AirPods Pro 2 Teardown Provides Inside Look at Earbuds and Charging Case

[MacRumors]

Repair website iFixit today shared a video teardown of Apple's second-generation AirPods Pro, providing a closer look at the internals of the new earbuds and charging case. The teardown confirms that AirPods Pro remain largely unrepairable.

Opening up the AirPods Pro and the charging case continues to result in unfixable damage, preventing battery replacements and other repairs.

"AirPods are the most popular earbuds in the world — they are also among the most unfixable," says iFixit, in the video's description. "With the AirPods Pro 2, the flagship line gets a boost, in all arenas, apparently, except the environment."

As previously reported, the video shows that the metal insert on the charging case for attaching a lanyard is welded to the Lightning connector inside the case, but iFixit did not explain why. CT scanning company Lumafield speculated that the lanyard insert might double as an antenna for the U1 chip, which enables Find My support.

All in all, there are not too many surprises with the internals of the new AirPods Pro and case, which both remain environmentally unfriendly. The new AirPods Pro launched last Friday and are priced at $249 in the United States.

Article Link: AirPods Pro 2 Teardown Provides Inside Look at Earbuds and Charging Case

 

[Angel Martin]

This guy seems pretty objective and level headed. Refreshing.

 

[acctman]

Not shocked, they’d have to be more bulky to be repairable

 

[aloyouis]

iFixit has become so biased that they are unwatchable thereby undermining their own purpose.

All this "hit piece" tells us is that Apple built the AirPods to the highest degree of performance and reliability they could and THAT is my primary concern.

I can recycle them when the life of the AirPods is over. I don't need condescending BS from them now.

I wasted 2 minutes watching that hot garbage.

PS: He damn near blew his own fingers off. What an idiot.

 

[Mailia]

Not shocked, they’d have to be more bulky to be repairable

Or so Apple wants you to believe. Both the Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds and charging case are repairable and they don't meet my definition of "bulky".

https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/...flagship-earbuds-in-this-exhaustive-teardown/

 

[AppleFan360]

Honestly I don’t really care, if you want repairability, don’t buy them and vote with your wallet, if you are worried about the landfills, then stop throwing away your Starbucks cups

 

[CarAnalogy]

You can give them back to Apple to be recycled, even traded in like everything else I assume. You don’t have to actually throw them in the garbage. What Apple actually does with it then I don’t know, but presumably it keeps the battery and heavy metals out of the landfill.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Or so Apple wants you to believe. Both the Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds and charging case are repairable and they don't meet my definition of "bulky".

https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/...flagship-earbuds-in-this-exhaustive-teardown/

Personally I like that the AirPods Pro have a stem, I don’t like the entirely in ear form factor. Whether they could be made repairable in the current form factor, I don’t know. I do think those look kind of bulky. Probably at least the same weight as AirPods but more centered in the ear hole.

 

[cateye]

I’ll never understand how those of us in the teeny tiny minority that have an interest in the inner workings of electronics and knowledge of industrial design and production life cycles are so threatening to those who see Apple products as precious little jewels.

Tear it all apart. Hack what’s left. Electronics are cool.

 

[CarAnalogy]

OK after watching the video I gotta say this does not meet the usual iFixit standards. I don’t think carving a frowny face and cutting the case open right above the battery is exactly Apple’s recommended method.

Usually these guys sound like experts but this time the thing was torn apart like an ape.

I don’t actually take his word for it that these are completely unrepairable based on this, because I don’t think he did a good job in this case.

He also seemed pretty biased from the start that the whole thing was an environmental disaster.

 

[erikkfi]

But I've been told that Apple cares deeply about the environment and it affects everything they do.

 

[SanderEvers]

Or so Apple wants you to believe. Both the Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds and charging case are repairable and they don't meet my definition of "bulky".

https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/...flagship-earbuds-in-this-exhaustive-teardown/

However they are a lot bulkier than the AirPods Pro.

 

[Eldaerenth Faexidor]

Pretty biased and terrible background music. Lol.

 

[GMShadow]

I’ll never understand how those of us in the teeny tiny minority that have an interest in the inner workings of electronics and knowledge of industrial design and production life cycles are so threatening to those who see Apple products as precious little jewels.

Tear it all apart. Hack what’s left. Electronics are cool.

iFixit pretends to be consumer advocates when their entire interest in the matter has to do with the future of their own business. They don't care if a user buys their stuff to save a few bucks and then breaks their device - they got the sale, and that's *all* that matters.

OK after watching the video I gotta say this does not meet the usual iFixit standards. I don’t think carving a frowny face and cutting the case open right above the battery is exactly Apple’s recommended method.

Usually these guys sound like experts but this time the thing was torn apart like an ape.

I don’t actually take his word for it that these are completely unrepairable based on this, because I don’t think he did a good job in this case.

He also seemed pretty biased from the start that the whole thing was an environmental disaster.

