All the Apple haters with the negative comments about the "disposable" nature of the airpods are probably posting from a Starbucks or McDonalds with their disposable containers. lol at their fake outrage.
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AirPods 2 Teardown: H1 Chip With Bluetooth 5.0, Same Batteries, and Water-Repellent Coating on Charging Case Board
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99.9999% of AirPod buyers have no desire to have Apple redesign the AirPods and make them less waterproof, larger, etc., etc., and more costly so iFixit can sell a home battery replacement kit for the .0001% who would want to try and work on them to maybe save a few dollars after they paid for a replacement battery and special tools and spent hours trying to take apart and work on a piece of highly integrated, miniaturized technology.
When you look at the internal circuitry and realize it probably has more computing power than the computers that launched men to the moon. Yes, it is an absolutely amazing wonder of our time.
They are disposable, the cost to "service" the battery is almost the same as buying new ones. As this site points out, "There’s no way these prices could ever make sense." https://www.idownloadblog.com/2019/03/04/apple-airpods-battery-replacement/
So please, lets not spread misinformation.
Don't fall for this propaganda by iFixit who has a financial incentive to lie. They aren't disposable any more than an iPhone, iPad, etc. is. Apple can replace the battery, and like every other Apple product, if the time comes when it no longer is serviceable, Apple will take it back for free and recycle/reuse the components- (best recyclable program in the industry, heck, I just checked and Apple is offering me $130 trade in on my 2011 iMac!)
I agree with you but think about this: when the iPhone can wireless charge other devices you won’t need to separately charge the AirPods AND you don’t need to have the charging cable for the Apple Watch. Just put AirPods and Apple Watch on top of the iPhone, Plug the cable into the iPhone and all devices are charged
These are the facts, please explain to me how this makes sense:
iPhone ($1000) battery service: $50-70.
AirPods ($160) battery service: $150.
Servicing AirPods is almost the same cost as buying new ones, which means it's not really servicing, think of it more like Apple giving you a $10-20 credit to buy new ones.
Got my wireless (case) AirPods a couple of days ago, and a little disappointed in the quality control. The left bud is fine, the right has a noticeable gap between the two plastic halves at the top. Needed a bit more glue and pressure. Otherwise they work just fine. Perfect for listening to music while walking the dog, and using Siri to change songs etc. without having to take my hands out of my pockets.
"Almost the same." That should have given you pause to think before you accuse others of "spreading misinformation." Your statement that "they are disposable," is demonstrably false. That is fake news as they say.
Unless your first-gen AirPods only give you 32 minutes (yes, literally) of battery life on a full charge.
iPhone ($1000) battery service: $50-70.
AirPods ($160) battery service: $150.
The $10 difference between new and "serviceable" shows factually that they are disposable.
First, you misstate what it costs to replace two AirPod batteries-- it is $138, not $150.
But, moving on, it makes sense if you consider how business works. Here's how that financial picture looks:
The iPhone type batteries are made by the billions every year by more than one manufacturer; thus the per unit cost is likely much lower than a unique, custom built solely by one company for Apple in unit sales of millions, not billions per year. Also, the AirPods battery is at the early stage of its cycle, thus development and production costs haven't been amortized anywhere near the smart phone battery cycle.
Now, take the above and add in the labor costs associated with disassembling and replacing the battery in an Airpod compared to a smart phone.
Finally, take the above and multiply it by two. Your comparison is with replacing the battery in one smart phone with two AirPods as though the labor, parts and other costs of the second AirPod don't exist.
That's why it's actually surprising that Apple can replace an AirPod battery for the same cost as the newer iPhones- THEY ARE BOTH $69 per unit.
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Of course it makes sense if you design something glued/soldered, it'll be prohibitively more expensive to service to the point it might not even make sense to service. That's the entire argument and that's what's happening with AirPods. It's designed to be disposable because of the disposable design of gluing/soldering things.
Samsung, on the other hand, built a competing product that is just as small and has a replaceable battery. Here we see two companies with different designs, one user-serviceable, and the other disposable.
