AirPods Pro 3 Impossible to Repair, Earn Score of 0 in iFixit Teardown

[Zest28]

Has anyone ever guessed at the margin Apple has on these? I find it hard to imagine that they even cost Apple $20, but they charge over $200.

Go ahead, make an ANC earbuds for $200 that is the same quality as the AirPods Pro 3. And let's assume you make minimum wage at $19/hour, and you can hire other people at a minimum wage of $19/hour too.

I'll wait.

It will probably some Frankenstein earbuds that sounds worse than a $1 earbud from Alibaba with an ANC that doesn't even work.

 

[CATiNTHESTORE]

Sony WH-1000XM ish headphones you only need

 

[artifex]

I wonder if the manufacturer should be obliged to buy back used electronic equipment for a certain percentage of its original value and recycle it if they are unable or refuse to repair it.

I wouldn't expect them to buy them back after the warranty period, just be required to accept them, because for a lot of these devices the costs to safely recycle far exceed the actual residual value of the materials. I also don't think consumers would be willing to accept the equivalent of a "core charge" every time they buy a new device, to ensure they eventually brought the device back in for recycling and a rebate instead of throwing it in the trash.

 

[philstubbington]

I'm curious how many people actually throw electronics away. Don't they just end up in a junk drawer?

Cables definitely do - until there’s not a single lightning device left in the house. Our junk drawer otherwise is mostly non-LED lightbulbs 😂

 

[cjsuk]

I think I paid about $500 on sale for my Bulova. That was around 2007, and it's still going strong. Same for my wife's Bulova purchased a few years later.

I bought a Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 in 2020 for about $200. It died about a year ago. It was a fun experiment, but I didn't see much value in the smart watch concept. For example, I don't need or want to track my pulse or sleep, and my iPhone tracks my steps close enough.

YMMV.

I've got an F91-W I bought around then for $10 that still works.

As for the Samsung, yeah forget it. General problem with Samsung products is the 18 month lifespan. You got a bit of luck there.

I've had an S5, S7, S9, S10 watches (mostly free with healthcare plan). They are all still working fine (handed down to family members).

 

[djgamble]

Very much expected this outcome. Airpods are basically consumable devices and once the battery runs out it's time for the next set.

To be fair, I’m totally pro-repair, but this is a pretty silly example.

It’s almost like saying a tennis ball isn’t repairable and Dunlop’s evil for not making them serviceable. The whole point is they’re sealed and disposable by nature. You get solid usage for the price, and when they’re done, they’re done. If that bothers you, the real option is not to play tennis (or in this case not buy wireless earbuds) in the first place.

Meanwhile my Audio-Technicas are cheaper, sound better, run forever without batteries and can actually be repaired. Did we really need a teardown and a 5000-word essay to teach us this?

 

[maszaikasza]

I wouldn't expect them to buy them back after the warranty period, just be required to accept them, because for a lot of these devices the costs to safely recycle far exceed the actual residual value of the materials. I also don't think consumers would be willing to accept the equivalent of a "core charge" every time they buy a new device, to ensure they eventually brought the device back in for recycling and a rebate instead of throwing it in the trash.

Yeah, sure, a law like that would have a lot of loopholes. It was just an idea to push manufacturers to design products so that you can at least repair the component that you know will eventually need to be replaced - the battery, to be clear. I think Ternus was right when he said it’s better to have a device that doesn’t need repairs than one that can be repaired but breaks often but with this battery technology it's simply impossible. I switched from AirPods Pro 1 to Gen 3, but honestly, if I could replace the battery, I would have used the old ones for another year or two. For the price, that’s how it should be.

 

[Andyvydna]

Always been that way. I don't know that it's ever been realistic to replace the battery in any wireless earbuds

Happy to report that I successfully replaced the batteries in my Sony WF-1000XM3 using an ifixit guide only last month! Cost me ~$10 and 30 minutes of time and I genuinely couldn’t believe how easy it was to do! Just proves that this can be possible, if the design takes this into account

 

[Kidseeghost]

I love my Airpods. Yes probably it cost Apple almost nothing to make them and they tricked us to spend almost 300 on earbuds. But its the best new product category of Apple in the last 10 years. I don’t expect such a small device to be repairable. It’s difficult to achieve it. One thing I hate. Its annoying how many devices we have to charge this day and baby sit the batteries. Its a a trade off. Having cords or having a battery. Sometimes I miss just grabbing my 20 something wired earbuds without worrying about battery life or damages.

 

[SBlue1]

So all AirPods basically become landfill unless they’re passed on/re-sold? Yikes.

The battery dies after a few years so you won't pass them on. My case just died a few months ago and I was torn between buying a new replacement case and buying a used one. Since I expected one of the buds to die soon as well I just stopped using them.

 

[Rachid Vàzquez]

When you have such a complex and miniaturized technology in a small device, this will happen.

Tiny doesn’t necessarily mean complex : did you see the teardown? Nothing groundbreaking in here...
Fairbuds manage it just fine, even Samsung and Sony do, so why not Apple?

