Experts analyzed the recently presented AirPods: repair or immediately throw away

>> repair new AirPods/Apple

Last month, Apple announced AirPods 4 and AirPods Max with USB-C. And so the iFixt team has already managed to share their breakdowns.

In short, none of the new AirPods models offer improvements in terms of repairability. The tiny AirPods 4 require a special jig holder to hold them in place, while a heat gun helps loosen the glue to reveal the top half of the earphones, writes GSMArena.

After here we see the speaker and battery components surrounded by a bunch of glue.

Opening the lower parts of the earpiece is a much more difficult task and requires a knife to cut the earpiece. The only difference between AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC is a larger internal microphone.

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Charging case also stubbornly won't open and requires a lot of heat and effort before you can get to the components inside. The 345 mAh battery inside the case is also very difficult to remove as it does not have extraction tabs. All of these factors leave AirPods 4 with a preliminary repairability score of 0 out of 10.

What the disassembly of the new AirPods showed: watch the video

Repairing the new AirPods Max with USB-C is much easier, but it still requires a lot of heat and pulling out components with a firm hand. Inside, the key components are almost identical to the first-generation AirPods Max: a bit more adhesive to hold the components in place, and a USB-C charging port instead of the Lighting connector.

AirPods Max with USB-C received the previous repairability rating 6 out of 10.