Apple Finally Made AirPods Repairable… Sort Of
iFixit's teardown of the fifth-generation AirPods reveals that the earbuds are now slightly more repairable due to a socketed battery design. However, the charging case remains difficult to open without destruction, keeping the overall repairability score low.
Why it matters
This highlights the ongoing tension between consumer electronics manufacturers and the right-to-repair movement, particularly regarding non-replaceable batteries and e-waste.
It’s been true for a while now that Apple’s AirPods have been effectively disposable, with [iFixit] slapping each successive generation with an abysmal 0/10 repairability score. The moment that any of the built-in batteries faltered you could effectively toss the whole package out as e-waste.
Interestingly, with the fifth generation it would seem that a battery swap in the earbuds is now actually possible without whole-scale destruction, according to the [iFixit] teardown video .
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