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AirPods Pro 3 Impossible To Repair, Earn Score of 0 In iFixit Teardown (macrumors.com) 77

Posted by BeauHD from the environmentally-unfriendly dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MacRumors: iFixit today disassembled the AirPods Pro 3, giving us a look at what's inside and how the AirPods Pro 3 have changed in comparison to the AirPods Pro 2. [...] To get a look at other components inside the AirPods Pro 3, iFixit essentially had to destroy them because Apple didn't design them to be repaired. Since the first version of the AirPods launched, they've included a battery that is sealed shut with glue, and that hasn't changed with the AirPods Pro 3. iFixit says battery replacements are so difficult that many repair shops won't even attempt to do it. The AirPods Pro Charging Case has the same glued-in battery.

There's no way to attempt a battery repair without causing blemishes on the plastic of the earbuds and the casing, because they have to be pried open. Heat needs to be used to melt the adhesive, and there's no easy way to disconnect the flex cable that's inside each earbud. With the need for specialized equipment and the inability to repair the earbuds and the case without causing damage, the AirPods Pro 3 earned a 0 out of 10 repairability score from iFixit.

AirPods Pro 3 Impossible To Repair, Earn Score of 0 In iFixit Teardown More | Reply

AirPods Pro 3 Impossible To Repair, Earn Score of 0 In iFixit Teardown

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  • The idea of a 'wireless' speaker set for humans that have two ears is Dumb.

    No reason not to connect the two pods - minimal weight increase, reduces chance of losing them, makes it easier to charge a battery.

    Oh, and their small size means bad sound quality. I wear clunky large headphones because they a sound quality so much better that even I can easily tell the difference.

    About the only advantage of that stupid, idiotic product is the fact that they are so bad at blocking outside sound you can wear them on

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      But that makes no sense to me. Why would you want that?

      ..eep!

      • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

        by gurps_npc ( 621217 )

        Exactly. do not be the dumb ass that thinks eh, I can hear well enough.

        When you wear headphones, do it safely. Do not think hey this is good enough for me to walk around and get hit by a car.

        If you wear headphones, do it where you can sit down and enjoy the music/podcast/whatever.

    • It's called "situational awareness", and it is a good thing when you are out in public.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by gurps_npc ( 621217 )

        No. Situational awareness is when you

        DO NOT WEAR SPEAKERS

        What kind of freakin moron thinks 'oh well, I can hear well enough to not get hit'.

        That is freakin dumb ass bound to get killed because evolution is not kind to idiots that think wearing speakers when you need to pay attention is a good idea.

        • The previous poster claimed you can hear what around, not me.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by spudnic ( 32107 )

          You do understand that you can select noice cancelation or pass thru based on what activity you are involved in, right? They're actually quite nice. The sound is amazing.

      • Do you think that is aided or restricted when you stick a lump of plastic into your ear that fills the ear canal?

    • Disagree at least for me. When Bluetooth earphones in general were coming around I felt the same way, kept my wired buds for a long time, even had a set of those nice Shure ones but for out and about during your day? I am a convert, they're just handy too damn, especially for me as I do a fair amount of flying.

      Pop one in your ear when walking about to hear, or turn on transparency mode, plus noise cancellation (which does work if they're a decent set and fitted correctly) and the fact that you can just pop

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Pascoea ( 968200 )
      To each their own. Honestly, I shared your opinion initially: Separate buds are a stupid idea. I have tried several different types of earbuds over the years:

