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

[TeamMojo]

Once again, iFixit is trying to dictate how Apple builds products. It's worth noting for the Airpods themselves, it's likely impossible to make an AirPod that is both small, waterproof and with a completely replaceable battery. As for the case, it's probably possible to create a waterproof access hatch to allow for the replacement of the battery, but at what cost? And is that reasonable given the lifespan of the battery/device for most users. For example, I have the AirPods Pro that I bought 2 years ago in 2020. They are still working great and I use and charge them every day. Likely the biggest reason I will replace them is just an upgrade to get new features in newer models. And Apple will be more than happy to recycle them in return for a small credit. Or I can hand them down to a family member and run them likely for several more years. Will there come a day when the batteries no longer charge well? Yes of course. But I'm guessing that will be right around the time that they are no longer viable from a feature standpoint.

But the whole notion that Apple has an absolute obligation to engineer for this, versus the tradeoffs that would otherwise keep the device lower cost and more waterproof or otherwise is simply absurd. If you want to buy a product just so you can make sure you can take it apart, seek other alternatives. No one is forcing you to buy Apple products.

And as many others have noted, iFixit has an extreme conflict of interest in that they profit from reparability of any device where they can then sell parts and tools to that end.

 

[antnythr]

Too many people here getting so defensive and rushing to defend Apple like it's their entire personality. Gross.

 

[JKAussieSkater]

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.

Of course, performance and reliability is every consumer's primary concern; however, post-life management should be seriously considered as (at least) a secondary concern… i.e. the efforts required to prevent e-waste pollution. Clearly, you don't consider this important at all, which is part of the problem if society aligns with this disregard for environmental stewardship.

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.

Maybe you watched the video, but I think you also need to listen to it. They explained (if not proved) how the AirPods are essentially impossible to recycle... so, no, you actually can not recycle them when the life of your AirPods are over, unfortunately.

 

[JKAussieSkater]

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.

If iFixit can't fix it, then nobody can fix it. Profitability doesn't change that iFixit's interests are consumer's interests too. So this "bias" people claim is ill-justified.

Just to be very clear on this, if iFixit can fix it, then consumer's don't even need to buy iFixit parts to fix it, they can buy the parts from Apple, or another repair parts supplier. So again, iFixit's interests align with consumer interests.

 

[GMShadow]

If iFixit can't fix it, then nobody can fix it. Profitability doesn't change that iFixit's interests are consumer's interests too. So this "bias" people claim is ill-justified.

Just to be very clear on this, if iFixit can fix it, then consumer's don't even need to buy iFixit parts to fix it, they can buy the parts from Apple, or another repair parts supplier. So again, iFixit's interests align with consumer interests.

Right. Keep telling yourself that.

 

[FreedomPenguin]

At the US current rate of consumption all the trash we create for the next 1000 years will fit in 50 sq miles of landfills. Small price to pay… Texas has plenty of desert not being used for anything else.

Amen.
They take less space than a McNugget box
Couldn’t care less about trashing and rebuying

You guys are simply virtue signaling, it isn’t economical. Stop crying about it. It isn’t worth effort to repair

 

[_Spinn_]

Another great teardown video!

 

[AngelYaDig]

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/

What are you talking about? That thing is massive. It’s literally a baseball in his ear.

 

[Analog Kid]

Clearly, you don't consider this important at all, which is part of the problem if society aligns with this disregard for environmental stewardship.

I think you're taking the simple "if I can open it up and repair it, it's less waste in the world" view. I think that argument needs to be supported. Things that can be opened tend to break easier. Unqualified people tend to break things more. Being able to replace my Samsung screen through iFixit is probably not a net win for the planet when I get it individually wrapped and delivered by next day air shipping.

