The cool cats at iFixit have just published their full teardown of Apple’s new wireless AirPods along with the charging kit that arrives with the unit. Through the teardown, iFixit cites a multitude of closely knit components within the AirPods, along with a few “quality issues” within the charging case that may be the reason for the months-long delay of the wireless headphones.
The teardown began by separating the speaker portion of the AirPod from the rest of the device, uncovering a miniature coaxial cable and two IR proximity sensors, which allow the AirPods to detect whenever they’re inside an ear, and play/pause music accordingly.
iFixit cited a “waterfall of glue” inside the base of the AirPod that essentially surrounds the charging point for the unit.
Cutting open the AirPods completely, iFixit eventually separated the antenna from the battery, theorizing that the “hanging boom is for more than just balance—it’s also to improve reception.” The earpiece of each AirPod is a 93 milliwatt hour battery, “equivalent to a little over 1% of the charge capacity in an iPhone 7.”
During the teardown, iFixit had to resort to using a rotary saw to get behind an “impenetrable” shell. Discovered underneath was the case’s battery, a 1.52 watt hour lithium-polymer cell that’s around 16 times the power capacity of a single AirPod. iFixit equates this to around eight full recharges of the AirPods within the charging case.
Interestingly enough, the iFixit teardown revealed “quality issues” within the chip’s solder joints. A few empty spaces can be seen, referred to as “voiding,” which iFixit said “could be evidence of low quality standards, or a rushed product release.” This suggests that the source of the AirPods’ delay was with the charging case and not with the AirPods.
The repairability score of the AirPods was ultimately rated at a lowest-possible 0/10, thanks to the copious use of glue as a fastener within most of the components of the AirPods, and the case’s resistant outer shell.
If you’ve been able to get your mitts on the new AirPods and have any feedback to offer, please let us know what you make of them in the comments.