AirPods Pro 2 Teardown Provides Inside Look at Earbuds and Charging Case

Repair website iFixit today shared a video teardown of Apple's second-generation AirPods Pro, providing a closer look at the internals of the new earbuds and charging case. The teardown confirms that AirPods Pro remain largely unrepairable.


Opening up the AirPods Pro and the charging case continues to result in unfixable damage, preventing battery replacements and other repairs.

"AirPods are the most popular earbuds in the world — they are also among the most unfixable," says iFixit, in the video's description. "With the AirPods Pro 2, the flagship line gets a boost, in all arenas, apparently, except the environment."

As previously reported, the video shows that the metal insert on the charging case for attaching a lanyard is welded to the Lightning connector inside the case, but iFixit did not explain why. CT scanning company Lumafield speculated that the lanyard insert might double as an antenna for the U1 chip, which enables Find My support.

All in all, there are not too many surprises with the internals of the new AirPods Pro and case, which both remain environmentally unfriendly. The new AirPods Pro launched last Friday and are priced at $249 in the United States.

Related Roundup: AirPods Pro
Buyer's Guide: AirPods Pro (Caution)
Related Forum: AirPods

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Top Rated Comments

Mailia Avatar
34 months ago

Not shocked, they’d have to be more bulky to be repairable
Or so Apple wants you to believe. Both the Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds and charging case are repairable and they don't meet my definition of "bulky".



https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/07/06/ogle-every-millimeter-of-sonys-flagship-earbuds-in-this-exhaustive-teardown/
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
erikkfi Avatar
34 months ago
But I've been told that Apple cares deeply about the environment and it affects everything they do.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarAnalogy Avatar
34 months ago
OK after watching the video I gotta say this does not meet the usual iFixit standards. I don’t think carving a frowny face and cutting the case open right above the battery is exactly Apple’s recommended method.

Usually these guys sound like experts but this time the thing was torn apart like an ape.

I don’t actually take his word for it that these are completely unrepairable based on this, because I don’t think he did a good job in this case.

He also seemed pretty biased from the start that the whole thing was an environmental disaster.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aloyouis Avatar
34 months ago
iFixit has become so biased that they are unwatchable thereby undermining their own purpose.

All this "hit piece" tells us is that Apple built the AirPods to the highest degree of performance and reliability they could and THAT is my primary concern.

I can recycle them when the life of the AirPods is over. I don't need condescending BS from them now.

I wasted 2 minutes watching that hot garbage.

PS: He damn near blew his own fingers off. What an idiot.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarAnalogy Avatar
34 months ago

Or so Apple wants you to believe. Both the Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds and charging case are repairable and they don't meet my definition of "bulky".



https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/07/06/ogle-every-millimeter-of-sonys-flagship-earbuds-in-this-exhaustive-teardown/
Personally I like that the AirPods Pro have a stem, I don’t like the entirely in ear form factor. Whether they could be made repairable in the current form factor, I don’t know. I do think those look kind of bulky. Probably at least the same weight as AirPods but more centered in the ear hole.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AppleFan360 Avatar
34 months ago
Honestly I don’t really care, if you want repairability, don’t buy them and vote with your wallet, if you are worried about the landfills, then stop throwing away your Starbucks cups
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)