Just a week after the launch of Apple’s AirPod Pro 2, new owners started receiving an unusual alert: It was, apparently, time to replace their batteries soon. This is unusual, of course, both because the AirPod Pros are brand new—and because it is, for all intents and purposes, impossible to replace said battery.
In fact, the AirPods have a reputation as being one of the most famously unfixable pieces of consumer electronics of the modern era. Which is precisely why we were eager to get our hands onto these, “the world’s most popular headphones”—the second generation AirPods Pro. We wanted to see if, as with the iPhone 14, anything had changed. Well, we’re sorry to say the irony of Apple’s device telling you to replace a battery that cannot physically be replaced will live on: The AirPods are as unrepairable as ever.
Want to see for yourself? Let us walk you through the teardown to prove it to you.
AirPod Opening
Put on the pressure and the earbuds do offer up a seam, but it takes way more effort to pop them open than more repairable options like Sony’s. Once open, the bud is full of rubbery silicone-like glue, keeping the battery and speaker driver locked tightly away. That’s good for vibration-dampening, but not great for repair.
The battery is conceivably removable at this point, but the driver is toast if you ever get it out. But no repair was ever solved by removing the battery alone. While these cells are still relatively common types, the reassembly process—thanks to specialty glue and press-fit plastic—isn’t exactly DIY-friendly.
Case Opening
Replacing the case batteries is a job we’re pretty confident in saying is of the “don’t try this at home” variety. We’ve spent several generations trying to get in without mangling the plastic, and this time around, we cut right next to the battery cell—our most terrifying reveal of the year. Thanks to incredible amounts of glue, we can only open the case further by carving chunks out of the plastic. An ultrasonic cutter is handy, but it is at the bottom of our repair tools list, this thing is definitely not going back together.
The Reality of AirPod Battery Replacement
So? How can you replace your batteries? Well, you can’t. And chances are, Apple isn’t even replacing your batteries either. They’re probably replacing them with new units.
Sure the AirPods you turn in might get fixed, but they’re going to be shipped back to the factory and batch processed to save a fraction of the material for reuse. And that’s for the ones that are turned in. Apple loves to claim that AirPods are recyclable, but that’s really stretching the term. The world is already awash with wish-cycling and faux-green bioplastics, to the point that ‘recyclable’ has become an empty promise. If you can only recycle them by giving them to an Apple store, and they can only recycle them by sending them across the globe to a private facility I’m not sure that’s “recyclable.”
What really happens to AirPod batteries at the end of their lives? I’d bet my lunch money that most are hanging out in the bottom of a drawer. If they do get tossed and end up with an e-recycler, they’re not likely to get out of the storage yard—AirPods are only valuable to them shredded, and they can’t shred something with a built-in battery.
How to Fix AirPods
Obviously we’d love if Apple could reclaim and reuse all of their electronics, it sounds like a logistical and carbon-intensive transportation scheme, but hey it’s better than what we’ve got. But we have another pitch. Make AirPods actually recyclable—design repairable.
We’ve talked before about Apple undervaluing wearables—they know your phone is essential to your day-to-day, but they also know that you can go without your AirPods for a while. And better yet, they can give you new airpods without your ever noticing. So they do. AirPods are fungible, and tiny, and not profitable to repair. Why spend money to fix what isn’t broken.
Well, Apple is ahead of the curve in most environmental concerns—they even made DIY repair happen—so I think they know that AirPods are broken. And I think they can fix them.
I’m willing to bet that if Apple stopped treating AirPods as disposable, 2-3-year devices, they could design them to be opened. Unscrew the earbud, remove a gasket, swap the battery, maybe even the driver, and boom. You have a product that can be serviced by anyone. That will improve its lifespan, and make recycling painless—and therefore more profitable.
It’s not as hard as you might think. Even the tiny AirTags have replaceable batteries, after all—they had to, in order to compete with Tile’s offerings. The Apple Watch isn’t the most serviceable, but it’s an incredible feat of engineering, and at least it tries. I’m confident in Apple’s design and environmental teams ability to make these changes. We just have to get marketing and the CFO’s of the world on board.
Repairable is within reach, and it can make the future sound all the sweeter.
10 comentários
A lot has changed with the iPhone 4, but I think you may have made a typo.
Duck - Responder
It does have the correct hyperlink, so anyone who doesn’t understand can still click that and see that they meant Iphone 14!
Everett Walton -
Thanks @thequacker! I've fixed our typo.
Here, have +10 points as a bounty!
Amber Taus -
Stop buying apple products. They are an evil company that uses slave labor and promotes evil in the USA at every turn. They are the enemy of our freedom and the anthesis of a company that cares about the consumer at all.
Joe Freedom - Responder
I so need one of those knives...and some of those blue project mats you brandish in your videos.
pattmyn - Responder
Check their online store. I haven't watched the video but they have both of those things for sale so I find it likely they used their own products. I have some of their stuff, it's good, the pricing is decent, and they also sell on Amazon for those who use Amazon.
Jesse Campbell -
Very interesting. Where you say apple makes them a 2-3 year product, I've actually had my og AirPods since launch (2017 that is) and they have worked great (Although they didn't sound great so I decided to treat myself to 3rd gen AirPods). Both have lasted me a fair while (The og AirPods are past 5!) so this clearly seems like apple had a bug that tells people to replace their AirPods batteries. Personally I take this as apple trying to pull yet another iPhone here: Service battery messages. Fun fact: My friend dailies a MacBook Air 2019, came up to me and said "My battery has 41 charge cycles and it says 'Replace now'" and it refuses to charge up. That to me is disappointing but at least he could get it replaced (And no annoying battery not genuine messages :)
Nick P - Responder
I came trying to find a good solution to replacing my left ear Airpod Pro, and was dissapointed to find out Apple once again has made replacing anything on my Airpods impossible. I ended up finding Recellexchange.com for buying a replacement part. It's not new(looks like it), but technically even If I replaced the battery on my Airpod Pro it wouldn't be new either.
alexander gomez - Responder
We need to have tiny AAAAA... sized rechargeable lithium batteries so we can easily swap them out. In the old days, before we had decent rechargeable batteries, devices were designed so that small AA, AAA, A23, 4KR44, CR2 and small button cell batteries could easily be changed. We need to go back to that concept for lithium rechargabe batteries I think. A bonus would be if we had an appropriate charger we could keep some charged ones on standby so our devices could be instantly fully charged simply by popping in a fully charged battery.
Jim - Responder
Wired phones last decades. Programmed obsolescence has gone way way too far with these. Apple has the know-how and money to change the entire industry and dictate new practices. Apple chooses to do the wrong thing, literally, by design.
I hope to live in a world where Batteries must be replaceable by law. No ifs or buts.
G B - Responder