So again-- what's the environmental cost of the current Airpods. What's the environmental cost of Airpods you as an individual can "repair"? What is the environmental cost of Apple repairing or replacing/recycling? What is the environmental cost of an individual repairing? What fraction of individuals will follow through and recycle the repaired components? What is the failure rate of the current Airpods? What is the failure rate of the "repairable" Airpods? What is the failure rate of the Apple repair process? What is the failure rate of individual repairs? What is the environmental cost of bringing your Airpods in for repair? What is the environmental cost of having individually wrapped parts delivered to your home or small volume vendor?

This is not a simple calculation and it's not at all clear to me that the alternate universe you're asking for is any better for the planet.

Maybe you watched the video, but I think you also need to listen to it. They explained (if not proved) how the AirPods are essentially impossible to recycle... so, no, you actually can not recycle them when the life of your AirPods are over, unfortunately.

They did nothing of the sort. They crushed the AirPods in a vice and complained for 3 minutes straight. I see nothing that says the critical materials can't be recycled.

If iFixit can't fix it, then nobody can fix it.

???!
Did you see their technique? They didn't even really try... Did you see them open the AW Ultra? You don't think Apple can repair that watch?


I used to at least enjoy seeing what's inside the products, but iFixit spends much less time detailing that and deep diving on designs now, and just produce emotional impact videos like this.

 

[applepotato666]

Despite my opinion that e-waste shouldn’t be on sale, AirPods are pretty easy - don’t buy them.
I hate the ‘don’t buy it’ argument with Apple because it’s all so obviously designed to lock you in. But you can use a more repairable pair of earbuds with your phone and have them do exactly the same thing. Or better yet go with a good quality wired pair that can last you many, many years like a product in this price class for something so small and cheap to make should for that price.

To me, €300 for a pair of earbuds that craps out in 2 years due to a design where the battery can’t be swapped is absolutely crazy. I was gifted mine by my boss, but I’d never buy that myself. I see the appeal, but using a different brand here won’t impact you much if at all.

The ‘they don’t take much space so they don’t pollute’ argument is not valid. Production of them pollutes water and releases great amounts of CO2 and chemical waste.

People’s expectations towards the Apple brand are totally different than expectations towards other brands because of how Apple is positioning themselves on the market from the start. A brand positioned like that will face lots of scrutiny. But that positioning helps them keep prices up because of a strong brand image and when the practices don’t match up the image you get distrust from people.

 

[citysnaps]

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

If people here stood up and did that there would be nothing to complain about. Much easier to do nothing and have a good whine to feel better.

 

[aloyouis]

I think you're taking the simple "if I can open it up and replace the battery, it's less waste in the world" view. I think that argument needs to be supported. Things that can be opened tend to break easier. Unqualified people tend to break things more. Being able to replace my Samsung screen through iFixit is probably not a net win for the planet when I get it individually wrapped and delivered by next day air shipping.

So again-- what's the environmental cost of the current Airpods. What's the environmental cost of Airpods you as an individual can "repair"? What is the environmental cost of Apple repairing or replacing/recycling? What is the environmental cost of an individual repairing? What fraction of individuals will follow through and recycle the repaired components? What is the failure rate of the current Airpods? What is the failure rate of the "repairable" Airpods? What is the failure rate of the Apple repair process? What is the failure rate of individual repairs? What is the environmental cost of bringing your Airpods in for repair? What is the environmental cost of having individually wrapped parts delivered to your home or small volume vendor?

This is not a simple calculation and it's not at all clear to me that the alternate universe you're asking for is any better for the planet.


They did nothing of the sort. They crushed the AirPods in a vice and complained for 3 minutes straight. I see nothing that says the critical materials can't be recycled.


???!
Did you see their technique? They didn't even really try... Did you see them open the AW Ultra? You don't think Apple can repair that watch?


I used to at least enjoy seeing what's inside the products, but iFixit spends much less time detailing that and deep diving on designs now, and just produce emotional impact videos like this.

100%

Great post.

 

[bmustaf]

The first two paragraphs were fine.

The third is where you went off the rails and contradict/reveal yourself.

Which is it?

• Market to decide via spending habits?
• Governmental overlord deciding for the market via over arching "legislation"?

