iPhone 11: New Apple handset might let people listen through two sets of headphones at once

Feature is already available on some Samsung phones

A person takes a photo of a set of wireless Apple AirPods during a media event at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco (JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Apple's future iPhones could finally let two people listen to them at once.

The company is working on a new feature to allow phones to share their audio with two Bluetooth audio devices, according to new reports.

That could allow two people to watch the same video on one phone, each listening through their own headphones, for instance. Or it could let people send their mapping system's alerts to their in-car entertainment system and audio to children sitting and listening in the back of the vehicle.

The new rumour comes from Apple blog Mac Otakara, and was shared by MacRumors. While the site has had some success in predicting future iPhone features, it did not say where the information had come from and it is not clear whether it is expected in the forthcoming phone or one that will follow.

The feature is already available on some Samsung phones. It uses the Bluetooth 5 standard, which is already found in some recent iPhones, too – meaning that the feature could potentially be enabled on existing phones through a software update.

Current iPhones are already able to connect to a range of Bluetooth devices at once, so that earphones can be used at the same time as a heartrate monitor, for instance. They are also able to play music to various speakers at once over WiFi rather than Bluetooth, through Apple's AirPlay 2 feature.

Apple has worked to bring a whole host of wireless audio features to its iPhones, especially since dropping the headphone jack and instead focusing on products like the AirPods, which send music over the air.

Similar tools include the AirPods' "live listen" feature, which allows the phone's microphones to listen in to sound and then transmit that to the wireless earbuds.

The AirPods – and the similar Powerbeats Pro – also include Apple chips that make them quick to swap between different devices that are being used by the same person.