      These [adamsstatebookstore.com] Idk what you'd describe those as. But they are connected by a large, flexible "strap", then tiny wires that run to the buds. They are useless for anything other than sitting at your desk. Any movement, from working out to mowing the lawn causes the band to shift to an uncomfortable position. I found myself tucking the whole thing into my t-sh
      • I'm interested that the jbls stay put during a workout. I haven't found a set of these that I can even walk with. They either fall out or they are so far in my ear I hear my whole body reverberating with every step. The only truly comfortable earphone I have ever had was the Bose wired ones. They had a flap on the earbud that held the phones into your ear rather than sticking them inside.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Pascoea ( 968200 )
          Not a fan, to be honest. They'd survive a trip on an elliptical, but that's about it. I have some nicer foam tips that seem to "grip" well, that improved things. But the stupid cord just flaps around, and the battery/button pod tended to migrate to the back of my neck, which was uncomfortable and would tend to pull the earbud out. And I'm by no means a gym rat, so if you're more spirited in your workouts you probably won't like them.
      • My earbuds are purpose-driven. For swimming/working out, I use the Shokz Openswim Pro. They're bone conducting so I can still hear everything around me. Are they audiophile quality? Gah no. Do I care when I'm underwater or biking? Also no. My good wired headphones stay at home and the office.

      • TL; DR: The ones that have a wire, or something else, connecting them together are more of a pain in the ass than they are worth. If I use an in-ear set, the true cordless ones are the ticket. Again, all my opinion.

        The problem I have with the set connected by a cable is that the cable rubs slightly against my neck, and I hear the rubbing. I don't like over the ear headsets because every single one of them puts pressure against my head, and I have to adjust them every 5-10 minutes to be comfortable. The wireless sets with two unconnected earbuds works for me 99% of the time. The one downside is that they fall out sometimes, but the other problems I have with the rubbing sound and the pressure are more important to m

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Pascoea ( 968200 )
          Your experience pretty much mirrors mine. I'm 100% willing to accept the "downsides" of non-connected buds to not have to deal with a strap or cord touching my neck.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by vlad30 ( 44644 )
      Ok sounds like someone who bought version 1 and never checked the better versions

      My wife hade the original pro when the batteries started to go she upgraded to the v2 Pro they have always been to small to repair and the same would go for any product in this category She likes the small size for comfort I use mine to reduce noise in server rooms and still allow conversation https://www.accessibility.com/... [accessibility.com]

      the pro version has a number of noise cancellation settings including for safety transparency and co

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dgatwood ( 11270 )

      No reason not to connect the two pods - minimal weight increase, reduces chance of losing them, makes it easier to charge a battery.

      One more thing to get snagged, increases the odds of the wire breaking and making the hardware an expensive, irreparable brick... no, thanks.

      Oh, and their small size means bad sound quality.

      That's not inherently true. From a physics perspective, because earbuds are sealed against your ear canal, you can reproduce bass response with a much smaller motion of the driver, because you aren't having to compress so much air. And because the driver is small, you can still move it fast enough to get good treble response. So in theory, earbuds should be able to

      • But if they are sealed Insider your eardrum don't you hear every step you take while wearing them?
        • No. I use AirPods Pro daily and have never experienced this. It is quite noisy if I'm eating, though.
          • It is quite noisy if you are eating.... Never experienced this. These two statements are contradictory.
            • How so? I've never experienced noise associated with walking. I have experienced noise associated with chewing.
              • Because it's the same phenomenon. When you press something into your ear that tightly there is interference. I suspect maybe I just have to push them in really hard to get them to stay in while I'm walking.
                • Well, I don't know what to tell you other than that they're not the same phenomenon based on my real-world data.

    • I wear clunky large headphones because they a sound quality so much better

      It sounds like your headphones are either beaten by a $10 set of Logitech speakers (because size is the only thing which matters right?), or that you lack even a rudimentary understanding of physics.

      • Wait, you don't know that the big ones sound better? They don't use earbuds in recording studios.

        • They don't use earbuds in recording studios.

          Errrr. What? Sorry buddy but IEMs were literally developed for recording studios first. Incidentally they don't also use bigger = better in recording studios. They are smart enough to know better = better, and that when you couple a sealed pressure space between two membranes size becomes completely irrelevant.

          Please put a bit more thought into what you say. Bigger != better. In this case bigger doesn't even mean louder.

          • Was that for sound quality or appearance?

            Granted, the last time I was in a studio recording was a little over 20 years ago, but I sure remember what size headphones I was wearing.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by stealth_finger ( 1809752 )

      Why would you want that?

      Because these are fashion items designed for people who want to own them rather than functional items for people who want to use them.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Earbuds can have great sound quality. Try brands like Yuin or Sony, for example. The technology has come a long way.