Indeed, they've become insufferable of late. No objectivity, just APPLE BAD on everything related.

I'm glad others are moving into this space.

 

[needsomecoffee]

Once again: Two product lines. Uncompromised new/shiny (Airpods), designed for reuse (Fairphone version). They have bought back nearly $1Trillion in stock the last few years, yet cannot seem to justify providing users who care the option of trading size/features for easy repairability. Again: Two product lines please.

 

[bmustaf]

While I do agree that large companies (esp those with cultural influence like Apple) have some level of duty to "guide the market by the nose" into things they don't want, we've chosen (at least in the US and most of the Western world) to canonize the "market" as the arbiter of what is right and good. In this system (not saying it is good or bad, it simply is factual) the consumer has spoken.

Overwhelmingly, when it comes to putting down the cash (e.g. not what people SAY but what people actually DO), consumers actually don't care en masse about the environment, repairability, or anything but "is it new, shiny, sexy, and 'better'?". That is *all* they care about, and Apple has learned that and has gone after that successfully with a very nice greenwashed campaign about recycling/recycled materials. But is that really Apple's fault or that of the consumer?

NOTHING will change until consumers demand it with their buying behavior, and until we decide that we want to regulate companies and demand they create (by law) repairable or ecologically sound products OR we, as consumers, as willing to pay 2-10x the price for goods to be TRULY sustainable and repairable, this is what we will get. And we have only ourselves and our fellow consumer to blame.

 

[FlavorfulTreat]

iFixit pretends to be consumer advocates when their entire interest in the matter has to do with the future of their own business. They don't care if a user buys their stuff to save a few bucks and then breaks their device - they got the sale, and that's *all* that matters.



Indeed, they've become insufferable of late. No objectivity, just APPLE BAD on everything related.

I'm glad others are moving into this space.

Interesting take.

I've used iFixit kits and tools to reuse several old iPhone 6 & 7s as Sonos controllers, or entry level devices for internet only use.

Should all products be user serviceable? Probably not. But it does feel like Apple marketing is talking out both sides of their mouths about environmental conscienceness and profits. But hey, this is America, right? Profits mean the most.

 

[cateye]

iFixit pretends to be consumer advocates when their entire interest in the matter has to do with the future of their own business. They don't care if a user buys their stuff to save a few bucks and then breaks their device - they got the sale, and that's *all* that matters.

Why should they care? Repairing any device, whether electronics, your car, an appliance, whatever, can be a complex process fraught with potential pitfalls. Failing is how you learn. Stuff has to be broken in order to understand how to alter your approach and proceed more carefully and thoughtfully the next time. Experiment, evaluate, refine, succeed.

This obsession with safety and handrails and being molly-coddled throughout a process is just absurd. It's no one's responsibility but your own if you break something trying to fix it, but the victory, and the knowledge that comes from it, is yours alone too if you succeed.

To own something is to accept this responsibility. We should own more things. My interest in carrying water for Apple's thoughts on what I should do with their products ends when I walk out of the Apple Store.

 

[FreedomPenguin]

I honestly don’t care about repairability on these apple wearables. I mean who really cares? Just buy a new one on sale.

Idc about dumpster fires either. Whatever, wish they’d quit trying to make apple a bad guy. You’re stupid if you buy items like this thinking oh how I wish I can tear about this super advanced compact piece of technology to repair it.

Money is time, isn’t worth effort. Kudos on apple for such a great product yet again.

Propaganda

 

[Brandon42]

I don’t own any wireless earbuds yet because of their short lifespan relative to their cost. Even my wired EarPods last more than a few years before the wire or connector fails. There are rechargeable tiny button cell batteries out there. If AirPods used those, they’d have my purchase in moments.

 

[mikethemartian]

Honestly I don’t really care, if you want repairability, don’t buy them and vote with your wallet, if you are worried about the landfills, then stop throwing away your Starbucks cups

Tim Cook is the one that claims Apple cares about the environment.

 

[FreedomPenguin]

Tim Cook is the one that claims Apple cares about the environment.

He can hire more people to build bigger landfills

 

[evertjr]

This is by far the worst ifixit video I've seen, he just dismissed the entire product and the engineering marvel inside it because some weird ideology. When was the last time earbuds was user fixable? NEVER. At least these last a good 2/3 years before the battery starts to age with no risk of cables breaking in a month. I expected a good in depth analysis of the components inside and what changed from last gen and how it fixed its issues. This was an embarrassment and useless video.

 

[mikethemartian]

There are people recycling old AirPods but it isn’t Apple:

A Wireless Speaker Pair From Dead Earbuds

Building a Bluetooth speaker is easy with the availability of cheap Bluetooth receivers, but surprisingly there isn’t a simple way to build a pair of truly wireless stereo speakers. [Matt] fr…

hackaday.com

 

[Villarrealadrian]

But… but… but… Apple says they are green!!