Seems clear you really want to decide for everyone else via your government.

I did not propose a solution, I merely suggested "if we decide" (e.g. by a vote) and the like what the various possible paths maybe, so where you get off saying "Seems clear you really want to decide for everyone else via your government" is just a personal projection? Because I don't feel that way.

What do I think? Like everything else, there's a middle ground. We shouldn't rush to intervention or regulation, but if enough voters want to see their country/state a certain way, they can vote.

At both extrema, you have issues.

Because when oligarchies or monopolies rule, consumer spending power is largely powerless because you don't have a reasonable alternative and "doing without" is worse than "doing with suboptimal" (e.g. if you only have one grocery store in your town and it sucks, well, chances are you will patronize it and they have no incentive when you cannot drive the 1-2 hrs to the next town to the better one).

But, when you have the opposite extreme (too much government intervention) you have things that range from tyranny to what we have the US: the government is basically an extension of private industry and regulates in their favor, creating a functional tyranny in a different way: where in the US people think because we all run around with enough weapons to stop a small developing nation's army we are somehow "free". Which is somewhat true when compared to brutal totalitarian regimes, sure (way better than North Korea, China if you're a Uygar, etc, etc), but that's setting the bar pretty low. Most Americans are stuck in a low-wage and high-debt situation which is only partially explainable by "bad personal choices" (many do exactly this and they get what they deserve, no doubt), but the issue is much more complex than just "lazy people" who "don't want to work hard"...plenty of people work hard, make "all the right choices" but end up in de facto economic servitude until "retirement age" and then live hand to mouth on paltry savings, retirement, or social "security". Is that "freedom"? Depends...but that's not the values this country was founded on as far as I am concerned.

But, I diverge from the point: I don't and haven't proposed a solution. Government regulation is only one if the voters of our country (and others) really want to see tougher truth-in-advertising laws or sustainability laws. But right now, we don't have those, good or bad, I won't say.

 

[aloyouis]

I did not propose a solution, I merely suggested "if we decide" (e.g. by a vote) and the like what the various possible paths maybe, so where you get off saying "Seems clear you really want to decide for everyone else via your government" is just a personal projection? Because I don't feel that way.

What do I think? Like everything else, there's a middle ground. We shouldn't rush to intervention or regulation, but if enough voters want to see their country/state a certain way, they can vote.

At both extrema, you have issues.

Because when oligarchies or monopolies rule, consumer spending power is largely powerless because you don't have a reasonable alternative and "doing without" is worse than "doing with suboptimal" (e.g. if you only have one grocery store in your town and it sucks, well, chances are you will patronize it and they have no incentive when you cannot drive the 1-2 hrs to the next town to the better one).

But, when you have the opposite extreme (too much government intervention) you have things that range from tyranny to what we have the US: the government is basically an extension of private industry and regulates in their favor, creating a functional tyranny in a different way: where in the US people think because we all run around with enough weapons to stop a small developing nation's army we are somehow "free". Which is somewhat true when compared to brutal totalitarian regimes, sure (way better than North Korea, China if you're a Uygar, etc, etc), but that's setting the bar pretty low. Most Americans are stuck in a low-wage and high-debt situation which is only partially explainable by "bad personal choices" (many do exactly this and they get what they deserve, no doubt), but the issue is much more complex than just "lazy people" who "don't want to work hard"...plenty of people work hard, make "all the right choices" but end up in de facto economic servitude until "retirement age" and then live hand to mouth on paltry savings, retirement, or social "security". Is that "freedom"? Depends...but that's not the values this country was founded on as far as I am concerned.

But, I diverge from the point: I don't and haven't proposed a solution. Government regulation is only one if the voters of our country (and others) really want to see tougher truth-in-advertising laws or sustainability laws. But right now, we don't have those, good or bad, I won't say.

That is a lot of words trying to deny you said this:

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...

Do you wish to change what you stated? It is okay if you want to change it now that I have highlighted it.