      You can get ones that are joined too. The keyword is "neckband". I wish Sony made its flagship ANC buds in a neckband version. The full size cans are great sounding, but not very good for portability.

  • It's a good thing I can just buy another pair of these relatively cheap, total luxury, first-world problem headphones.

    Or, you know, I can just go buy a cheap pair of headphones for under ten euro: https://www.homestoreandmore.i... [homestoreandmore.ie]

    • Good for you. Airpods for me basically screwed up my favorite Bluetooth headsets. I used to be able to get a cheap set from Plantronics that rocked. Genuine 6-hour battery life people could hear me very well and usable audio from my phone for crap like YouTube.

      Airpods basically ran all of those off the market. I'm not entirely sure how or why because it was a 30 to $50 headset versus a$200 pair of airpods but not long after airpods head all the decent cheap Bluetooth headsets disappeared. Motorola still

      • So buy something else. There are plenty of cheap headphones out there.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by labnet ( 457441 )

        I've bought EarFun BT Noise Cancelling Earbuds. Cheap, good sound, good battery life.
        Only down side is you cant make the case ring to find it.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        Airpods basically ran all of those off the market. I'm not entirely sure how or why because it was a 30 to $50 headset versus a$200 pair of airpods but not long after airpods head all the decent cheap Bluetooth headsets disappeared. Motorola still makes one but they're kind of crap and then there's the off-brand weirdo Chinese stuff where the batteries last 60 minutes if you're lucky.

        There's plenty in the $50-100 market. Anker SoundCore headsets are extremely well regarded for their price, for example. An

        • Sadly, the bar hasn't been that high on sound quality since Bluetooth so many manufacturers can come up with something sub par, probably by buying mass produced drivers from a third party. So everyone basically has meh sound because that's where the bar is at. My hearing is terrible but it's not hard to tell the difference between a good wired set and Bluetooth.

      • I've owned 5 different models of the Anker Soundcore brand and they are fairly priced and sound pretty good. My favorite was the now-discontinued Life P3 which sounded amazing and lasted about 2 years before starting to have issues, primarily due to water ingress although I managed to repair them. They're still going strong but I had to superglue them shut. I've tried newer replacements including the P20i, P3i, P40i, and Liberty 4 NC and they all have their ups and downs. The P20i is the most basic and has

  • When your earbud dies you are forced to buy a new set. An an expensive price.

    If you had a jack, the only reason to buy something new is if you were clumsy enough to rip the headset off your head and tear the cable, or your cat/dog chewed on the cable. Otherwise, they just work.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      Or you could just buy these: https://www.apple.com/shop/pro... [apple.com]

    • When your earbud dies you are forced to buy a new set. An an expensive price.

      Most people's earbuds live through several of their phones, all the while costing a small portion of them. It's just not a cost that most consumers care about. Companies chasing mass market dollars do not cater to niches. The rise of small wireless earpieces happened long before the headphone jacks were eliminated. If people cared about this they'd simply buy a phone with a headphone jack, they do exist.

      • It's just not a cost that most consumers care about.

        And most consumers are dumb with their money. Surely you have heard the saying, "if your friends jumped off a bridge will you do it too?"

      • Or buy wired headphones with the correct connector for the phone. My phone came with earbuds that plug into the lightning port. Of course, Apple then did something weird that caused them to only be recognized as wireless Beats earbuds instead of what they are, and to not work correctly. Very annoying.
        • That's why you get a phone with a standard headphone port. No way to 'change' what is plugged in. It's always a set of headphones.
          • Yeah, but then I'd have to buy a new phone. Plus, Apple has their hooks in me a little too deep. I'd have to pull all those pics out of iCloud.

            Fortunately, it doesn't come up very often (once every year or two). I just don't use my phone that way.

    • Forced to? Like, with a gun?
  • I have owned many pairs of headphones in my 45 years on this planet, and I can say with certainty that I have never needed to repair a set, aside from replacing worn out padding. Usually the reason I buy new ones is because something bad happens to them, like they go through the wash, or get stepped on.
    • For most of the past 45 years, your headphones wouldn't have had a consumable part: the li-ion battery.

