Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/31/whats-inside-the-airpods-pro.html
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… And they still look stupid, to boot.
… and for this you’ve got to pay $250? A bargain, I’m sure.
Although I detest Apple’s current mania for thinness and making things unrepairable by design, in this case I don’t see how they could have designed these to be user serviceable.
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Not a chance I’d ever use these low-fi bluetooth monstrosities even if I wasn’t an Android user. 3.5mm hard wired jack for my IEMs, baby!
I can understand the guts of the thing being non-repairable; but assembling it with a non-replaceable battery that will have an unacceptably short life within 2-3 years just seems…WRONG.
I look at these things and just see mountains of expensive e-waste.
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This is flagrant false advertising. There’s barely room for any air in those pods!
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I can’t for the life of me understand how these could stay in your ears. I would lose one in ten minutes or less.
I use non-repairable Bluetooth headphones that cost around $25, which is great because I’m on my third set in a year. I either break them or get them thieved from my car. Or both.
This is why I can’t have nice things.
I completely agree. The unreplacable battery is a cruel joke.
Apple will replace the battery for a fee. Just need to decide on your TCO depending on how often you use your pods and include the cost to replace the batteries once in a 4-6 year lifespan of the devices (or twice for a 6-9 year lifespan).
Since for me, headphone purchases are one part aesthetic, one part sound quality, one part convenience (wireless vs wired), it’s really just about doing the TCO math against those three factors. Either it’s worth the money or it isn’t. But I certainly don’t see it as any more a source of “e-waste” than most other wireless headset options in that sense.
Here’s the rub, though: according to WaPo, they don’t replace the battery. They recycle the old ones, and effectively give you a discounted pair. Thus my e-waste comment. And honestly, many other wireless headphones are probably managed in the same problematic way.
“What makes AirPods so different? Because Apple’s “battery service” for AirPods is code for “throwing it away.” Apple isn’t repairing AirPods — it’s just replacing the ear buds and recycling your old ones.”
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