The AirPods Pro 2 are still as irreparable, Apple gets a zero point
The quality of Apple’s new headphones, the AirPods Pro 2, is unanimous among the public. Everyone agrees that in-ear headphones improve the experience on all fronts. If there is one point on which they have not evolved at all, it is their repairability. The expert site iFixit tried to disassemble them.
The AirPods Pro 2 were released just two weeks ago. That’s all the time it took the experts at iFixit to study Apple’s new headphones from all angles and deliver a verdict on their repairability. The latter is without appeal: it is a zero point. As a reminder, the AirPods and AirPods 2, released in 2016 and 2019 respectively, also received a score of 0/10. For a company that prides itself on being environmentally conscious, Apple pays little attention to the repairability of its devices.
On the contrary, it seems that she is doing everything to keep the insides of her AirPods Pro 2 a well-kept secret. The video posted on YouTube by the experts at iFixit immediately gets to the heart of the matter: “AirPods Pro are among the most popular headphones in the world. They are also among the most irreparable”. The presenter points out that although Apple’s in-ear headphones are real technological jewels, once they are broken or their battery is unusable, they will increase the ever-growing pile of electronic waste that cannot be recycled.
AirPods Pro 2 get a 0/10 in repairability and Apple takes some blame
Impossible indeed to recover anything in the last high-end headphones from Apple. We can see it in the video: opening the earphones and the case, even with adequate equipment, is not done without great damage. It is therefore impossible to reassemble all these accessories afterwards, even for the most DIY enthusiasts. As iFixit points out, the inside of the earphones and the case are bathed in goo, which makes extracting their lithium battery or any other component far too tedious.
Once your AirPods Pro 2 are out of order, all you have to do is buy them back. Logically, they get a score of 0/10, like their predecessors. The finding is very disappointing even though the iPhone 14 had received a 7/10 in repairability, the best score for an Apple smartphone since the iPhone 7. Admittedly, the design of the AirPods Pro 2 is very desirable, the new H2 chip enhances custom spatial audio by harnessing the True Depth camera, and active noise reduction promises twice the isolation. But for 299 €, their current selling price, we are entitled to expect a more durable and truly more environmentally friendly product.
