Apple’s AirPods 5 have replaceable batteries in the earbuds, but the charging case remains inaccessible even with the best tools available. Here’s how iFixit fared in its latest teardown.
The AirPods line has always been a thorn in Apple’s side, at least when it comes to environmental responsibility. These earbuds and charging case have always been irreparable hunks of plastic destined for a garbage dump at the end of their short life.
However, iFixit has discovered a small glimmer of hope in the AirPods 5. The long-running repairability score for AirPods has been zero, until the latest model received a slight bump to two.
The charging case is still impossible to access, so there’s no saving that no matter how skilled you are with a knife and heat gun. The improved score is owed entirely to a change in the earbuds.
When properly clamped with a bit of heat, a technician can remove the earbud’s outer cover and expose the battery. That battery comes free from a bit of glue, and is attached via two prongs.
Each earbud has an opposite polarity battery, so the batteries aren’t interchangeable between the earbuds. At the least, it seems users can save their earbuds from the garbage with a battery swap.
The charging case has a larger battery, so it theoretically will take longer to reach end-of-life. However, when that happens, the owner has no choice but to buy a new charging case or a whole new set of AirPods.
Out of all of Apple’s products, AirPods are the ones that are consistently the worst for repairability. If Apple wants to reach its goals for Apple 2030 and reduce waste, getting more repairable products to the consumer has to be a priority.
Perhaps Apple will learn how to introduce a more repairable charging case in AirPods Pro 4. Until then, expect to have to buy a whole new pair of AirPods every two to three years as the batteries age and die.
This story originally appeared on Appleinsider