What manufacturers? Sennheiser Momentums don’t. Sony buds don’t. JBuds Airs don’t. JLabs Elites don’t. You may have found an exception or two, but you shouldn’t set expectations for the norm based on exceptions.
As to those Galaxy Buds, I’d be interested to see what happens if you dropped those big, clip-together golf balls into water. AirPods, otoh, will play under water and after going through the washing machine (and dryer). I’ll take that any day over being able to (potentially ruin my earbuds while trying to) replace the batteries.
And do you find that acceptable?
However, If you use those phones for 3 to 4 hours a day, the charging cycle should be 5 to 7 days. So the battery should take more than 5 years to lose more than half capacity. So still usable and I assume also works with a cable.
But there is no justification for not making replacement possible.
I believe Senheisser can have batteries replaced without damaging headphones.
There's no place for a battery around my head, but I'm glad apple placed the battery along my face vs in my ear. Samsung, I did notice that a German battery was used - smart choice.
OK, we got it. You think that this is all some conspiracy by Apple.
Jony Ive: Great news, we've finished our design for the new AirPods wiith the engineering group and come up with something that we think customers will love.
Tim Cook: I don't care about that. Tell me about how difficult it is for customers to replace the battery themselves.
Jony Ive: Oh, super easy, all they have to do is unscrew the little thing at the end and plop in a AAA battery in the stem that they can buy at any store.
Tim Cook: What?! Are you crazy??? I don't care about that! Let's drive sales by forcing them to buy new ones. Back to the drawing board!
A couple months later-
Jony Ive: Great news, we've completely redesigned the battery set up. Yes, the engineering team developed a new miniature battery that costs a fortune to develop and produce, but it will make it so we are the only ones who have it, and they came up with a great idea to pour glue down the case and surround the battery with glue after the factory installs it, and to top it off, instead of a screw off cap, we now solder the end cap on.
Tim Cook: Way to go Jony!. iFixit is going to howl. I love it. Now get to work on the Magic Track Pads and Apple Keyboards. How we let those out of the factory with user replaceable batteries, off the shelf batteries no less, is huge stain on your team.
And in 2 years your 150$ AirPods will have half the battery life as those non-replaceable batteries degrade. Long term value indeed....
A status symbol for millennials? Where? GQ magazine?
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No thanks. I'll take compact size and less weight any day.
In 5 years whales and dolphins will be swollowing these AirPods. “10 AirPods found in whales stomach.”
iFixit today shared a teardown of the second-generation AirPods, providing a closer look at the H1 chip with Bluetooth 5.0 and the same 93 milliwatt hour battery in each of the AirPods in line with the original pair.
New charging case on left and new AirPods with H1 chip labeled in red on right via iFixit
The repair website also pried open the new wireless charging case, which continues to have a 398 mAh battery capacity, and said there is a new "water-repellent coating" on the circuit board. The teardown notes that the updated charging case "seems designed for increased durability, but not repairability."
Unsurprisingly, the new AirPods earned a zero for repairability, as iFixit says they remain "disappointingly disposable." AirPods are not designed to be serviced, as no hardware components can be accessed without damaging the earphones, and sealed-in batteries make the AirPods a consumable product.
Many of these details were already known, but the teardown still provides an interesting look at the internal differences compared to the first-generation AirPods. More photos and tech specs are available over on iFixit's website.
Article Link: AirPods 2 Teardown: H1 Chip With Bluetooth 5.0, Same Batteries, and Water-Repellent Coating on Charging Case Board
The battery on these things die in about 1.5-2 yr. my day one purchased stopped charge began to last for 30 mins. It sucks they can’t be pried open and the small battery can be replaced because they just end up being trashed.
I don't think so. Unless like I said, you have mats laying around everywhere.
Agreed. It’s one reason I use my second pair much less than the first. I still use my wired headphones a lot.
The hard part of getting to the moon isn't the computer.
And a H1 or other chip wouldn't get you to the moon because the computers needed to be radiation hardened not fast.