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iFixit Teardown Reveals Apple's New AirPods Are 'Disappointingly Disposable' (arstechnica.com)
After tearing apart Apple's new second-generation AirPods, the repair guide site found that there is no practical way to service or repair them even at a professional shop. They labeled them as "disappointingly disposable." Ars Technica reports: iFixit had to go to almost comical lengths to open the AirPods up, and despite their expertise and tools, the iFixit team was unable to do so without permanently damaging the product. [...] That's disappointing, given that the batteries in the AirPods won't last longer than a few years with heavy use, and they're hard to recycle. Apple does offer to recycle headphones through partners as part of its Apple GiveBack program, but the GiveBack Web portal does not offer a product-specific category for AirPods to consumers like it does with most other Apple products. Consumers may simply select a general "headphones & speakers" category on the site.
The teardown also revealed some differences from the first-generation AirPods. The battery is the same size, but iFixit identified the new, Bluetooth 5-ready H1 chip in the earbuds themselves. The site also found some small differences likely related to Apple's efforts to increase the case's water resistance. For all the details, visit iFixit's teardown page for the product. All told, iFixit gave the AirPods a 0 out of 10 for repairability -- that's low even for Apple products. By contrast, the site also opened up Samsung's Galaxy Buds and gave them a 6 out of 10.
The teardown also revealed some differences from the first-generation AirPods. The battery is the same size, but iFixit identified the new, Bluetooth 5-ready H1 chip in the earbuds themselves. The site also found some small differences likely related to Apple's efforts to increase the case's water resistance. For all the details, visit iFixit's teardown page for the product. All told, iFixit gave the AirPods a 0 out of 10 for repairability -- that's low even for Apple products. By contrast, the site also opened up Samsung's Galaxy Buds and gave them a 6 out of 10.
iFixit Teardown Reveals Apple's New AirPods Are 'Disappointingly Disposable'
I generally don't like to throw things away so I'll go out of my way to repair them but I don't think I've ever seen a set of earbuds that did not fit that description. Even the legendary 3,5mm jack equipped corded earbuds and headphones are a bitch to re-solder to a new jack when the cord gives in to metal fatigue because the copper wires are coated and very, very, very fine and delicate. In fact, apart from the big over-ear headphones from brands like Sennheiser for which you can **GHASP** actually get spare parts, headphones in general are somewhere between a nightmare and impossible to (economically) repair.