live Translate in Settings
• System detects language pair for the call
• AI captures and processes audio on-device
• Translation is streamed in real-time
• User sees translated text or hears translated speech

AI Processing Flow

Audio is captured and processed by on-device Gemini Nano speech models. Language detection runs first, then neural machine translation generates the target language. For languages with limited on-device models, cloud-based translation is used with encryption. Translation quality improves through on-device learning without uploading conversation content.

Inputs / Outputs

Inputs:

• Audio stream
• Detected source language
• Target language preference
• Call context
• Contact language settings

Outputs:

• Real-time translated text
• Translated audio
• Full call transcript
• Language confidence scores
• Voice playback options

Known Limitations

• Limited to supported language pairs
• Translation lag of 1-3 seconds
• Background noise reduces accuracy
• May not handle dialectal speech well
• Requires Samsung account for cloud features

Unsupported Scenarios

• Video call translation
• Real-time multilingual broadcasting
• Professional interpreter substitution
• Non-Samsung device calls
• Simultaneous multi-language group calls

Performance Notes

Translation processing adds 1-3 seconds of latency; On-device languages translate in under 500ms; Supports 20+ language pairs; Cloud fallback takes 3-7 seconds; NPU power usage under 5 percent during active calls

Available On

Shows where this feature is available and how its AI processing works on each platform. Availability may vary by device.

Research Status

Confidence and verification reflect how complete documentation is. Fields may show Not assessed or Not yet verified while research is ongoing - this flags gaps, not product deficiencies.

Research Notes

Available on Galaxy S24 series and newer; Requires One UI 6.1+; Supports 20+ language pairs; Introduced with Galaxy AI in 2024; End-to-end encryption for cloud translations

Details

Capability Mapping

This feature maps to canonical capability family: Translation.

Canonical capabilities: Spoken Language Translation, Message Translation.

• Spoken Language Translation - Translates live spoken conversation between languages in real-time.
• Message Translation - Translates text messages between languages.

Grounded in 24 device(s) on Galaxy AI.