    • This is an absolutely fair point. Quality electronic devices now last nearly forever. If you don't accidentally destroy them, you are more likely to replace them when they become obsolete. No need for repairability.

      Of course, then we get household appliances that - I swear - have a built-in warranty detector: fail the day after the warranty expires.

  • after a few of these (Score:4, Insightful)

    by diffract ( 7165501 ) on Thursday October 02, 2025 @12:08AM (#65697168)
    I decided to just buy a wired usb-c earbuds. Cheaper, one less thing to charge, no battery deterioration, lasts forever

    • With a connector designed to break, and a cord that conveniently is placed around your arms to maximise the ability to break it.

      Sorry but I think a set of wireless earbuds will last longer than your "lasts forever" cabled earbuds.

  • Have the FCC published the schematics yet.

  • I too have been wrestling with what headphones to get. I hate the earbuds that squish into your ear because you can hear every contact your body makes with anything else and I don't find the bass is great in any of them. I loved the Bose wired earbuds with the silicone flap that held the buds into your ear but they don't sell them any more. I can't bring myself to spend more than $100 on a wireless set because I know the battery will only last a few years of charging and I won't use them knowing I'm getti
    • Oh and the ones that squish into your ear fall out on me all the time even when walking. I lost one in the snow on my driveway two winters ago and the plow came right after. I found it in the spring by the blue light shining up at me. They still played sound but the controls didn't work.

  • Yawn (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by Princeofcups ( 150855 )

    Does this kind of anti-Apple click bait still work? There was an argument about the Mac, and some for the iPhone, but EAR PODS? Who the fuck repairs ear pods?

    • People who don't want to spend $100 per year on them.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by leonbev ( 111395 )

      Nobody repairs Apple Air Pods, they were designed to be a disposable tech product when they break.

      Slashdot seems to cater to 50+ year old tech curmudgeons, who can still remember a time where you could fix your broken headphones with a soldering iron. So, yeah, stories like this are a good way to drive engagement.

    • This isn't click-bait. This is a discussion on repairability. Apple's biggest competitor (Samsung) has an entirely modular design with Galaxy Buds Live with a repairability score of 8/10. There are other buds on the market with a repairability score of 10/10 where a coin cell battery may be used.

      Who the fuck repairs ear pods?

      People who can't afford new ones. Check your privilege. Second hand markets for these devices exist.

    • Who the fuck repairs ear pods?

      People trying to avoid unnecessary e-waste.

  • Aren't there now rules about making products repairable? Or will Apple just tell the EU to abolish the rules as they demand to abolish DMA and DSA?

    • People need to stop assuming what is written in laws based just on their title. Regulations are specific for certain types of products. No repairability legislation covers earbuds.

  • They know the chumps who buy their overpriced earbuds will be back so why lose sales by making it easy to fix them? The only way Apple (& the rest) will be brought to bear is the EU, China or somebody imposes rules that require user maintenance, repairability and prohibit measures that hinder or prohibit it - glue, proprietary parts & connectors, availability/cost of parts, pairing, DRM etc.
  • Did someone expect that something that small and compact would be repairable? I don't see how you'd cram all that into an earbud without gluing it all together. Their purpose means you can't comfortably use them if the plastic has been deformed.

    So, what is this all about? Something we shouldn't expect to be easily repaired cannot be. Just like most headphones already aren't.

  • To make something that small requires a level of integration that is not conducive to repair. Using connectors, cases that can somehow open or come apart (but not coming apart too easily so they aren't actually prone to breaking more often), etc, is not something that is practical in the first place.

    My grandfather used to repair CBs and amateur radio equipment back in the 70s. Then everything was comprised of discrete components (IE each component, like a transistor, capacitor, diode, etc was a separate thi

  • When are we going to go after CPU manufacturers for making it virtually impossible to swap out a bad transistor or two?

  • I could easily design earbuds with replaceable batteries. Perhaps Apple designers, aren't that sharp, after all.

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