 

[notabadname]

Repairability of something like AirPods - irrelevant. The tradeoffs in form for something so tiny, as well as the capacity constraints of a readily replaceable battery, would create it’s own issue of “waste”. Yes, being able to replace an iPhone battery matters, but the internals of the charging case or the airpods, does not. These guys are tiring in their preachiness. Do you need to destroy these items (which clearly are designed to NOT be disassembled) to show they can’t be non-destructively disassembled? It’s like tearing apart laptop’s sealed lithium ion battery pack to show you can’t service it. No sh&#. Maybe they should police their own environmental waste and impact.

 

[svish]

Good to see the internals of the new Airpods. Good video.

 

[JKAussieSkater]

I think you're taking the simple "if I can open it up and replace the battery, it's less waste in the world" view.

I don't know how you got that impression, but let me be clear: I'm taking the simple view of "if I can open it up and repair it, it's less waste in the world."

 

[Analog Kid]

I don't know how you got that impression, but let me be clear: I'm taking the simple view of "if I can open it up and repair it, it's less waste in the world."

I've edited my original post accordingly. None of the rest of my point changes. Your view needs to be supported, it's not self evident.

 

[bmustaf]

That is a lot of words trying to deny you said this:

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...

Do you wish to change what you stated? It is okay if you want to change it now that I have highlighted it.

Exactly: “until we decide”. Not me. Not I. Not you. Democracy.

Put it in bold red type if it makes you feel better or that you’re not putting words in my mouth.

I’m merely discussing what reality is for those who want to complain about Apple’s greenwashing and faux ecology talk track are and the various paths/options ahead.

But, sure, keep telling me what I said! This sure sounds like more of a “I want to pick a fight about political beliefs I think someone had that I just want to disagree with” than a conversation of value.

You’ve made a whole lot assumptions and judgments about someone you’ve never met on some very brief and misconstrued words, but, sure, keep going, I’ll hold your beer!

 

[cult hero]

Apple is such a greenwash job.

I mean, their environmental policies always strike me more as marketing than anything substantial. And it's a shame too because there's no reason that can't do a much better job here. They're just so damn hostile to repair these days.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. Notice which one is last. And it really should be reduce, reuse, repair, recycle.

 

[D-a-a-n]

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.

Don't look up.

 

[femike]

Apple removed the headphone jack to they can sell you their bluetooth earbuds. They are making more profit from these than selling wired earbuds. Because of the nature of BT earbuds, people want them small, waterproof, and drop resistant and good battery life. So Apple seals them up, and compacts it tightly internally. Unfortunately after a few years they are disposed of. And amazingly, most of the same people who advocated the removal of the headphone jack are buying these things. I guess, environment be damned, they voted with their money.

 

[D-a-a-n]

You, or anybody else, having an interest is no threat to anyone else, surely not me. If you want to try to disassemble your stuff, feel free.

If you are going to do it and post a snarky and unprofessional video of it that is completely biased due to other reasons (green agenda perhaps) other than your stated interest above expect ridicule.

But by all means, have your interests. Don't care.

How is showcasing bad design part of a 'green agenda', not everything is part of a conspiracy you know...
On a sidenote, what's wrong with 'a green agenda'? Oh, you want more tropical storms, droughts,...?

 

[aloyouis]

How is showcasing bad design part of a 'green agenda', not everything is part of a conspiracy you know...
On a sidenote, what's wrong with 'a green agenda'? Oh, you want more tropical storms, droughts,...?

That isn't what he was doing. The design is excellent for the millions and millions of us that buy and use them. He doesn't like is because it doesn't meet his non-functionality demands (green).

He was clear.

 

[hans1972]

If that really was true, they wouldn’t release a product like this because it wouldn’t have passed their requirements for environmentally responsible design. Whether the current form factor allows it or not doesn’t matter - if they cared and this form factor didn’t allow repairability they wouldn’t have released these.

You're assuming repairability gives less carbon footprint than just producing a new unit. That's not always true and especially with such a small and light product as AirPod.