 

[AngstyKylo]

Always been that way. I don't know that it's ever been realistic to replace the battery in any wireless earbuds

Not really I still have a pair of the sony wf-1000xm3s. Can replace the batteries yourself relatively easily for like £10-20 and they're brand new again. I imagine they're not as waterproof as the new Airpods, but they're working flawlessly after 6 years. Apple and other companies could definitely implement this but that would be bonkers when people will happily rent a new pair every 2-3 years.

 

[The Game 161]

so get apple care

 

[turbineseaplane]

Anyone catch the ATP conversation live yesterday about these?

Sounds like they are no go for Marco as they are physically larger and deeper in the year and painful for him to use after a while.

Obviously fit is subjective, but it’s depressing overall knowing that Apple have discontinued the AirPods Pro 2 which might simply work better for a lot of people’s ears.

Apple really need multiple versions of a given AirPod product to accommodate different ears better.

Tips alone don’t do it.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Cables definitely do - until there’s not a single lightning device left in the house. Our junk drawer otherwise is mostly non-LED lightbulbs 😂

Ha - all our non-LED lightbulbs went into the boxes that the LED lightbulbs came in. And then I don't remember where they went. That was two houses ago... we definitely didn't bother bringing them with us when we moved... not sure if we just left them in the basement for the next owners to have (along with the paint cans that come free with every house ever) or if we threw them away at that point...

 

[roguegeek]

Oh weird. Apple is being anti-consumer and ignoring the right to repair? Shocking. Designing products to be disposable is not innovation. It is corporate greed dressed up as “progress.” Repair access is essential. It is the only way to stop companies from locking us out, draining our wallets, and trashing the planet. And if you are siding with this being a consumable product, then you are part of the problem.

 

[VulchR]

Batteries in hearing aids can be replaced. The argument that this cannot be done for AirPods seems a little complacent if you ask me. Have the acoustic driver in the ear bud and the battery in the stem that can be screwed off to be replaced. Have a door on the battery case that allows its battery to be swapped out. You'd think Apple would have learned by now that unrepairable systems don't go down well with consumers.

My AirPods 2 are failing and I need to replace them. It irks to be replacing a disposable device with another disposable device. Apple did an amazing job with designing the AirPods initially, but they need to go an additional step. Glue is hardly cutting edge tech. Precision manufacturing is.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Batteries in hearing aids can be replaced. The argument that this cannot be done for AirPods seems a little complacent if you ask me. Have the acoustic driver in the ear bud and the battery in the stem that can be screwed off to be replaced. Have a door on the battery case that allows its battery to be swapped out. You'd think Apple would have learned by now that unrepairable systems don't go down well with consumers.

My AirPods 2 are failing and I need to replace them. It irks to be replacing a disposable device with another disposable device. Apple did an amazing job with designing the AirPods initially, but they need to go an additional step. Glue is hardly cutting edge tech. Precision manufacturing is.

The Fairbuds figured it out

(posted about it in here earlier)

Apple could absolutely design something more sustainable if they wanted to.

 

[philstubbington]

Ha - all our non-LED lightbulbs went into the boxes that the LED lightbulbs came in. And then I don't remember where they went. That was two houses ago... we definitely didn't bother bringing them with us when we moved... not sure if we just left them in the basement for the next owners to have (along with the paint cans that come free with every house ever) or if we threw them away at that point...

On the cable front I’m glad I’ve labelled the one for the Logitech Harmony remote - it’s a standard USB cable (micro I think) but I don’t have another that’s quite as compact to fit that remote.

 

[Phogro]

To be fair, I’m totally pro-repair, but this is a pretty silly example.

It’s almost like saying a tennis ball isn’t repairable and Dunlop’s evil for not making them serviceable. The whole point is they’re sealed and disposable by nature. You get solid usage for the price, and when they’re done, they’re done. If that bothers you, the real option is not to play tennis (or in this case not buy wireless earbuds) in the first place.

Meanwhile my Audio-Technicas are cheaper, sound better, run forever without batteries and can actually be repaired. Did we really need a teardown and a 5000-word essay to teach us this?

Yeah I agree which is why I said I'm not surprised by the article. These devices are designed to be consumable, not repaired.

 

[W2u7Yw4HaD]

For all these people who keep claiming it can't be repaired, or it would add bulk to the size, etc. I think there is a disconnect here from reality. Consider Swiss watches with even smaller components which can be repaired. I also don't think that would add the to the bulk. If the AirPods were 2k or 8k in cost, you can bet they would make them repairable (like watches) but that isn't the case. It's really a cost saving measure to be honest. Adding those extra tiny screws would add cost to the whole device for sure, and likely doesn't make sense at the $200 price point. But if they improved the design further, there is no question it could be made to be repaired.

Heck, there is a guy in Czech Republic who makes shoes for fleas. See here: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20170331-where-fleas-wear-shoes